The Revelation of
Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which
must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified [it] by his angel unto his
servant John: Blessed [is] he that readeth, and they that hear the words of
of this prophecy, and keep those
things which are written therein: for the time [is] at hand. - Revelation 1:1, 3
KJV
Church Members Left Behind?
In Jesus’ letter to
the seven churches He explains that there are those in churches who are worthy
to escape and those who are not! Those who are worthy are described as overcomers.
How can it be that
there are individuals in a church that will not be raptured? It is my belief
that there are many, many people that call themselves Christians but who have
NOT made Jesus Christ the Lord of their life. I know because I was one of them.
I had been raised in church and even loved the Lord Jesus. But here’s the crux
of the matter—it wasn’t until I was 23 years old that I confessed with my mouth
that I wanted to live my life for Jesus Christ.
Do you see the
difference?
You are not to be
the lord and master over your own life—you must make Jesus the Lord over your
life so that the Holy Spirit may enter and seal you!
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. - Romans 10:9-10 KJV
You may be part of
a church/ekklesia/assembly
but not necessarily bound for Heaven! Those who wait to confess Jesus as their
Lord after the Rapture will be the saints who will endure the Tribulation as
recorded in the Book of Revelation:
And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power
was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. - Revelation 13:7
KJV
Who are the Overcomers?
So who are these
overcomers? They are individuals who have confessed from their heart Romans
10:9 and have incorruptible seed within them:
For whatsoever is born [gennaō]
of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the
world, [even] our faith. - 1 John 5:4 KJV
Being born again [anagennaō],
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth for ever. - 1 Peter 1:23 KJV
Who is Worthy?
Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be
accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to
stand before the Son of man. - Luke 21:36 KJV
In a recent video
by RAPTURE WATCHERS it is explained
how true believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit.
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are
sealed unto the day of redemption. - Ephesians 4:30 KJV
The incorruptible
seed of 1 Peter 1:23 is the Spirit of God within the believer—it is
Christ in you the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).
It is because of the gift of the Holy Spirit
within us that we are worthy to escape. Only the Holy Spirit makes us
overcomers!
Seven times Christ
warns the seven churches. But He also makes seven promises to those who
overcome:
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches; To him that
overcometh…
~ will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise
of God. - Revelation 2:7 KJV
~ shall not be hurt of the second death. - Revelation 2:11 KJV
~ will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in
the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth
[it]. - Revelation 2:17 KJV
~ and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: -
Revelation 2:26 KJV
~ the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name
out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before
his angels. - Revelation 3:5 KJV
~ will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and
I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God,
[which is] new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and [I
will write upon him] my new name. - Revelation 3:12 KJV
~ will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set
down with my Father in his throne. - Revelation 3:21 KJV
Redemption Day=Escape!
Either Jesus is lying in Luke 21:36 or there is an escape
from what is referred to as the Tribulation.
There are strong scriptural inferences
that the Rapture will occur before the Tribulation begins. A couple of those
are found in Jesus’ Olivet Discourse as recorded in Luke 21. Jesus stated that
when the end time signs “begin to take place,” we
are to look up, for our redemption will be drawing near (Luke 21:28). Note
that the redemption will come not at the end of the signs, but as they begin to
take place. Jesus then added that believers should pray earnestly that they
might “escape” the great tribulation that is coming
upon “all those who dwell on the face of the earth” (Luke 21:36).christinprophecy.org
Thy dead [men] shall live, [together with] my dead body
shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew [is as]
the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. - Isaiah 26:19 KJV
This, of course, speaks of
resurrection. Notice the phrase “together with my dead body shall they
arise”—this reminded me of how Christ as the Head of the Body has already
arisen but one day the “dead in Christ” (His Body) will arise! Remember
Lot's Wife
The day of our redemption is our escape day via the harpazo.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we
which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them
which are asleep.
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 [harpazō]
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we
ever be with the Lord. - 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 KJV
Those who wait to confess Jesus as their Lord after the Rapture will have missed the greatest escape of all times, but Jesus in the Book of Revelation promises that “he that overcometh” does escape!
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also
will keep thee from the hour of temptation,
which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
- Revelation
3:10 KJV
The words "keep" and "from" are translated from the Greek words tēreō ek. According to The Master's Seminary Journal, page 222 of the PDF:
Thayer says that
when this verb [tēreō] is used with en it means “to
cause one to persevere or stand firm in a thing”; while when it is used
with ek it means “by guarding to cause one to escape in safety
out of.” Since ek is used here it would indicate that
John is promising a removal from the sphere of testing, not a preservation
through it. This is further substantiated by the use of the words “the
hour.” God is not only guarding from the trials but from the very hour itself
when these trials will come on those earth dwellers. (To understand verses that
promise an escape read Saved From
Wrath.)
For when they shall
say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail
upon a woman with child; and they shall
not escape. - 1 Thessalonians 5:3 KJV
But ye, brethren, are not in
darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. - 1 Thessalonians 5:4 KJV
For God hath not appointed us to
wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Wherefore comfort yourselves
together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. - 1 Thessalonians 5:9,11 KJV
Caveat: I do not necessarily agree
with all the beliefs of anyone whose material I reference. I seek to be led of
the Spirit of God as to the sources I use, however, even Spirit-filled
Christians only 'see in part' as it says in 1 Corinthians 13:12.
