Just a question about Luke 21:36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."
If pretrib rap is false, why is Luke exhorting us to pray for escape during the time just before Tribulation?
Or it's signifying Christ's return with his saints when He returns for the millenniumreign. It says his elect are gathered from heaven which is where his elect will reside after rapture. There will also be new Christian concerts during the Tribulation immediately following the rapture.
first thanks for the response.
second, Just as all the apostles did as well as our Lord and saviour. "watch and Pray".
but read the verses before,
Luke 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time
your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and
so that day come upon you unawares.
Luke 21:35 For as
a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
Luke 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
what is the snare? and the time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness
the escape from the "snare" is just what our Lord said abouting fleeing the destruction to come, listen,
Matt 24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day".
do you understand what the Lord is saying? if not false doctrine snare people into a sense of "peace and safety". hence the warning in Luke and Matthews. pray so that you want be snared, and flee not in winter. let's break this winter down. question what happens in winter? answer thing get stiff and hard right. in the spiritual relm in winter siginify a "hard" heart, and a "stiffneck", meaning to refuse to listen to sound doctrine. so our "snare" is a "hard" heart, and a "stiff" neck.
see the tribulation been going on, listen,
Rev 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion
in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ".
many of the apostles was arrested, and many of the disciples was killed, but the tribulation is going to go on even until the end.
understand my position here. many a christian say oh it's going to be a "GREAT" tribulation that's separate from everyday tribulation. I disagree, and here's why I say this. Great can indicate, or have two degrees. 1. quality. and 2. quantity.
quality: is the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something.
with quantity: it's an amout, not a measure, here it's the amount is TIME over a longer period of time, hence "GREAT" tribulation.
so the tribulation has been going on and getting "GREATER" every day before the Lord/Son of Man returns.
so if the Rapture happens before the son of man returns, the the Lord Jesus lied God forebid,
Matt 24:29
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Matt 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
so the tribulation goes on, and
in those days, just before the return of the Lord Jesus, the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
so to me I see no rapture of the church before he returns and "gather" his elect, which is the first resurrection. and at the first resurrection,this to me is the rapture of the church. but we are not going to heaven, but into the BELOVED CITY here on earth.
that's just my view of the ends time. the key is to understand the word "great" with tribulation, in quantity, and not quality.
Hoped it helped.
