Touching On Many Aspects End-Times

Enoch and Elijah were taken up (raptured), but who can say they went to third heaven? You can only arrive in third heaven with a newly clothed resurrected body which can never die, and the Bible tells us nobody has arrived there yet. So, they shall return as the two witnesses to die as martyrs. When? During the second woe, for we read, then "the second woe is past" (Rev. 11.14) after they had just died.

Those "under the altar" are martyrs who shall wait a little longer before these things are finished, until the resurrection of the saints at the last trumpet takes place. The white robes given to those under the altar specify the righteousness of their good works. It does not refer to entering third heaven as yet. Those who first enter third heaven occurs at first rapture in Rev. 7.9 who "stood before the throne" before the trumpets of the Tribulation take place. They have kept the "word of His patience" (Rev. 3.10), for he who overcomeths, God will "keep thee from the hour of trial" (time of testing of the Tribulation). "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" (Luke 21.36). These things refers to the Tribulation events at the consummation of this age. The condition is clear for first rapture: watchful, prayerful, keeping the word of His patience.

Some shall be raptured alive, and God willing, He may even rapture those martyrs under the altar before the Tribulation commences to war, along with Michael, against Satan in 2nd heaven.

Though there are many comparisons about the Jubilee, God is still very clear about the 7 year Tribulation which contains 7 trumpets. The 6 seals are these past 20 centuries. The 7th seal opens the 7 trumpets of the Tribulation. And the 7th trumpet pours out the 7 bowls of wrath in the last 24 months of the Tribulation. Think of this like lock tumblers being triggered so we know where we stand at and if we are still alive at the consummation of this age.

Jesus said to the good thief that he will see him this day in paradise. Jesus went immediately to hades, not to heaven, then he was raised on the third day. Jesus met the good thief in paradise below, which is the good side of hades, from which resurrection takes place at the last trumpet of the Tribulation.

When the Rich Man went to the bad side of hades (he is still there now), the Scriptures depict his suffering, because he is in a foretaste mode of actually being resurrected for hell.

The proper term is tartarus in 2 Pet. 2.4 which is the Pit, not hell to be more precise. Satan too will be cast into the Pit for 1000 years before he is released for a short while to show man still had yet some hidden sin, that Satan will never repent, and God's good pleasure to end all sin. The Antichrist and False Prophet will be sent to hell at the start of the millennium, while Satan will go to the Pit for the 1000 years before being sent to hell. The angels are sent to be "held for judgment" (2 Pet. 2.4). If they had gone to hell, they would have been judged already.

Through Christ's death and resurrection captives were released. In other words, the bondage of being under the law has ceased and opens the door for resurrection at the last trumpet at the consummation of this age.

The millennial kingdom has not started yet, because God says the nations are not deceived during the 1000 years (Rev. 20.3). Obviously, they are still deceived now because they war and we hear rumors of war. Only after the 1000 years is finished are all the evil spirits cast into hell along will Satan and the unsaved within Christendom and without.

Demons (not all of them are in the pit now) are locked in the pit, and when the star falls and the key is given to open the pit, what will be released is many of those demons, those intelligent beings that look like locusts during the first woe (Rev. 9).

Hell is constantly described as fiery. How silly to throw a fiery hell into a fiery lake of fire. God is not the author of confusion, nor is He vain in His work. Satan is.

The book of Enoch is not one of the 66 books of God's Word. Be careful, for it will lead you to many false ideas.

Moses is not a good candidate for one of the Two Witnesses for serious reasons. Only those who represent ultimate overcomers, even more than Moses, such as Elijah and Enoch. We maintain that what is mentioned in 11.6 about the power to shut the heaven from raining is an allusion to something that had actually been done by Elijah; others suggest that the power to turn waters into blood is an allusion to what had been done by Moses. But such an interpretation is based only on what the two men do. According to Hebrews 9, “it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment” (v.27). Moses was dead once, how then could he die again? Moses should therefore not be included.

"Wait a little longer" pertains to judgment and the rest of the saints. The white garments is due to their works, these are the righteousnesses of the saints. A distinction is important here.

"And they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (7.14b). "Robes" is in plural number, and these robes signify righteousnesses, even the righteousnesses of the saints. They do not refer to the Lord Jesus Christ as our righteousness. Indeed, the robe (singular) is righteousness (Is. 61.10), and it is the Lord himself (Jer. 23.6), for Christ is our righteousness (1 Cor. 1.30). We are clothed with Him as we come before God. But this righteousness has no need to be cleansed by the blood.

Hence we have two robes: the one we are clothed with when we are saved, by which we stand before God; the other is our own righteousnesses—even our victories—in which we may stand before Christ. The white garments spoken of in Revelation 3.18 require a price, whereas redemption is that which need not be bought.

No Christian will be judged and condemned before God (John 5.24); but no Christian will be exempt from having to stand and be judged before the judgment seat of Christ according to what he has done (2 Cor. 5.10).

Believers’ robes are washed clean, yet not because of the great tribulation but because of the blood of the Lamb.

The very fact that the robes of the saints are washed in the blood of the Lamb shows how they once were defiled on earth yet they have followed the instruction of 1 John 1.9, and thus they are cleansed.

Rev. 19.16 is not a taking to the New City but a reward to reign in the 1000 years before the New City commences. At the time of 19.16, the temple is still on earth so the New Jerusalem does not come down until the temple on earth is finished (near the end of the millennial kingdom on earth).

Revelation Six is not even fully completed yet. We are somewhere in the 5th and 6th seal today. Once the first rapture begins, Satan realizes his time is short, so the Tribulation commences. Rev. 7 to 11 give the major points of the Tribulation, and 12 to 19 give the details, just like Gen. 3 gives the details of Gen. 2.

The bride in Rev. 19 is not the same as the bride the church in the rest of the Bible.

This wife of the Lamb is different from the bride in Paul’s epistles. For she whom Paul speaks of is clothed with Christ, whereas the wife here is clothed with her own righteousnesses. In Paul’s epistles the church as a whole is viewed as the bride of Christ. In Revelation, the church is considered according to her components, therefore the responsibility of the church before God is stressed. In Paul’s epistles the church is accepted in Christ, but in Revelation the church is accepted in her works. In Paul’s epistles the church in totality belongs to Christ, while in Revelation she is divided into the saved and the overcomers.

This wife of the Lamb is none other than the New Jerusalem (21.9,10).

God is now in His holy temple, so that the voices of praise from the great multitude come also from the temple. During the millennial kingdom the overcomers shall be kings in the city and priests in the temple. But the temple shall gradually lose its prominence until it totally disappears, for God and the Lamb will be the temple in New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth.

Of the church, some (for example, the five wise virgins) will attend the marriage feast, while some (for example, the five foolish virgins) will not be able to attend the marriage feast.

Rev. 7 and 12 show the same overcomer believers. Rev. 12 gives the details of Rev. 7 and Rev. 7 speaks of when first rapture commences, before the trumpets of the Tribulation commence, just as the man-child overcomer believers in chapter 12.

When those who are raptured before the Tribulation, including martyrs, then they are no longer resting. They are fully able to war against Satan to bring him down from second heaven.

How do we know the 70th week is not the tribulation the great of the past 20 centuries?

Look at Daniel chapter 9. After Daniel had confessed the sins of his people, God sent Gabriel to say this to him: "Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy" (v.24). Since Daniel prayed to God for His people and His holy city, God in His answer also mentioned "thy people and thy holy city." Let us understand that "thy people" points to the children of Israel, and "thy holy city" refers to Jerusalem. What God means is this: When the seventy sevens are passed, the transgression of Israel and the holy city will be finished, their sins will come to an end, their iniquity will receive reconciliation, and the everlasting righteousness will be brought to them. Have all these been fulfilled? No, the children of Israel continue today to be "Lo-ammi . . . not my people" (Hosea 1.9). Hence her restoration is yet in the future. These things still remain unfulfilled because the prophecy concerning the seventy sevens has not been fulfilled. But at the second coming of the Lord Jesus, all the prophecies shall be fulfilled.

The first four seals have been completed already. We are at the time of the 5th and 6th seals, before the first rapture at Rev. 7.9.

The sixth seal has aspects to it that commence the Tribulation, and the Tribulation ends with similar events in the cosmos in 11.19, which agrees with Matt. 24.29 where the words “immediately after” are most important in fixing the time. The sun and the moon and the stars should be taken literally. Some try to explain them symbolically as kings, princes and chief captains being shaken; but such an interpretation is unacceptable; because were this the case, the sun and moon and stars would have had to have been shaken before the appearing of the Lord.

The distress mentioned here in Matthew 24.29 is the same as that spoken of in Revelation 6.12-13—except that the time is different. In Revelation we notice that all seven seals (of which these celestial phenomena are the consequences of the sixth seal) are broken at the beginning of the Tribulation, with the seals then followed by further and greater trials in the trumpets and bowls; but here these same celestial things occur after the Tribulation: “But immediately after the tribulation of those days”; hence at the beginning of the Great Tribulation there is a change in these celestial bodies, and likewise at the end of the Tribulation there is still another celestial catastrophe. What we find stated in Joel 2.31 is the same as the sixth seal in Revelation 6, for Joel plainly mentions that these things will occur “before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh” (2.31b). Matthew, though, clearly states that such phenomena will take place “immediately after the tribulation of those days” (24.29).

These changes in celestial bodies must therefore happen twice to encompass the full Tribulation period.

The 4 seals are opened through these past twenty centuries. You can even spend some diligent time in determining which lengths of period they are more applicable to.

The martyrs in Rev. 6 of the 5th seal are all those who were martyred in the past twenty centuries.

The Bible seems to imply that at the first rapture there is no resurrection of the general populace of the saints. The phrase "underneath the altar" does not refer to death as a result of a sin-offering, rather it alludes to death as a consequence of a burnt-offering (Ex. 40.6,10,29; Lev. 4.7,10,18; 1 Chron. 6.49, 16.40, 21.29; 2 Chron. 29.18). Hence, the rapture of the martyrs will take place at the first rapture before the trumpets of the Tribulation along with the living overcomer believers.

1 Corinthians 15.50-55; 1 Thessalonians 4.16-17. The first passage dwells on resurrection and change; the second deals with resurrection and rapture. These two are parallel passages. All students of the Bible agree that the events in both passages happen at the same time. Is there any intimation as to the actual time for these events? Indeed, there is. “At the last trump” indicates that the time must be after the Tribulation. The pretrib onlyist school of interpretation insists that the blowing of the last trumpet occurs before the Tribulation, but its adherents have not a single Scripture verse to support their view. The last trumpet is sounded after the Tribulation; it is the last of the seven trumpets mentioned in the book of Revelation. How absurd it would be if after the last trumpet had been sounded there would still remain seven more trumpets to be heard! It would be like having had the last son born, only to be followed by seven more sons. Someone contends that the “trump” here is the trump of the church, not that of the Tribulation. Where, then, is there recorded in the Scriptures anything said about the first trump of the church? Still others say that Paul merely borrows from the Roman military custom, that as soon as the last trumpet is blown the entire army marches away. Yet the Scriptures have not adopted this Roman military practice. This “trump” is the trump of God, not of the church. Without a doubt it is the last of the seven trumpets cited in the book of Revelation. Furthermore, according to Revelation 10.7, at the sounding of the seventh trumpet the mystery of God is finished - which mystery is the church.

It is not that the book of Enoch is entirely false, but it has several false teachings, which even one false teaching is enough to exclude it from God's Word.

The day-year theory only fosters contradictory claims to the Lord’s announcement: for no one knows the date of His return, not even Jesus himself. Thank God for the book of Revelation that specifically goes into the 7 trumpets of the Tribulation which is the last week of Daniel's prophecy of 7 years. Celestial events encompass the time just prior to the Tribulation in the sixth seal and at the end of the Tribulation (Rev. 11.19). Ch. 6 is the past 20 centuries. Chs. 12 to 19 give the details of the major points of the consummation of this age in Chs. 7 to 11. Ch. 20 is the millennial reign of Christ with His overcomer believers. Ch. 21 is the new city and new earth. Ch. 22 is the final warning. It is quite simple. In fact, the book of Revelation is one of the easiest books of the Bible to understand.

It should be satisfying enough to amillennialists when Rev. 20.3 says the nations will no longer be deceived in the 1000 years that the 1000 years is not happening yet. It should be satisfying enough to pretribber onlyists when Rev. 3.10 and Luke 21.36 provide the condition for first rapture which not all believers fulfill then only a part of the church is rapture before the Tribulation according to readiness. And it should be satisfying enough for posttribber onlyists (or prewrather onlyists) to accept the hope of the church for with the hope of the church is the hope of being received before the time of testing.

Questions raised against separate rapture, and answers thereto, are submitted below.

A. Some people say that the rapture of the church cannot be divided because the body of Christ cannot be divided. It should be noted in reply, however, that the body is a figure of speech which signifies one life. If the body is taken literally, then there is already division today because the Lord is now in heaven, Paul has already died, we remain living on earth, and some believers are yet to be born.

B. Others object that rapture is part of redemption, that since redemption is according to grace, rapture cannot be based on the concept of worthiness. In reply, it needs to be pointed out that while the act of changing (see 1 Cor. 15.51-52) is indeed according to grace, the act of being taken (rapture) is according to works.

C. Some observers ask, is it not rather cruel to take away hope from the church? To which we must answer that in the Scriptures there is no such false hope given; and therefore it is better to alert people to this fact.

D. I Corinthians 15.23, say some, only mentions “they that are Christ’s” and that nothing is said about works. But let us be aware that this verse does not speak of rapture, it speaks of resurrection.

E. Since the dead will not go through the Great Tribulation, would it not be unfair to the living for them to go through it? Will not the righteous God be unjust in this regard? In response, let me say that we do need to be concerned; for during the millennium each and every believer (including all believers who died prior to the Great Tribulation) will receive, as a consequence of appearing before Christ’s judgment seat, the things done in the body while alive, according to what he has done whether it be good or bad (2 Cor. 5.10).

F. Since in 1 Cor. 15:50-52 (“We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed”) “all” is the word used, surely this signifies the whole body. Yes, the “all” here does indeed refer to the entire body, but it does not have reference to the same time. For example, we all will die, but certainly not all of us will do so in one day.

G. There is a distinction made in the Bible between wheat and tares, some say, but no difference made between wheat and wheat; consequently, all wheat must be raptured. In reply, it should be noted that the times of ripening for wheat are not the same. Thus there are the firstfruits and the later harvest.

H. Some argue that according to I Thessalonians 4.15, the living “shall in no wise precede them who are fallen asleep” -The dead are resurrected at the seventh trumpet; and so timewise, rapture occurs after the Tribulation. Now if there is a first rapture, it will have to take place before the resurrection of the dead. But since this verse distinctly says “shall in no wise,” how then can rapture take place twice? Let me say in reply that it is most precious and significant to find in both verse 15 and verse 17 the qualifying clauses “we that are alive, that are left” - Now to be alive is obviously to be left on earth; why, then, is there this apparent unnecessary repetition? Because it implies that there are people who though alive yet have already gone ahead (that is, raptured) and therefore are no longer left on earth. Would Paul enlist himself among this class of people who are alive and are left? Not at all. He uses the word “we” only because he is speaking at that moment of writing, and the proof of this is that since Paul no longer lives today, he cannot be numbered among those who are left on earth. Our summary conclusion to all this is that the third school of interpretation seems to be the correct one - that is to say, that one group of believers will be raptured before the Tribulation while another group of believers will go through the Tribulation and be raptured afterwards.

The Church has a plethora of facts showing pretribulation onlyism is invalid. One of the main concerns to say the least is that when a pretribber onlyists is in the Tribulation they won't accept it, because they pridefully assumed if it was, they would have been raptured already. How deceived they shall be. How antinomian! If they don't accept it when it is actually happening who is to say how they will respond to the mark of the beast.

Oppositely, the posttribber onlyists reject the hope for the church of rapture before the Tribulation. Consequently, they seek first in their lives the Antichrist who necessarily for them must precede the Christ. This will harden their soul and spirit.

And of course an amillennialist is in the biggest trouble of all because in this time of Hitler, Pol pot and Stalin and other atrocities to claim we are in a millennial peace will truly deaden one's conscience.