Hi there!
So I thought I would post this in the Eschatological forum, because this is where the most contention about what is coming is to be found. I am not trying to present a specific case, for the order of things to come, save that I believe the experience of the Rapture, is supposed to prepare us for the tribulation and being in a state of readiness, God will be willing to shorten the Days. This is a partnering of faith with God.
The thing I want to emphasise here, is that being mindful of what is to come, there is a certain mindset, that we should have: which should tell us, whether the beliefs we are accumulating, are serving the Holy Spirit and Him in Us. In other words, if we are developing the wrong mindset, something is wrong with our beliefs; if we are developing the right mindset, something about our beliefs is working! In reality the mindset, is a very simple thing. Are we calm and spirited about the tribulation? And are we spirited and calm about the Rapture? Trouble comes first, because it is the biggest hurdle; that which comes second (the Rapture) is a question of our ability to reflect God's love back to Him, despite the trouble that comes before.
God loving us, He would take us out of this world sooner, but as Jesus said "some will be taken, some will be left", this is not an indication of Heaven or Hell, it is simply the outworking of the Holy Spirit's faith, in the world that needs to come to Jesus. While this work (of the Holy Spirit) is being worked out, we need to be spirited (that is, knowing who we were in Christ) and calm (that is, ready for circumstances to change). Our testimony and our love for God, should be the preeminent aspects of our faith - that when the Rapture comes to a head, we may not be confused about what is happening in the World (that we are later blown about by the tribulation). Works of diligence and upholding, will be our greatest strengths. These can not be achieved greatly, without a spirited but calm foundation.
God forbearing for us, then is able to give us strength, to meet the tribulation with: the strength of love and patience. What was an impetus to do the works of faith (in diligence and upholding), now becomes an intercession against the travails of the tribulation. We are to stand our ground. And what makes us most able to stand our ground? You guessed it: calmness and spiritedness. If our works are solidly founded and our readiness is within, then what comes against us, cannot overwhelm us or outlast us. The tribulation will be panic, to the Devil and woe upon woe, to those that do not resist the Devil - but the faith will remain strong. You have to remember, this is even before the Gospel has gone out to the whole World - we are punching above our weight, in terms of the difficulty we face. It is the calmness and spiritedness, that will see us through!
Does Jesus plan to take any of this back? Or will He not rather reward us, for being diligent and steadfast? This is the thing: we would do well to decide beforehand, what it was that we wanted Jesus to reward us with - to prepare ourselves mentally for the effort and trial ahead. For many of us, it will be simply to be with loved ones; for others it might be more daring, seeing eye to eye with our adversaries, perhaps. The Holy Spirit, can certainly help with that. The point is: Love has to come first; if Love in works, then faithfully; if Love in perseverance, then watchfully. We should not enter into a pact, with the Devil, to give up; or to suppose somewhere on Earth is safe, but not watch. I'm trying to give you a mindset of "hey, yes, we have the character for this, what we will do with our God given character, will be enough" (remember Jesus said "two ready swords, is enough").
The surprise in all this, is that many more will be encouraged, when they see our faith in action. There is no way for the Devil to say "the Rapture was an accident" when so many witnesses know otherwise. Neither is there any need to knee-jerk, if we stand on the Gospel together. People may say "well, that's Israel, what can you do?" but the faith will know, sooner or later, sin will out (that is, sin will reveal where the lack of faith was). This is what Jesus is saying when He says "don't fail, don't stop working, don't run" (paraphrase gospels, from memory) we are to set our minds firmly on Him and trust that it will be the Devil that runs, that the ditch will swallow him up, with his anti-Christ. You will be able to see these things from a distance, if you have praise for God, you will have the strength to resist the snare coming to you.
All of Hell will fall, all of Death will fail. These are promises in scripture that have been there from time immemorial, its just that now we will be able to see them up close. I hope these words will have been of some encouragement to you.
God bless.
So I thought I would post this in the Eschatological forum, because this is where the most contention about what is coming is to be found. I am not trying to present a specific case, for the order of things to come, save that I believe the experience of the Rapture, is supposed to prepare us for the tribulation and being in a state of readiness, God will be willing to shorten the Days. This is a partnering of faith with God.
The thing I want to emphasise here, is that being mindful of what is to come, there is a certain mindset, that we should have: which should tell us, whether the beliefs we are accumulating, are serving the Holy Spirit and Him in Us. In other words, if we are developing the wrong mindset, something is wrong with our beliefs; if we are developing the right mindset, something about our beliefs is working! In reality the mindset, is a very simple thing. Are we calm and spirited about the tribulation? And are we spirited and calm about the Rapture? Trouble comes first, because it is the biggest hurdle; that which comes second (the Rapture) is a question of our ability to reflect God's love back to Him, despite the trouble that comes before.
God loving us, He would take us out of this world sooner, but as Jesus said "some will be taken, some will be left", this is not an indication of Heaven or Hell, it is simply the outworking of the Holy Spirit's faith, in the world that needs to come to Jesus. While this work (of the Holy Spirit) is being worked out, we need to be spirited (that is, knowing who we were in Christ) and calm (that is, ready for circumstances to change). Our testimony and our love for God, should be the preeminent aspects of our faith - that when the Rapture comes to a head, we may not be confused about what is happening in the World (that we are later blown about by the tribulation). Works of diligence and upholding, will be our greatest strengths. These can not be achieved greatly, without a spirited but calm foundation.
God forbearing for us, then is able to give us strength, to meet the tribulation with: the strength of love and patience. What was an impetus to do the works of faith (in diligence and upholding), now becomes an intercession against the travails of the tribulation. We are to stand our ground. And what makes us most able to stand our ground? You guessed it: calmness and spiritedness. If our works are solidly founded and our readiness is within, then what comes against us, cannot overwhelm us or outlast us. The tribulation will be panic, to the Devil and woe upon woe, to those that do not resist the Devil - but the faith will remain strong. You have to remember, this is even before the Gospel has gone out to the whole World - we are punching above our weight, in terms of the difficulty we face. It is the calmness and spiritedness, that will see us through!
Does Jesus plan to take any of this back? Or will He not rather reward us, for being diligent and steadfast? This is the thing: we would do well to decide beforehand, what it was that we wanted Jesus to reward us with - to prepare ourselves mentally for the effort and trial ahead. For many of us, it will be simply to be with loved ones; for others it might be more daring, seeing eye to eye with our adversaries, perhaps. The Holy Spirit, can certainly help with that. The point is: Love has to come first; if Love in works, then faithfully; if Love in perseverance, then watchfully. We should not enter into a pact, with the Devil, to give up; or to suppose somewhere on Earth is safe, but not watch. I'm trying to give you a mindset of "hey, yes, we have the character for this, what we will do with our God given character, will be enough" (remember Jesus said "two ready swords, is enough").
The surprise in all this, is that many more will be encouraged, when they see our faith in action. There is no way for the Devil to say "the Rapture was an accident" when so many witnesses know otherwise. Neither is there any need to knee-jerk, if we stand on the Gospel together. People may say "well, that's Israel, what can you do?" but the faith will know, sooner or later, sin will out (that is, sin will reveal where the lack of faith was). This is what Jesus is saying when He says "don't fail, don't stop working, don't run" (paraphrase gospels, from memory) we are to set our minds firmly on Him and trust that it will be the Devil that runs, that the ditch will swallow him up, with his anti-Christ. You will be able to see these things from a distance, if you have praise for God, you will have the strength to resist the snare coming to you.
All of Hell will fall, all of Death will fail. These are promises in scripture that have been there from time immemorial, its just that now we will be able to see them up close. I hope these words will have been of some encouragement to you.
God bless.
