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A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

Over time I’ve received several questions along the line of the following one. “Why do you think that such an important occurrence as the rapture is spoken of so few times and why is it so “hidden” in scripture?”

It’s true the rapture is not mentioned very often, at least not directly. In fact, the Greek word from which we get the whole rapture idea appears only 13 times in the New Testament and and even then it comes to us in a roundabout way. The Greek word is harpazo and means to catch up or take by force. In most English translations of 1 Thes.4:17 it’s rendered “caught up”. The root from which it comes is haireo which means “to take for oneself.”
1 Thes. 4:17 is the only place the word harpazo refers to the rapture of the Church.

On top of that rapture is an English word that comes from the Latin translation of harpazo which is why you can’t find it in your Bible. You would have to read 1 Thes. 4:17 in Latin to see it there. (It appears as rapiemur.) Many people don’t realize that for the thousand years preceding the Reformation, the Latin Vulgate was the primary translation of the original Greek texts. It was the standard text longer than any other translation before or since.

Although the concept of the rapture appears through out the Bible it wasn’t until about 20 years after the cross that it was described in any detail. This is how Paul could say he was revealing a secret (Listen, I tell you a mystery) when he described it in 1 Cor. 15: 51-53 . Together with 1 Thes. 4:15-17 it was the first clear teaching of the rapture in the history of mankind. Only with the benefit of Paul’s disclosure can you look back through the Bible and see the many hints of the rapture. (See Rapture References )
There was a good strategic reason to keep all this secret before the cross. Paul spoke of it in 1 Cor 2:7-8 . Explaining that his message of wisdom was not taken from the wisdom of the world, he said,

No,we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Remember, Jesus called Satan the prince of this world (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11 ). Paul thought of him as the god of this age (2 Cor. 4:4 ) and John said the whole world is under the control of the evil one (1 John 5:19 ), so Paul’s reference to rulers of this age is not to the High Priest in Jerusalem or Caesar in Rome. He was saying that had Satan and his lackeys understood the extent of the blessings God had in mind for the Church, they would have done everything possible to prevent the crucifixion.

God ’ s Secret Wisdom , Part 1

There are two facets to God’s Secret wisdom where the Church is concerned. And as you’ll see both require absolute secrecy. The first is the manner in which the Church was brought into the world.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:13-15 )

A quarter of a century after becoming a believer, I still can not adequately describe my initial reaction to hearing these verses. I had been in church all my life and had never been told such a thing. The bill of indictment for all the sins of my life, past, present, and future, was cancelled at the cross. This rendered null and void any claim Satan ever had or ever would have against me. At the cross he thought he had won by defeating God’s only hope for the salvation of mankind. Instead, whoever chooses to do so can now receive a lifelong pardon for their sins that no one can ever revoke.

Let me explain here that this knowledge did not inspire me to go out and sin to my heart’s content with out any fear of consequences. Nor does it do so in any other true believer. Those who base their opposition to eternal security on the assumption that only the fear of loss will make us behave are missing the point. Besides, while it was our behavior that caused our sin problem, it’s the Lord’s behavior that cured us. All that’s left for us is to believe and receive it.

No, what this did for me was to produce a knee buckling realization that I could never be worthy of such a gift and created a determination in me to spend the rest of my life trying to live up to what I had already attained (Phil 3:20 ). In God’s eyes I was now perfect (Hebr. 10:14 ), a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17 ). I had been adopted into His own family (Gal 4:4-5 ) and guaranteed a place in His Kingdom (Ephes. 1:13-14 ). I wanted to make sure He didn’t regret doing all that.

This guarantee of salvation is based totally on our belief that Colossians 2:13-15 is true. It was such a radical departure from what God’s enemies had come to expect of Him that they were caught totally flat footed. Before the cross forgiveness only covered past sins. As soon as a person sinned again after the Day of Atonement he was right back in debt and Satan had a brand new claim to him
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To set aside the penalty for his sins, innocent animals had to die in his place, but that didn’t free him. It only gave him a temporary stay of execution (Hebr. 10:3 ).
But when Satan saw the lifelong lists of our sins being nailed to the cross right before his eyes, and heard Jesus say “Paid in full!” (John 19:30 ) he knew that what he thought was going to be his final victory had become his ultimate defeat.

Although with 20-20 hindsight we can look back into the Old Testament and see hints of what God was going to do in the Church, no one before the cross saw this. Not the Jews, certainly not the Gentiles, not even Satan. And instead of a nice orderly transition from Law to Grace, the clock for the Age of Law abruptly stopped seven years short of its previously announced duration (Daniel 9:24-27 ). Religious ceremonies the Jews had viewed as mandatory suddenly became meaningless. A culture steeped in religious law and practice was made obsolete, and would soon be dispersed. For the first and only time in history the gates of heaven had been flung open to whosoever would enter, conditioned only on their belief that Jesus died for their sins and rose again (Romans 10:9 )

God ’ s Secret Wisdom , Part 2

The second facet of God’s secret wisdom will be the way the Church is taken out of the world. At a time no one will be able to determine in advance and without any prior warning, the Church will simply disappear off the face of the Earth forever, leaving the unbelieving world in utter chaos. Because the birth of the Church took Satan by surprise, the details surrounding the Church’s departure have to be even more obscure. He’s a quick study, after all, and has had 2000 years to review what little the Bible has to say about the Rapture. He wouldn’t be so easily taken by surprise a second time.

Being a student of prophecy He knows at least as much as we do about the End Times. (Please remember this. It isn’t that Satan doesn’t know God’s plan, it’s that he believes he can defeat God’s plan.) He knows the rapture will precede the End Times judgments, will take place when the church reaches its full number, and that only God knows the number. But that’s about it, so his only hope is to prevent the Church from reaching that number for as long as possible. Because he doesn’t know what the number is, he’s effectively kept off balance. If he knew when the church was leaving he could plan some kind of counter attack. But since he doesn’t, he’s forced to remain reactive, unable to relax, never knowing when the whistle will blow and the game will be over. I think that’s God’s real purpose in keeping the rapture secret.

When God does take the Church out of the world, there will be another abrupt change as the Age of Law returns for its last seven years. Once again the focus will be on Israel. There will be a Temple with sacrifices and all the other associated ceremonies. Except for all the missing people, it will be like the Church Age never happened. And please understand that even when the New Covenant comes to Israel it won’t be like it is in the Church. A Temple, animal sacrifice, required Holy days, and a Levitical Priesthood will continue into and through out the Kingdom Age, or Millennium.

You see, it’s clear that the Church Age was not intended to be the next step in the progression of God’s plan, to supersede that which came before, and perhaps to be superseded by what comes after. It was a complete and radical departure from the norm and once completed it will never be repeated. Having known nothing but the Church Age we don’t appreciate how unique we are. But as Paul wrote, people in ages yet to come will study the Church to learn the extent of the incomparable riches of God’s grace (Ephes. 2:7 ).

Here , There, Or In The Air

To underscore the Church’s uniqueness, its departure will have to be even more dramatic, even more cloaked in mystery than its arrival was. Soon and very soon, on a day that no one could have predicted in advance, believers will hear a loud command, “Come up here!” (Rev. 4:1 ), accompanied by the trumpet of God. Immediately the spirits of dead believers will receive new resurrection bodies and the living will be transformed from mortal to immortal. Together we will meet the Lord “in the air” having disappeared from Earth in the twinkling of an eye (1 Thes. 4:16-17, 1 Cor. 15:51-53 ) and then we’ll proceed to His Father’s house (John 14:2-3 ).
This has always intrigued me. The Greek word for air refers to that space between Heaven and Earth called its atmosphere. So we’re not immediately going to Heaven, nor is the Lord coming all the way to Earth, as He will in the 2nd Coming. Instead the meeting will take place in the atmosphere.

The atmosphere was created on the 2nd day when God made an expanse to separate the water under it (the sea) from the water above it (the water vapor canopy that surrounded the Earth until the flood.) He called it the sky or firmament (Genesis 1:8 ). Unlike all other creation days, the 2nd day was not pronounced good. Some scholars speculate this is because demonic spirits immediately inhabited it. This may be why Paul also referred to Satan as the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Ephesians 2:2 ).

If this is the case, then it means the Lord is going to shock Satan again, this time by suddenly assembling the raptured Church in his front yard without any warning. Each list of sins that Satan saw nailed to the cross 2000 years ago will be represented by one deliriously happy redeemed believer in a final grand display of victory before we fly off to our mansions in the sky. Talk about a dramatic ending for the Age of the Church. What a day that will be. Now do you see why its exact timing has to be kept secret? We wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise. You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 10-02-10


https://gracethrufaith.com/end-times-prophecy/the-hidden-doctrine-of-the-rapture/

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lordnicklaus:
Preterists and Post-tribists would not agree with you.... Preterists claim the prophecies are already fulfilled while Post-tribists say tribulation before rapture.... Infact, in the bible, the villain, antichrist is to arrive before daddy Jesus returns.

lol are you quoting Bible bro?

morning

Touchnot01:
Ive met several muslims turned atheists who also talk relentlessly about the God of the Bible and christianity. And i think its the same trend all over the world. Nobody wastes such time on a lie. I hope more christians begin to ignore this people and focus more on spreading the love of Christ.

Exactly

lol.... somehow i find dis post funny.... i would have ignored this post but i wanted to address something here.... plz my fellow believers in christ, ignore all these wannabe-nigerian-atheists.... if they claim they were Christians before and want to leave, plz let them!!! Nobody is forcing anyone to believe in Christ!!!! If you feel there's no God, all well and good for you..... everyone has an opinion and i will never force mine on you.....

What i find funny is that you so called atheists will open your thread and still Cc Believers in Christ.... all to what end? So dat you people will start unnecessary argument? please my brothers in Christ Scholar8200 & Muafrika2 please ignore these people... they have made up their minds not to believe the Gospel... the god of this world have blinded their eyes..... they think they are wise not knowing they are the most ignorant people alive... The bible prophesied all these things about the end of the age. . look at all the blasphemies against Christ.... most times i am discouraged to come the religious section because of what am seeing lately.. but when i read the bible concerning the end times, i laughed because the Bible is true.... what Christ prophesied is coming to pass..

To you OP, since you feel that God is your problem and you dont want to worship him again, then there's no problem. But what i dont understand here is the pity party you are putting up here trying to gather sympathizers so dat all of you can bash Christ.... Most times i wonder about the amount of hate and ridicule on Christ and Christianity...... and i came to the conclusion dat its because we are serving a living God..

Mind you, i am a liberal cosmopolitan person, i can never force my belief on you, my motto is Live and lets live.... i am good friends with people of other religion and we get along fine but everyone respects each and everyone's belief... they have heard the Gospel but they didn't believe it so i let them be.... All these pity party of atheists recently on this section bashing God and gathering sympathisers is unnecessary...... To each their belief.....

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A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

“I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matt 24:34-35 ).

Shortly after the “Left Behind” series ended, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins published a non-fiction book called “Are We Living In The End Times?” in response to the many questions they received from folks who read their record breaking series. Their goal was to provide insights into Biblical prophecy that would help readers conclude that the correct answer to the question raised in their book’s title is a resounding YES.

As I was reading the book, I came across a point that I think bears a closer look. It addresses the length of a Biblical generation and is significant due to the popular (mis)interpretation of Matt 24:34 referenced above. Many folks take this verse to mean that the Lord will return within the span of one generation from the time when the first sign appears.

This “one generation” idea has Biblical precedence since all the major prophecies pointing to the first coming were fulfilled within the generation in which the Lord was born. So right away everyone starts speculating on the length of a Biblical generation and that’s where the trouble starts.
But the terms “generation” and “life span” are not equivalent, and Jesus never said the signs would all be fulfilled within the span of one generation, but within the lifetimes of the generation being born when they begin. He said, “this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened .”

What ’ s A Generation?

When the Israelites refused to go into the Promised Land for fear of the Amorites the Lord condemned all the adults except for Caleb and Joshua to death. He said they’d wander in the desert one year for every day the 12 spies were in the land and during that time all the adults age 20 and over would die. The spies were in the land for 40 days so the term of punishment was set at 40 years. During that 40-year period, the Israelites conducted an average of 85 funerals each day to remind them of their failure to obey until all the adults had died (Num. 14). This event led us to speculate that the length of a generation is 40 years when in fact the Lord had really limited the life span of those adult Israelites to coincide with the term of the punishment.

Then there’s the passage in Genesis where the Lord tells Abraham that his descendants would spend 400 years in Egypt as slaves before coming out with great wealth. And then “in the 4th generation your descendants will come back here (Canaan) for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure” ( Gen. 15:13-16 ). This passage appears to equate 400 years with 4 generations, making a generation 100 years long, but this is not the case. The numbers 400 and 4 refer to two different things. True, the Israelites were in Egypt for about 400 years, but a careful study shows that after Moses led them out, the Israelites who finally crossed the Jordan with Joshua were the 4th generation from the one in which Moses was born.

This mystery can be solved with a quick trip to the dictionary, where the length of a generation is defined as “the average interval of time between the birth of parents and the birth of their offspring.” These days no one would wait till age 40 to begin having children, but in Biblical times that was often the case. It took that long for men to learn a trade, build a home, and get themselves financially secure enough to start a family. And of course the key to the definition lies in the word average, so we know we’re dealing with generalities here.

So What’ s The Point ?

There are three possible interpretations of Matt. 24:34 based on the meaning of the Greek word translated “generation”. The first is that it applied to the generation alive when Jesus was speaking. But remember, the context of Matt. 24 was the second coming and the end of the age, neither of which took place within the lifespan of the generation alive at the time.

The Greek word for “generation” can also mean “race” so some people interpret Matt. 24:34 to mean that the Jewish race would not become extinct before the Lord returns. While this has been the case, it certainly doesn’t qualify as much of a sign to say that as long as there are Jewish people living on earth it means the Lord could come back.

The third and most logical interpretation of Matt 24:34 is that the generation being born when the fulfillment of the end times signs begins would still be alive at the Lord’s return. Notice Matt. 24:34 doesn’t say that no subsequent generations would be born, nor does it say that all the signs would be fulfilled before the birth of the next generation. It says the signs will be fulfilled within the lifetimes of those who are born about the time the first sign appears.

For this to be the specific sign the disciples were asking for, there would have to be a Biblical clue that gives us an idea of the time involved, and as it happens, there is a Biblical reference to the length of a person’s life. Psalm 90:10 says the length of our days is 70 years, or 80 if we have the strength. A look at current UN research confirms that 70 years is just about what the world wide average lifespan is today, with the longest lifespans averaging around 80. So there you have it.

When ’ s He Coming ?

In any countdown to the 2nd coming the year 1948 is viewed as the obvious starting point, because the rebirth of Israel is widely accepted as the preeminent sign of the end times. But as we’ve seen, the biggest mistake we’ve made is in adding only 40 years to 1948 when in fact a better number, based on Biblical evidence, is 70-80 years. That would put the 2nd coming somewhere between 2018 and 2028, within most of our lifetimes. Keep in mind that the rapture and 2nd coming are only related to the extent that one must precede the other. The Rapture of the Church is not a date specific event and it could literally happen any moment now. But there are still several other major events that must occur before the 2nd coming.

But to me the real kicker in the Matthew passage we began with is verse 35. Jesus said, “Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matt 24:35 ). This is as strong a commitment as you’ll find anywhere in Scripture. The Lord will return as promised, and soon. Even Heaven and Earth are not as permanent as His promise. You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 07-02-2003


https://gracethrufaith.com/end-times-prophecy/the-terminal-generation/

Burna Boy grants his first interview since being back in the UK.
The Afrobeats star returned to the UK for the first time in 6 years to promote his first UK headline show organized by Cokobar at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith as well as celebrate his birthday .

Factory78 caught up exclusively with the “on a spaceship ” star to discuss his music , return to the UK and his recent outburst at Nigerian bloggers .

See excerpts below.

On his return to the UK: It feels great to be here. I haven’t really come to terms with how it feels but when I do you’ll be the first to know.

On his rant about Nigerian bloggers: I just think f!ck all y’all. In a gift wrapped.

On artists getting some benefits from stories bloggers carry: I never asked you to write about me. I never asked anyone to write about me. I’ll be happy if nobody wrote about me. I’ll appreciate that very much. Just listen to my music and if you don’t like it listen to someone else.

On his mom: She’s like my best friend. She’s always been. She’s been doing a good job so far.

https://www.bellanaija.com/2016/06/i-never-asked-you-to-write-about-me-burna-boy-has-a-message-for-nigerian-bloggers-in-this-interesting-interview/

otemanuduno:
Come and hear what a messenger of Jehovah is saying here. After the DOCTUFOS is complete he will be among those who will call me the Antichrist, yet he has said it already THAT THE ANTICHRIST WILL COME FROM ROMAN EMPIRE AND NOT NIGERIA.
muafrika2, joagbaje and Mrzenographer the 666 propagandist, come and see your co-scammer here.

and who told you that the antichrist will come from Nigeria? And no, you are not the antichrist but you are helping him set the his stage before manifestation... lol.

Anas09:
I just tire for these people running around confused.
He accused me of reading Scofield's Bible. As if Scofield contains different content from what other Bibles have.

The guy is just confused.... mixing up two different events..... He does not even understand what tribulation means. The worst time in the whole world.... what we are now experiencing is very minor compared to what will happen during tribulation.

If the church happens to go through the 7 years tribulation on earth, that means that what Paul said that Christ will deliver us from the wrath to come was a lie.... but i know that God doesn't lie cos His words is always true....

crixtex:
And bro u are a pre-trib realist... St paul said, we must with much tribulation enter.into the kingdom of God....wat he talking to the jews here??
Bro...we know the Antichrist will come... our bone of contention is if there will be rapture before d antichrist tribulation ..
Mark 13:24-27... Jesus said, Immediately after the Tribulation of those days..., He will appear in the clouds...and send his angels to gather his 'ELECT' from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven...
Now who are the ELECT??

The elect in context here are the tribulation saints...the people that gave their life to Christ after the rapture of the church. But please, no more argument, since you believe you will go through the tribulation before you rapture, so be it for you. I don't argue about things that am very sure of now...... The argument wont get us anywhere...... I don't want this thread to be derailed unnecessarily..... Everyone to their belief, its a free world. Plz no more unnecessary argument, good nite.