Unwilling to be Released and Tied Down to the World Like a Balloon

"And I will shew wonders in the heavens (6th Seal) and in the earth (6th Seal), blood (1st Trumpet, 2nd Trumpet), and fire (1st Trumpet, 2nd Trumpet), and pillars of smoke (5th Trumpet). The sun shall be turned into darkness (6th Seal, 4th Trumpet), and the moon into blood (6th Seal), before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come (2nd woe-the 6th Trumpet)" (Joel 2.30-31).

"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood" (Rev. 6.12).

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven...let them be for signs...for days, and years" (Gen. 1.14).

"Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves [Israel become a nation-fig tree always represents Israel], ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, at the doors" (Matt. 24.32,33).

"We can't know the hour, but we can know the day. "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come" (Matt. 24.40,42).

There will be some raptured before the Tribulation. They shall be "taken" and other Christians will be "left" to pass through the Tribulation. "Watch therefore" for though you don't know the hour, you can know the day to be ready and not let your house be broken into, for the good thief in the night always comes to steal the best first rapture.

First rapture is according to readiness. God wants to receive you "before the throne" (Rev. 7.9) according to readiness before the Tribulation trumpets start (8.7ff), but if you prefer to be tied down to the world like a balloon unwilling to be released or lie on a bed of fornication, you'll need to go through the time of testing; and if you are a Christian, be raptured at the last trumpet, not at the first trumpet.

"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass [the Tribulation], and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21.36) Where does "stand before the Son of man" take place? "Before the throne" (Rev. 7.9). So if you aren't watchful, you will not be received at the first rapture according to readiness; you'll not be deemed the advanced party, for there are harbingers in every sphere. The choice is yours.

If "thou didst keep the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial, that [hour] which is to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth" (Rev. 3.10). Do all Christians "keep the word" of His patience? Of course not. So not all believers, though we can't lose eternal life, shall not all be raptured at the first rapture as God's "man-child" overcomers (Rev. 12.10) and "virgin...firstfruits" (14.1-5). There is always a firstfruits and a later harvest (14.14-16).

Through the church age in Rev. 2 & 3 we are told to "overcometh" and not just to be received at the first rapture but to receive the reward of returning with Christ to reign over the nations (2.26).

Praise the Lord for this discernment! Amen.