Thank God, I needed this understanding. BEHOLD THE BEAST The False Prophet 16 - THE LAST TRUMPET CHAPTER 16 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto His voice; (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God) He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He sware unto them.. DEUTERONOMY 4:30-31 But we are all going to be raptured out before the real bad times come, right? Lets make a little agreement between you, the Lord, and me. Lets take all our commentaries and set them aside for a while. Then lets take the Bible, and only the Bible, and see what it has to tell us about the final sequence of events. Please be patient with me for making this a kind of nit-picking chapter. The Is are dotted and the Ts are crossed because if the Scripture verses quoted below really mean what they say, then ALL of our current end-time ideas will need rethinking. Lets begin with a quote that is familiar to almost every Christian: 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Last Trumpet 179 All agree that those verses refer to the so-called rapture of the Church.1 In fact, 1 Th 4:16-17 is one of the central passages in Scripture that supports the physical return of the Lord Jesus to this Earth. Note the WE. Paul was speaking to the Church of which he was part and we have every scriptural reason to believe that we also includes us. You and I and the rest of the church are the WE of 1 Th 4:16-17. Thats relatively simple, isnt it? Also note that Jesus is returning with the .trumpet of God.. Now the Bible is full of trumpets, including seven in Revelation, so the next logical question is this: Which biblical trumpet is this one? Of all the trumpets in the Bible, at which one is the Church taken to be with the Lord? 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 Behold, I shew 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 trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.2 Ah, and there it is, the last trumpet! We are taken to be with the Lord at the last trumpet. That trumpet is singular, so no other trumpets are blown with it. Also, there are no modifiers such as, except the trumpets of judgment, or except the trumpets in Revelation. That needs to be emphasized: There are NO exceptions! Not one Bible trumpet is left out! ________________________________ 1 Rapture is in quotes because the author does not find the return of the Lord for the saints so characterized anywhere in Scripture. It is believed to have come from the Latin Vulgates raptao in reference to this event. By definition, the word ra- pture seems more suitable for the mystery religions than it does for sober Chris- tians looking forward to the most awesome event in all history, the return of Jesus. The whole Rapture concept may have been brought into the church by the publicists of Margaret Macdonalds vision. See Dave MacPherson, The Rapture Plot, (Simpsonville, SC, Millennium III) 2 Compare this 1Co quote with the 1Th quote above it. In both, the dead in Christ are raised, and in both, trumpets are blown. Notice also that there are three more wes. Here is the point: If the we Paul was speaking of in 1Th 4:17 includes us, then so do the wes in 1Co 15:51-52. Believe it or not, there are those who claim that 1Th 4:16-17 is for the Church, while 1Co 15:52 is for the great tribulation saints. Nonsense! There are wes in both passages! Either both verses are for us, or neither are. We cant go arbitrarily picking through the wes in the Bible on the basis of some doctrine we wish to defend. __________________________________ 180 The False Prophet Recognizing that the church will be taken to be with the Lord at the one and only last trumpet of all time simplifies a doctrinal point the Church has been arguing about for over 100 years. Matthew 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time. Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days ... the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: Matthew 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet [a great trumpet, NASB], and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Note the sequence of events: (1) Tribulation. (2) After the tribulation. (3) Great trumpet. Last Trumpet 181 So isnt it obvious that the last trumpet comes after the tribulation?1 Sure, and since the church is taken up at the last trumpet, the only way to defend the pre-trib rapture is to rewrite Scripture and put verse 31 before verse 21. 2 No matter what our doctrines may have been in the past, the Bible states that our trumpet is the last, and the last trumpet does not blow until Rev 11:15, after the six other trumpets in Revelation have blown.3 So the last trumpet is solid scriptural evidence that the Church will be on earth through the trumpets of Revelation. Now Brethren, that isnt just another irrational end-time theory. If we have ears to hear it, that is what the Word of God proclaims, straight out. The last Bible trumpet blows in Rev 11:15, but the conditions surrounding that trumpet blast are described in chapter ten: Rev 10:6-7 ... that there should be time no longer: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. What a tremendous verse. If there is a central Scripture about the chronology of the Lords return, Rev 10:6-7 is it. As is true of every other creation of this present age, when the seventh trumpet sounds, it also appears that time itself will come to an _______________________ 1 Some believe the Church is raptured at the end of Rev 3 because church (the Greek word X6680F\, usually rendered church), does not appear after Rev 3. Some logic. Thats like saying Esther didnt believe in God because the word God, does not appear in the book of Esther. But the main problems with their view are still the seven trumpets of Revelation chapters 9 - 11. 2 Dave MacPherson writes, Over the years Ive privately contacted hundreds of the best-known evangelical scholars in regards to their prophetic views. The vast majority ... harmonizes 1 Thessalonians 4s coming with Matthew 24s coming, but the general public doesnt know this. If just a minority ... were to publicly reveal their positions, pretrib dispensationalism would receive a death blow. The Rapture Plot (Simpsonville, SC, Millennium III Publishers), p.233 3 There are some denominational theologians who declare that this last trumpet does not include the seven trumpets in Revelation. Unbelievable as it may sound, they theorize that Revelations seven trumpets are special trumpets of judgment excluded from the firm mandate of 1Co 15:52. There is absolutely no Scripture for their view, and it is counter to the plain testimony of the Bible: the declaration that we are taken to be with the Lord at the last trumpet! ________________________________________ 182 The False Prophet end.1 Thats important, because understanding that time will come to an end affects our end time doctrine.2 The mystery of God is the Church in Christ Jesus.3 So the Church as a betrothed body of believers on Earth will be concluded at this trumpet. As He hath declared to His servants the prophets. Which prophets is the Lord speaking of? We dont see any excluded, so these prophets are all the prophets in the Bible, both Old Testament and New. All prophecy will be fulfilled at this trumpet. Of course, this does not include those few verses which refer to the eternal Kingdom of God. That timeless state continues into infinity. Lets look at the verse where that trumpet blast sounds. The 7th trumpet is blown right in the middle of Revelation, after the Seven Churches, after the Seven Seals, after six other trumpets, and after the Two Witnesses: Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. __________________________________ 1 The correct definition of the Gr. PD`
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 19:13:22 +0000
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