Monday, January 25, 2010

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RAPTURE

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RAPTURE

I am going into my 4th year of on line Bible school but still have questions on the RAPTURE. I believe that I must look at the Bible as the Word of God, that it is true and to be taken literally. So with this in mind, when I read in:-
Math 5:5
5 Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.

I say “Praise the Lord.”
So let us just look at the Rapture scriptures
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Does that mean we shall all go to Heaven. I don’t believe it does. ‘We shall be caught up together with them in the clouds’ Now Jesus in the transfiguration was caught up in the cloud.
Matthew 17:1-3,5,7
Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves;2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”
7 But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.”
This was here on earth!
Let us look at the other scriptures that might be linked to 1 Thessalonians 4:16
Isaiah 26:19
19 Your dead shall live;
Together with my dead body they shall arise.
Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust;
For your dew is like the dew of herbs,
And the earth shall cast out the dead.
Ezekiel 37:12
12 “Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
These 2 really deal with the rising of the dead. Well this was seen at the crucifixion wasn’t it.
Matthew 27:52
52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;
And remember what Jesus said :-
John 5:28
28 “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice
But I didn’t come here to discuss the raising of the dead, but what is going to happen to us the living!
1 Corinthians 15:52-54
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

So now here we see that at the last trumpet, we the living, shall be transformed and put on immortality. I can live with that. As we are to live with the Lord for a Thousand years,
Revelation 20:6
6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

That is on earth, right?

Many, many preachers are preaching that we the righteous, shall be raptured out of here and the earth will be left to the unrighteous. That is where I have a problem, as you can see in the scriptures that I have found, the wicked will be destroyed or burnt up and the righteous shall inherit the earth.

Psalm 1:6
6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psalm 11:6
6 Upon the wicked He will rain coals;
Fire and brimstone and a burning wind
Shall be the portion of their cup.


Psalm 37:20,22,34
20 But the wicked shall perish;
And the enemies of the LORD,
Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish.
Into smoke they shall vanish away.
22 For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth,
But those cursed by Him shall be cut off.
34 Wait on the LORD,
And keep His way,
And He shall exalt you to inherit the land;
When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

Psalm 37:28-29,34,39-40
28 For the LORD loves justice,
And does not forsake His saints;
They are preserved forever,
But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off.
29 The righteous shall inherit the land,
And dwell in it forever.
34 Wait on the LORD,
And keep His way,
And He shall exalt you to inherit the land;
When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.
39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;
He is their strength in the time of trouble.
40 And the LORD shall help them and deliver them;
He shall deliver them from the wicked,
And save them,
Because they trust in Him.

Psalm 52:5-7
5 God shall likewise destroy you forever;
He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place,
And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6 The righteous also shall see and fear,
And shall laugh at him, saying,
7 “Here is the man who did not make God his strength,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
And strengthened himself in his wickedness.”

Psalm 55:15-16,23
15 Let death seize them;
Let them go down alive into hell,
For wickedness is in their dwellings and among them.
16 As for me, I will call upon God,
And the LORD shall save me.
23 But You, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction;
Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days;
But I will trust in You.

Psalm 75:10
10 ‘All the horns of the wicked I will also cut off,
But the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.”

Psalm 90:5
5 You carry them away like a flood;

Psalm 91:7-8
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
8 Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.

Psalm 94:13,23
13 That You may give him rest from the days of adversity,
Until the pit is dug for the wicked.
23 He has brought on them their own iniquity,
And shall cut them off in their own wickedness;
The LORD our God shall cut them off.

Psalm 95:11
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.”
Psalm 97:3
3 A fire goes before Him,
And burns up His enemies round about.

Psalm 98:9
9 For He is coming to judge the earth.
With righteousness He shall judge the world,
And the peoples with equity.

Psalm 110:4-7
4 The LORD has sworn
And will not relent,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord is at Your right hand;
He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath.
6 He shall judge among the nations,
He shall fill the places with dead bodies,
He shall execute the heads of many countries.
7 He shall drink of the brook by the wayside;
Therefore He shall lift up the head.

Psalm 145:20
20 The LORD preserves all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.

Isaiah 66:24
24 “And they shall go forth and look
Upon the corpses of the men
Who have transgressed against Me.
For their worm does not die,
And their fire is not quenched.
They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

Matthew 5:5
5 Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.

Psalm 37:9
9 For evildoers shall be cut off;
But those who wait on the LORD,
They shall inherit the earth.

Psalm 25:13
13 He himself shall dwell in prosperity,
And his descendants shall inherit the earth.

Matthew 3:12
12 “His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 13:49-50
49 “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just,
50 “and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 13:41-43
41 “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,
42 “and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Matthew 13:30
30 ‘Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

I think you can see that it is God’s plan that we the righteous shall inherit the earth and the wicked, the unbeliever and in many cases the religious, -The Religious!! - will be burnt up!

Matthew 7:21
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Now there is a wake up call for the religious and those just playing Church..

I really believe that we are the generation that will see the coming of the Lord. I might be 63, but that means nothing when you see the next scriptures.

Psalm 102:18,20-21,28
18 This will be written for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created may praise the LORD.
20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner,
To release those appointed to death,
21 To declare the name of the LORD in Zion,
And His praise in Jerusalem,
28 The children of Your servants will continue,
And their descendants will be established before You.”

1 Peter 2:9
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Job 33:24-26,28-30
24 Then He is gracious to him, and says,
‘Deliver him from going down to the Pit;
I have found a ransom’;
25 His flesh shall be young like a child’s,
He shall return to the days of his youth.
26 He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him,
He shall see His face with joy,
For He restores to man His righteousness.
28 He will redeem his soul from going down to the Pit,
And his life shall see the light.
29 “Behold, God works all these things,
Twice, in fact, three times with a man,
30 To bring back his soul from the Pit,
That he may be enlightened with the light of life.

Psalm 118:17
17 I shall not die, but live,
And declare the works of the LORD.

Isaiah 65:20
20 “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days,
Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days;
For the child shall die one hundred years old,
But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.

Jude 1,5-6,15,24-25
Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,
1 To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:
5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
15 “to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
25 To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.


Now do you see why I believe that it is we the righteous who will remain here on earth, the wicked shall be burnt up.

John 15:1-6
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

I hope this has enlightened you, I am sure that there are still many other scriptures that I have not used which will support this discussion.
I realise some might not agree with me, that’s alright. I will welcome your contribution, I am always willing to learn, so please send me your feedback.

Norman

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