Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....October 16, 2017
I have gotten a lot of emails asking me about the phenomenon called the Rapture. Is it going to happen, how, when why? So I thought I would touch on the subject this week, since we are in the beginning sessions of our Understanding the Book of Revelation at C4.
Perhaps no other doctrine in all of Christianity creates more buzz and yet controversy than the yet-future advent known as the rapture.
Many Christians believe in the rapture and many others do not; even among those who believe, there are opposing views as to whether the rapture occurs before, during, or after the tribulation talked about in Revelation.
This diversity among Christians is not bothersome, though, because the rapture is not a salvation issue.
A born-again believer is not going to lose his or her salvation based on the acceptance or denial of rapture doctrine.
Therefore, I choose not to bicker, contend, or argue about it with Christians. On such matters, I prefer instead simply “to agree to disagree.”
That said let me now state that I do see sufficient evidence in the Bible to support a rapture and wholeheartedly accept the view that Christians will rapture prior to the tribulation.
What is the Rapture?
The rapture is an event in which born-again believers that are alive and remaining on this earth during some prescribed future time known only to God will miraculously and suddenly be transformed from flesh to spirit and taken into the presence of Jesus Christ.
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and the trumpet of God…Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with Him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
“Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
…"And they were oblivious, until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.…" (Matthew 24:39-41)
In other words, rapture is the physical removal of believers from this planet by God at some appointed future time known only to God.
Does Scripture Suggest a Rapture?
The most compelling evidence in Scripture that Christians will rapture concerns Israel. But we’ll discuss that in a moment. First, let me share something else (perhaps not as persuasive) but indeed noteworthy.
In the first chapter of the Book of Revelation, inside His instructions for how John was to write the prophecy, Jesus used three distinct tenses: past, present, and future.
“Write the things which you have seen…”, “Write…the things which are…”, “Write…the things which will take place after this” (Rev.1:19).
The first, “the things which you have seen” is in the past tense. This could only have meant what John had seen moments earlier when he beheld Christ. Thus corresponding with John’s eyewitness account of the risen and glorified Son of God as contained in Chapter One.
The second, “the things which are” is in the present tense. Which, when taken in conjunction with the letters Jesus addressed to the Church in chapters Two and Three, denotes that that Jesus was speaking of the Church (which did exist during the time of John).
The third, “the things which will take place after this” is in the future tense. This corresponds with the yet-future events shown to John beginning in Chapter Four after he is subsequently taken in the “Spirit” to heaven and shown the future (Revelation 4:1-2).
Many believe (as do I) that these series of events leading from how Jesus outlines the prophecy to John’s rapture into heaven after the Church is addressed are an anti-type of the rapture of the Church prior to the tribulation. Also suggestive is the fact that the Church is never seen on earth throughout all the grim events of the tribulation, and when represented, only as being in Heaven.
Fair enough. But there is a more compelling reason to believe the Church will rapture prior to the tribulation that surrounds the Nation Israel and as such, suggests the explanation for the tribulation.
Why a Tribulation?
Christians generally believe in a tribulation. Therefore, the issue among most Christians is not the reality of a tribulation but its purpose; and this is where doctrinal beliefs about rapture differ.
The opposing camp would say that the tribulation is for the purification of the Church, and therefore reject the idea that God would enable Christians to escape what He intends for a cleansing.
On the other side, of course, others discern Scripture teaching something entirely different from that view. And for any number of conclusions, have little cause to doubt that the rapture will occur and absolutely believe that it will occur at some point or the other.
For me personally, the most convincing proof that there will be a pre-tribulation rapture is inside Daniel’s prophecy regarding the Nation Israel and the fulfillment of Israel’s “seventieth week”.
Israel’s Seventy Week's
Seventy years after Daniel and his people had been carried away captive and Jerusalem destroyed by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Chronicles 36:17-21), Daniel, from his understanding of the book of Jeremiah, knew that these “desolations” were nearing an end (Jeremiah 25:11; Daniel 9:2). As a result, he was praying for an understanding as to the future of his “city” and his “people” (Daniel 9:3-19) and while in prayer, was visited by the angel Gabriel and given this message.
“Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself…” (Daniel 9:24-26)
Upon close inspection, several truths are undeniable. That the prophecy pertains to Daniel’s people and holy city (Israel and Jerusalem), that there is an allotment of time of seventy weeks in which God has vowed He would complete a miraculous work in the Nation, and finally, that along with a scheduled starting point (“from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem”) it is also clear that the time-line is interrupted and a portion of God’s vows for the Nation are yet unfulfilled.
Okay, now let’s take a closer look.
First, let’s consider the measure of time. The Hebrew word for “weeks” is shabua, meaning literally a “seven”, including a week of seven days, a week of weeks, a week of months, and a week of years. It will become clear shortly that the word shabua used here refers to “years of sevens” or “seven-year periods”. Likewise, that the allotment of time in this prophecy is a period of four hundred and ninety years (70 X 7 = 490).
Secondly, we must recognize that the “weeks” are not contiguous. Rather than one period of 490 consecutive years, there is an explicit interval between the 69th and 70th weeks. In other words, 483 consecutive years (69 weeks) to the time when “Messiah shall be cut off” and a remaining 7 years (the 70th week) reassigned to the future.
Thirdly, let’s consider the historical date scheduled to begin the countdown of this allotment of years. Gabriel identifies it as “the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem”; which did occur years later on March 14, 445 BC when King Artaxerxes of Persia gave the decree to Nehemiah to return to and rebuild Jerusalem (see—Nehemiah 2:1-8). In his book entitled “Daniel’s Prophecy of The 70 Weeks”, author Alva J. McClain describes in detail how the 483 years (69 weeks) from March 14, 445 BC to when “Messiah shall be cut off” ends on April 6, 32 AD—the very day when Jesus was presented as “Messiah the King” to Israel and rejected (Luke 19:28-44).
Fourthly, six promises made by God in the prophecy are still awaiting completion and have yet to be fulfilled.
- to finish the transgressions;
- to make an end of sins;
- to make reconciliation for iniquity;
- to bring in everlasting righteousness;
- to seal up the vision;
- to anoint the Holy of Holies
It’s Not Coincidental
As Bible and prophecy teacher, Chuck Missler, once remarked, “Coincidence is not a kosher word to God.” That a prophecy surrounding Israel has yet a time allotment of seven years (the length of the tribulation) and promises of healing and reconciliation still pending cannot be coincidental. Likewise, the notion that God will not fulfill His promise to the Nation, or somehow meant something other than what He told Daniel in response to the prophet’s prayer for his people and Jerusalem is beyond comprehension.
Naturally, one day we will all know the truth about rapture. But for now, I am fully persuaded that the final yet-future tribulation concerns God’s divine purpose and plan for the Nation Israel and the Church will not be here to endure it.
More exciting still is that rapture can happen in our lifetime. The next breath we inhale here on earth might very well be exhaled in heaven in the presence of Jesus. It’s a wonderful thought “Therefore, let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:6).
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
It was late September. I was driving through a heavy fog to a store to pick up a few things. When I got there I strolled through the store looking for what I needed. I grabbed a bag of dog food for my dogs, a pack of batteries for my son, and a bite of chocolate for myself. As I turned the corner to head for the checkout register, though, I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. A two foot tall skeleton wearing a tuxedo was staring across the room at a two foot tall stuffed Santa Claus, I slowly shook my head and walked on.
As I was driving home the fog lifted and the loveliness of the Autumn leaves started to shine in the sunlight. There were reds, yellows, oranges, burgundies, and browns. It was so beautiful. It was as if God had hand painted each one, Himself. As I watched them I realized why I had been so bothered by what I had seen in the store. It wasn’t that Halloween was a month away and Christmas 3 months away. It wasn’t that the stores were doing all they could to take money from our pockets and add debt to our credit cards. It wasn’t that all of these former “holy days” had been turned into “holidays.” I had known all of these things for quite a while. It was the simple fact that we had forgotten that every day is holy. Every day is sacred. Every day is precious. We had created a world in which we regret the past, live for the future, and spend all of our wealth trying and failing to buy a few moments of joy here and there.
God doesn’t want us to live months in advance. God wants us to Love, Today! God wants us to share our smile, our kindness, our warmth and our joy with each other. God wants us to love each person we are with, each day of our life. God wants us to live as if each day is holy because every day is holy. Ignore the Santas in the stores then. Share the love in your heart instead. Make your life your gift. And give that gift joyously to God and to everyone you meet.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
Judging Others
7 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
Ask, and It Will Be Given
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
The Golden Rule
12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
A Tree and Its Fruit
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
I Never Knew You
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Build Your House on the Rock
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
The Authority of Jesus
28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
JUDGING OTHERS
Jesus warns his disciples against passing judgment on people (7:1–6). God will measure us by the very same standard we apply to others.
Jesus thinks of his days as a carpenter. You can’t see to remove a tiny speck of sawdust from someone’s eye if you have a great plank of wood in your own. So it is with judging others. We pick on a tiny blemish in someone else’s behavior, when there’s a far greater fault in ourselves.
We must also be wise when we speak about God. Sharing the gospel with people who don’t want it is like throwing pearls to pigs.
ASK, SEEK, KNOCK
Jesus encourages his disciples to develop their relationship with God. We will find him to be a loving and generous Father. We have only to ask to receive his help, only to seek to find his way and only to knock to discover his welcome (7:7–12).
Are we afraid that God will trick us or disappoint us? Will he take advantage of our weakness, or suddenly let us down? Jesus says that a human father, with all his failings, knows how to be kind and consistent with his child. Won’t our heavenly Father, who is perfect, be better still?
‘Do as you would be done by!’
Jesus sums up his teaching on how to treat people (7:12). We must behave towards others as we would like them to behave towards us. Give generously and receive joyfully. Forgive and be forgiven. Don’t judge and don’t be judged. This is the golden rule. This is the love of God in action.
DECISION TIME
The teaching of Jesus is inspired and exciting. A life of joyful obedience opens before us—a life which finds its happiness in God’s love and its purpose in the work of his kingdom. But will we follow where he leads (7:13–14)?
Jesus is not interested in merely entertaining us with stories or intriguing us with wise sayings. He looks for us to make a choice. He invites us to join him on the narrow road that leads to life.
A WARNING
Jesus gives a warning about false prophets (7:15–23). These are people who claim to come from God, but don’t. They are fierce and dangerous—like wolves disguised as sheep. We must look carefully at what they actually do.
You tell a good prophet like you tell a good tree—by the fruit! Jesus says there are plenty of prophets, exorcists and miracle-workers around who are nothing to do with him. So beware!
THE WISE AND FOOLISH BUILDERS
Jesus ends his teaching with a challenge. You will only know the truth if you do it! For Jesus, the truth is to be lived.
Living the truth is like building a house on a foundation of rock. Storms, hurricanes and flood water can do their worst, but the house will always stay standing (7:24–29).
To hear the teaching of Jesus and ignore it is like building a house on sand. It has no proper foundation. When the trials of life come beating down and doubts come flooding in, the life without truth will collapse.
The crowds are buzzing. They like Jesus—his vitality, his wisdom, his humor, his directness … Most of all, his words spring confidently and naturally from his life. He is so different from their other teachers!
The Kingdom of Heaven
Matthew’s understanding of the kingdom of God is essentially the same as Mark’s, although he does highlight some distinctive features. First, Matthew’s kingdom teaching (forty-nine references) is much more prevalent than Mark’s (fifteen references). Second, Matthew prefers the phrase “kingdom of heaven” (thirty times), probably because of the traditional Jewish aversion to pronouncing the name of God. Third, Matthew focuses attention on genuine membership in the kingdom, warning that many take their membership for granted and are in danger of losing it unexpectedly (7:15–27; 8:12; 13:47–50; 18:1–7; 19:14; 21:43; 25:1–13, 34–46). This final theme clearly refers to Jesus’ rejection by the leaders of Israel. Matthew warns that the supposedly secure occupants of God’s kingdom will find themselves replaced by the repentant sinners, prostitutes, and believing Gentiles who now receive Jesus as their Messiah (21:32; 22:1–10; 24:14).
Puskas, C. B., & Crump, D. (2008). An Introduction to the Gospels and Acts (pp. 93–94). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Knowles, A. (2001). The Bible guide (1st Augsburg books ed., p. 418). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.
Knowles, A. (2001). The Bible guide (1st Augsburg books ed., p. 418). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.
Knowles, A. (2001). The Bible guide (1st Augsburg books ed., pp. 417–418). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.
Knowles, A. (2001). The Bible guide (1st Augsburg books ed., p. 417). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mt 7:28–29). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mt 7:15–27). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mt 7:7–14). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mt 7:1–6). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou