My Personal Christian Blog

Thanks for sliding into my blog site. This blog bog is a spin-off from my website at http://www.niteowldave.com/. Call me a Night Owl, as my full-time mission and hobby are jabbering from midnight until 8 a.m.ish with chatter bugs across the world. Hoot, hoot! Being a retired newspaper guy and a Curious George, I've written and assembled a whack of stuff that I hope you'll find interesting and thought-provoking. Check out the Stories bar on the right side, below, for all my articles - from my web site and this blog.




July 20, 2011

WHAT ARE THE RAPTURE AND TRIBULATION?

By Grace Kemp
gracekemp@aol.com

The Rapture is the pre-tribulation removal of the church to Heaven and marks the end of the church age, a period of time in which God brings believing Jews and Gentiles together in one body called the church.

Since no true believers, living or dead, are left behind, there is no need for a second Rapture. (1 Thess. 4:15-17).

The Tribulation begins after John's call to Heaven that may symbolize the Rapture (Rev. 4:1).

The seven years of Tribulation is all about the Jews. It is not only "the time of Jacob's trouble," (Jer, 30:7), but salvation is, once again, "of the Jews" (John 4:22). Believing Jews are the evangelists in the Tribulation.

Following the Rapture, God's two Jewish witnesses station themselves on either side of the golden menorah in the newly built temple in Jerusalem (Zech. 4:2,3,).

There, they prophesy to Jewish worshipers (Rev, 11:1). Their first converts are the 144,000 Jews (Rev.14:4). There is no record of any Gentile converts (Matt. 24:9).

Note the rejoicing of Gentiles when the two witnesses are killed. (Rev. 11:9,10).

At the midpoint of the Tribulation, one third of all Jews on earth believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, likely as a result of God's spectacular deliverance of the Jews from the invading, northern army (Ezek. 38, 39; Zech. 13:8).

These converts, the remnant of Israel, hide out in the Judean wilderness during the final 3 1/2 years of the Great Tribulation (Rev. 12:6, 13-16). The unbelieving 2/3's of Jews who are not in hiding are killed (Zech. 13:8).

The departure of the two witnesses marks the end of God's outreach to Israel as a whole. Hereafter, He deals with the believing remnant of Israel.

The millions of Gentiles converted through the preaching of the 144,000 Jews during the Great Tribulation, become proselytes of Israel just as they did in the Old Testament (Rev. 7:9, 13-17). The remnant of Israel rules the world under Christ, their King, during the Kingdom age.

----------------

* To summarize, the Rapture marks the end of God's outreach to the church. The removal of the two witnesses marks the end of God's outreach to national Israel.

* I see no Biblical basis for believing in a second Rapture.