I am sorry that this may be a bit lengthy but I could not make it any more brief than it is otherwise I will have left out a lot that needs to be said. I am not attempting to be contentious I am simply bringing out another opinion which I believe to be the truth as the Lord has revealed it to me by His Spirit.
I beg to differ from the pretribulation rapture and I believe that the antichrist spirit has been in this world since the fall of man. Those in the first Adam have always persecuted and killed those who believe in the Jewish Messiah – Jesus Christ. I hope to show this below.
The rapture is actually Jesus Christ, who is the Bridegroom, coming for His bride the church. I would ask the question what does the following verses mean then if we are taken out of the way before the antichrist is revealed and before the tribulation period?
2Th 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2Th 2:2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Gen 3:15 makes it clear that there will be two seeds that oppose each other, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. You will know that the seed of the woman is Jesus Christ and the seed of the serpent is the antichrist possessed by Satan and who is known as the god of this world. The spirit of the antichrist has been here since the fall because all those who are not in Christ naturally adhere to the seed of the serpent. They are all as the first Adam in sin and rebellion and follow the way of Cain who slew his brother. Cain attempted to please God with his good works (self righteousness) and Abel (who believed himself a sinner) believed God and in the one who would come and take the judgement of God on Himself for all the people of the earth (Jesus Christ). He provided a sacrifice because he believed what God had done in Gen 3:21 where God made clothes of skins and clothed them which metaphorically speaks of a sacrifice that the seed of the woman would make that would cover their sins.
The Book of Revelation is not a chronological book. So, you cannot read it as one continuous story chapter after chapter. Before we get there let us look at what Jesus says:
Luk 17:26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. Luk 17:27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
When we look at these verses we see two things that stand out:
1). As in the days of Noe (Noah) actually means just as in the days of Noah –
kathōs
kath-oce'
From G2596 and G5613; just (or inasmuch) as, that: - according to, (according, even) as, how, when.
And
2). Until they entered the ark and the flood came.
So we see that as Jesus Himself was referring to Noah we should look at it because He used it so we should take note of it and see how it pertains to the end days..
So, they entered the ark and then the flood came, the judgement of God on godless and lawless people.
Gen 6 speaks of a lot of things pertaining to the end times but we cannot go through all that here, what I want to point out however is that the ark speaks of Christ in whom we must be in order to escape the judgement of God. The door is Christ by which we can enter read John 10:1-9 – He is the door through which we must enter.
Gen 7 has some interesting verses that cannot be explained away. Let us look at them:
Gen 7:4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. Comment: 6000 years have elapsed since the creation of all things and before there will be peace on the earth (the millennial reign of Christ) the day of the Lord must take place. This Day of the Lord is when God brings the nations against Israel for judgement then when Israel repents, as a nation, they received their Messiah and look on Him whom they pierced and mourn ….. and receive Him. God then turns His wrath on the nations and we see the judgements in the book of Revelation from Chapter 8.
Gen 7:6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
Gen 7:7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. Comment: Why did Noah enter the ark? – because of the water of the flood! The judgement were going to start.
Gen 7:10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. Gen 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. Gen 7:12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. Gen 7:13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; Comment: in the selfsame day as the judgement started Noah entered into the ark. This therefore nullifies the pretribulation rapture theory.
To finish off and in order to keep it brief I want you to take the following into consideration. This is very brief:
1) Antichrist is revealed halfway through the 7 years and will be the 1st seal broken. Now go to Ezek 28 and see that in verse 2 (KJV) Eze 28:2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God. Comment: seas speak of nations in Jewish metaphor. This now ties up with Rev 13. Note. Here God refers to this picture of the antichrist as a prince. It will do you well to read the rest of it too. In Eze 28:12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Comment: the prince has now become a king who is possessed by Satan. Read the Ezek 28:13-19 it speaks of Lucifer in the Garden of Eden and he fell into rebellion. Eze 28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Eze 28:18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. These are Gods judgements note He will show Satan up before kings and to all those who hold him (antichrist) in high esteem. Read this in conjunction with Isaiah 14:12-23 emphasis verse 16.
2) We see in the following seals what happens through the three and a half years of great tribulation. This is not the wrath of God it is the wrath of Satan as per Rev 12. Antichrist gives authority to the false prophet who leads the false church to kill those who will not worship the first beast and his image and who will not take his mark on their foreheads or on their right hands Rev 13. Revelation 12 and 13 follow each other. Read the one into the other remember the original text had no chapters and verses these only came later.
3) Between the sixth and the seventh seal. Rev 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; Rev 6:13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. Rev 6:14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; Rev 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: Rev 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Comment: This is when the rapture takes place, when Jesus comes to fetch His bride and it is just before the wrath of God is poured out on the nations which is the Day of the Lord. Read Zephaniah.
4) Revelation 7 shows that 144 000 Jews are saved out of the nation of Israel and they receive the seal of God on their foreheads. They are not, repeat not raptured with the church but will still be on the earth. This is when Israel repents as a nation and receives her Messiah. Just as David overcame Goliath (a type of the antichrist) who had all the Philistines behind him (Philistines speaks of the worlds nations who come against Israel) Read Zechariah 12-14 so, Jesus Christ will overcome antichrist and remove his authority which the cutting off of the head of Goliath alludes to. David came to king Saul who was powerless against Goliath and his armies and Israel will be absolutely powerless against the armies of the world that will come against it, They will have to call on their Messiah!
5) Babylon will fall and the false church will be destroyed and we will reign with Jesus Christ for a thousand years. Then the Gog and Magog war of Ezek 38-39 will happen. Then the great white throne judgement, then the new heavens and new earth and so we who are in Christ and have come through the great tribulation will be with God and the Lamb for all eternity, no more crying no more tears but eternal life with them. Amen
