I said it was a start. Give me just as much feed back as you can.
You and I can read the for_his_glory scriptures and we may can move on together.
eddif
I seem to agree with FHG on most things excpt for thr rapture and when it happens.
I used to pretrib. Then FHG, JLB and others made such a good case for the rapture being after the tribulation that I moved to their way of thinking. Post Trib.
But it continued to bug me, but I couldn't put my finger on why. But slowly over a period of time, I think I ut it together and my thoughts now are that, I was right in the first place, Jesus has too much Love for His Bride to let her go through the Tribulation.
In Matthew 24, I've been taught that it all describes a single event. And it sounds like it does, unless you are paying very close attention.
Let's look at Matthew 24: 36-42
No. Let's start at the beginning of the chapter. In verse 3, the disciples come to Jesus privately and ask what signs will tell us that the end of the world is near?
3 Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will signal your return and the end of the world?[
a]”.../
No man knows the day or hour that the rapture happens, not even Jesus. But the signs of His 2nd coming are all spelled out for us, right? Ok so all of the signs He talks about must be talking about the 2nd coming. I get that, the rapture wont have signs, but the 2nd coming will.
Do we agree that you can practically set your watch to the Lord's 2nd coming by the events of the Tribulation? The antichrist will sign a 7 year peace treaty with Israel, and the countdown begins, right? Jesus is giving us all of the signs that will show that the end is near...
Verses 4 through 31 is a detailed description of the accompanying signs to the end and Jesus's 2nd coming...you with me?
Ok, now here is where we have to pay very close attention. Now Jesus has clearly been talking about the end times, the 2nd coming. But He continues to talk, and if you don't be careful, you wont pick up on the fact that Jesus changes the subject in verse 32 and starts talking about the fig tree...(not the 2nd coming anymore).
32 “Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near. 33 In the same way, when you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation[
j] will not pass from the scene until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.
36 “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself.[
k] Only the Father knows.../
Verse 32, first word! Now learn a lesson from the Fig tree...No matter which translation you are reading it will translate as Now, however, or considering...it is a conjunction, He's changing the subject. Now listen to something else (He could have said). The word is a contrastive introduction of a new subject and it should have been translated as, "but concerning".
32 “Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near. 33 In the same way, when you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door.../
So He is comparing the Fig tree to the end times and when you see the branches bud and leaves sprout...when you see all of the signs we just discussed, you know the end is near...talking about the 2nd coming (because there are signs) and making an analogy about a fig tree showing you when it's fruiting time to the sigs that we will see before the 2nd coming...
34 I tell you the truth, this generation[
j] will not pass from the scene until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.../
That would be the last generation but you can see the analogy is comparing a fig tree to the 2nd coming...
36 “
However, no one knows the day or hour when
these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself.[
k] Only the Father knows.../
And Jesus goes on to make another analogy about the days of Noah and the Rapture, and we know this because no one knows when these things will happen, not even Jesus. So it has to be the rapture He speaks of.
What was it like in Noahs day? People didn't believe in Noahs tale of rain coming. He preached on it for four generations! And people were like, oh I'm getting married today, I'm going on vaacation. It was business as usual. All the way up until it started to rain!
Then 8 people, Noah and his family...were raptured out to live from the flood, and the entire world perished. We have the saving of a few souls and the judgement of many. They died!
Matthew 24
37 “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. 38 In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. 39 People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.
40 “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.
42 “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.../(NLT)
You see, the disciples asked Jesus about end times. Jesus told them. Well, there's my 2nd coming where I stop the war and destroy the enemy and these are the signs of it, and there's also the rapture incident which has no signs or warnings so we better be ready! (doctrine of immenince) ...and explains both in Matthew 24.
This is so, I believe what I have said.
