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Sunday 12-18-22 1st. Day Of The Weekly Cycle, Kislev 23, 5783 86th. Fall Day
The Coming of the Lord!
What will happen after the Tribulation?
“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: AND THEN shall appear the sign of the Son of man [Jesus Christ] 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. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together HIS ELECT from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:29-3 1).
Notice the proper sequence – First, Great Tribulation! Next, heavenly signs! Afterwards, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ – Yeshua Ha Moshiach!
What could be clearer, more plain, than that? Yeshua makes it perfectly plain, so simple a child can understand it. He said the heavenly signs would occur “immediately after” the great tribulation of those days, not before. And Christ Himself would return AFTER the heavenly signs, and therefore also AFTER the tribulation!
Notice, too, that when this occurs, Yeshua will send his angels to “GATHER TOGETHER HIS ELECT” (verse 31).
Who are his “elect”? Let’s let the Bible interpret this for us.
Peter spoke of Christians as being God’s elect. He began his first epistle, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ELECT according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1: 1-2).
Christ said to His disciples, “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bares long with them?” (Luke 18:7).
Paul wrote, “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Rom.8:33-34).
Paul declared, “Therefore, as the ELECT of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering” (Col.3:12).
Paul also spoke of “the faith of God’s elect” (Titus 1:1). Peter warns us, however, “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure” (I Pet.1:10).
It should be perfectly clear! We who belong to Christ, Yeshua the Messiah, are the true “elect” – “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people” (I Peter 2:9-10). Jesus Himself is the true corner stone; “elect, precious” (verse 6), and if we are in Him, then we are the elect of God also!
It is for the sake of God’s “elect” – true servants of God, true Christians – that God will cut short the days of coming Tribulation, so that the whole world will not perish in nuclear flames! Yeshua promised, “And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short” (Matthew 24:22, NRSV).
Notice that these same elect will be gathered up to meet Christ “with the great sound of a trumpet” (Matthew 24:3 1). Obviously, they have not already been gathered prior to this time in some sort of “secret rapture”!!!
“A Thief in the Night”
Think carefully. Be brutally honest with yourself. Does all this sound like a quiet, off-in-a-corner clandestine, surreptitious, secret affair? Will Christ quietly, mysteriously, secretly come to spirit away His saints?
No, not at all!
His second coming will be accompanied with tremendous, high-decibel NOISE! there will be the loud voice of an archangel, as well as the loud trumpet blast rending the heavens! Jeremiah tells us, “The LORD will ROAR from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will ROAR MIGHTILY against His fold. He will give a SHOUT, as those who trample the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise will come to all the ends of the earth – for the LORD has a controversy with the nations” (Jer.25:30-31, NKJV).
Does that sound like a secret rapture?
Christ will be seen by the nations as He comes, Matthew recorded (Matthew 24:30). “Every eye will SEE Him” (Rev.1:7). He will not be invisible or secretive.
Why, then, does Paul also say, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (I Thess.5:2)? Why did Christ declare, “I will come like a thief” (Rev.3:3)?
Does this contradict all the other Scriptures, and mean that He will come invisibly? Does a thief ever come “invisibly”? Of course not! No man can be “invisible” – although a man can “hide,” or come secretly, by stealth.
How will Christ come as a thief? He Himself answers that question. He goes on to say, “and you will not know at what hour I will come” (Rev.3:3 again). In other words, He will come unexpectedly, when most people are sound asleep, totally unalert, and oblivious to the signs around them. Solomon wrote, “For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared in an evil time” (Eccl.9:12).
As Paul declared, “When they say, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!” (I Thess.5:3).
The world will be caught unawares! But, Paul continues, “But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us KEEP AWAKE and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing” (I Thess.5:4-11).
Yeshua also declared, “But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch [or hour] the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:43-44).
What Is the "Last Trumpet"?
Now let’s notice another Scripture which spells out very clearly the Second Coming of Christ. Paul wrote that the saints would be resurrected at the “LAST TRUMPET” (I Cor.15:51-52). This is the trumpet which is blown when Christ returns for His saints.
Does this trumpet announce a secret rapture? Which trumpet is the “last” trumpet blast?
In the book of Revelation (which means a “revealing”, not a concealing of information), we read a prophetic outline of the future. According to this outline, the future is sealed with seven seals which will be opened consecutively (Revelation 5:1-9). Notice that the seventh seal will consist of “seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets” (Rev. 8:1-2). When each of these trumpets are sounded, various events will take place on the earth. The first angel sounds his trumpet, and plagues are poured on the earth. So it is for the next three angelic plagues, accompanied by trumpet blasts (Rev.8). When the fifth angel blows his trumpet, another plague – a terrible war – erupts on the earth (Rev.9:1-12). This is followed by the sixth angelic trumpet blast, and an army of 200,000,000 men from Asian nations attacks westward, killing one third of mankind (Rev.9:13-21).
But notice, now – notice what happens when the SEVENTH, or LAST, trumpet will sound!
“Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD HAVE BECOME THE KINGDOMS OF OUR LORD AND OF HIS CHRIST, and he shall reign forever and ever!’ And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying: ‘We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the TIME OF THE DEAD, that they should be judged, and that You should REWARD Your servants the prophets, and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great; and should destroy those who destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:15-19). Here again, spelled out in careful detail, is what will happen when the last trumpet blasts forth its shrill clarion call. Christ will return; the dead in Christ shall be raised; the saints will be judged and rewarded, every man according to his own works; and, the wrath of God will be poured out upon a rebellious, defiant world.
How clear it is! The theory of a secret rapture, to whisk away the saints to heaven before the Great Tribulation, is unbiblical, unscriptural, unfounded and unsound! It is unthinkable! Jesus Christ, Yeshua, never taught it. The apostles did not teach it. It did not become a teaching in the Church until the nineteenth century. Exactly where did it come from? The truth is staggering – mind blowing!
By William F. Dankenbring
Love, Walter and Debbie
The Coming of the Lord!
What will happen after the Tribulation?
“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: AND THEN shall appear the sign of the Son of man [Jesus Christ] 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. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together HIS ELECT from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:29-3 1).
Notice the proper sequence – First, Great Tribulation! Next, heavenly signs! Afterwards, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ – Yeshua Ha Moshiach!
What could be clearer, more plain, than that? Yeshua makes it perfectly plain, so simple a child can understand it. He said the heavenly signs would occur “immediately after” the great tribulation of those days, not before. And Christ Himself would return AFTER the heavenly signs, and therefore also AFTER the tribulation!
Notice, too, that when this occurs, Yeshua will send his angels to “GATHER TOGETHER HIS ELECT” (verse 31).
Who are his “elect”? Let’s let the Bible interpret this for us.
Peter spoke of Christians as being God’s elect. He began his first epistle, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ELECT according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1: 1-2).
Christ said to His disciples, “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bares long with them?” (Luke 18:7).
Paul wrote, “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Rom.8:33-34).
Paul declared, “Therefore, as the ELECT of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering” (Col.3:12).
Paul also spoke of “the faith of God’s elect” (Titus 1:1). Peter warns us, however, “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure” (I Pet.1:10).
It should be perfectly clear! We who belong to Christ, Yeshua the Messiah, are the true “elect” – “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people” (I Peter 2:9-10). Jesus Himself is the true corner stone; “elect, precious” (verse 6), and if we are in Him, then we are the elect of God also!
It is for the sake of God’s “elect” – true servants of God, true Christians – that God will cut short the days of coming Tribulation, so that the whole world will not perish in nuclear flames! Yeshua promised, “And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short” (Matthew 24:22, NRSV).
Notice that these same elect will be gathered up to meet Christ “with the great sound of a trumpet” (Matthew 24:3 1). Obviously, they have not already been gathered prior to this time in some sort of “secret rapture”!!!
“A Thief in the Night”
Think carefully. Be brutally honest with yourself. Does all this sound like a quiet, off-in-a-corner clandestine, surreptitious, secret affair? Will Christ quietly, mysteriously, secretly come to spirit away His saints?
No, not at all!
His second coming will be accompanied with tremendous, high-decibel NOISE! there will be the loud voice of an archangel, as well as the loud trumpet blast rending the heavens! Jeremiah tells us, “The LORD will ROAR from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will ROAR MIGHTILY against His fold. He will give a SHOUT, as those who trample the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise will come to all the ends of the earth – for the LORD has a controversy with the nations” (Jer.25:30-31, NKJV).
Does that sound like a secret rapture?
Christ will be seen by the nations as He comes, Matthew recorded (Matthew 24:30). “Every eye will SEE Him” (Rev.1:7). He will not be invisible or secretive.
Why, then, does Paul also say, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (I Thess.5:2)? Why did Christ declare, “I will come like a thief” (Rev.3:3)?
Does this contradict all the other Scriptures, and mean that He will come invisibly? Does a thief ever come “invisibly”? Of course not! No man can be “invisible” – although a man can “hide,” or come secretly, by stealth.
How will Christ come as a thief? He Himself answers that question. He goes on to say, “and you will not know at what hour I will come” (Rev.3:3 again). In other words, He will come unexpectedly, when most people are sound asleep, totally unalert, and oblivious to the signs around them. Solomon wrote, “For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared in an evil time” (Eccl.9:12).
As Paul declared, “When they say, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!” (I Thess.5:3).
The world will be caught unawares! But, Paul continues, “But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us KEEP AWAKE and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing” (I Thess.5:4-11).
Yeshua also declared, “But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch [or hour] the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:43-44).
What Is the "Last Trumpet"?
Now let’s notice another Scripture which spells out very clearly the Second Coming of Christ. Paul wrote that the saints would be resurrected at the “LAST TRUMPET” (I Cor.15:51-52). This is the trumpet which is blown when Christ returns for His saints.
Does this trumpet announce a secret rapture? Which trumpet is the “last” trumpet blast?
In the book of Revelation (which means a “revealing”, not a concealing of information), we read a prophetic outline of the future. According to this outline, the future is sealed with seven seals which will be opened consecutively (Revelation 5:1-9). Notice that the seventh seal will consist of “seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets” (Rev. 8:1-2). When each of these trumpets are sounded, various events will take place on the earth. The first angel sounds his trumpet, and plagues are poured on the earth. So it is for the next three angelic plagues, accompanied by trumpet blasts (Rev.8). When the fifth angel blows his trumpet, another plague – a terrible war – erupts on the earth (Rev.9:1-12). This is followed by the sixth angelic trumpet blast, and an army of 200,000,000 men from Asian nations attacks westward, killing one third of mankind (Rev.9:13-21).
But notice, now – notice what happens when the SEVENTH, or LAST, trumpet will sound!
“Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD HAVE BECOME THE KINGDOMS OF OUR LORD AND OF HIS CHRIST, and he shall reign forever and ever!’ And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying: ‘We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the TIME OF THE DEAD, that they should be judged, and that You should REWARD Your servants the prophets, and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great; and should destroy those who destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:15-19). Here again, spelled out in careful detail, is what will happen when the last trumpet blasts forth its shrill clarion call. Christ will return; the dead in Christ shall be raised; the saints will be judged and rewarded, every man according to his own works; and, the wrath of God will be poured out upon a rebellious, defiant world.
How clear it is! The theory of a secret rapture, to whisk away the saints to heaven before the Great Tribulation, is unbiblical, unscriptural, unfounded and unsound! It is unthinkable! Jesus Christ, Yeshua, never taught it. The apostles did not teach it. It did not become a teaching in the Church until the nineteenth century. Exactly where did it come from? The truth is staggering – mind blowing!
By William F. Dankenbring
Love, Walter and Debbie
To Be Continued
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