So if we want to include all relevant verses in an explanation we have to have 2 separate comings of Jesus
2. Is rapture a reward or salvation? I would rather use the term a salvation completed. What about the 5 unwise virgins who will go through the tribulation? May be saved or may not. It depends on the decisions they will make in their lives, whether to receive the mark or not. Many say, in my opinion lightly, that they will stand during that period. Really? One day we fast and we raid the fridge in the evening and we believe that we will stay strong during that time of starvation? When our babies cry for food, we will just stay strong watching them starving to death and not receive the mark? Are we serious? When we will watch our loved ones dying without any access to medicine, doctors, hospitals we will just play it strong in faith? Science fiction. Many will accept the mark. One should be exceptionally strong (x many times) to stand the great tribulation. Even in the ancient church thousands of christians prefered to swear in the emperor's name and avoid the lions. Do we think that all martyred? No, not. A major problem in the ancient church was what to do with all those who committed obedience to the emperor but then repented(?) and came back to the church? Should they accepte them back or not? Some churches never accepted them back, some did. So let's not anwer lightly. Some will stand, some will not. So the rapture is not really a reward but a secured salvation. If we are left out ? God help us
3. About those 144000. I believe they are the firstfruits of the nation of Israel. That woman who is pregnant in Christ can not be the church, because for us Christ has already been born in our hearts. It has to be Israel. But I may be wrong
About the other details brother in your post, I can not really say anything, as I said I am not studying the eschatology enthusiastically. Thanks brother, I appreciate your respone, sorry I can not answer your points
You raise many points in your post. You seem to have studied eschatology in details. But not me. Everytime I have tried to place all those events at the end in an order I ended up having a headache, so I have quited really. But I know some general things. Daniel at the end of his book writes that the angel who was revealing him the future said " Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.".
To me this may mean that nobody can really translate these last events clearly. As time for the fulfillment of these events approaches then people who will be living during that time will compare the events taking place in their lives to what is written and with the help of the Holly Spirit they will get the meaning (that is maybe why we are warned not to add or subtract to Rev). Sometimes trying to do that beforehand leads to wrong conclusions. Say if somebody who lived 1000 years ago tried to figure out what the mark is, he could never think of a chip or a barcode placed on people. So who are the 10 nations? Who is that little horn? We still cannot figure out, can we really?
Thanks for the reply brother. I will try to answer to some.
1. A Rapture before the end? As I have said, also you stated, at the time of the rapture the condition of the world, life as usual, people dealing with their lives as always, christians warned not to look after their pleasure and cares of this life, definitely doesn't concur with the horrible conditions on earth in Revelation. So it has to be some other time. When? If the restrainer is the Holly Spirit then before the antichrist. If not, then sometime, probably after the first 3 and 1/2 years.
The parable of the 10 virgins also shows a normal life. How could all of those 10 virgins sleep at a time that christians are slaughtered? How could 2 (1 is raptured) be in the field or in modern terms in their works when christians will not be able to do any work unless they have the mark on them?
I am sorry I should have proofread that better. It should have been Revelation 2:27Revelation 12:5 and Revelation 19:15, these are verses that show the man child the woman birthed is Jesus That He will reign and rule with a rod of iron.
You worked hard above to make the Word of GOD to fit your theory, but actually you've fallen into contradictions.There are lies mixed with the Word of GOD, unfortunately.
First, Revelation was written around 65 years after JESUS' ascension. GOD gave unto Him the sealed book to break the seven seals and showing unto His servants things which should shortly come to pass in future times, so JESUS meant the things should happen exclusively in future times.
Second, don't you perceive or at least even in last case to think that the theory you have learned linking the BIRTH of JESUS to the sealed book of GOD with seven seals, which GOD gave to JESUS to broke them only and only 65 years after His ascention, it is A RIDICULOUS and false and devilish THEORY? There are many inventions interpretatives. Be careful.
'Ronald' SAID: (between quotation)
1- "We know the dragon is Satan because scripture says":
RIGHT, the Scripture is the Truth. But we have an interesting detail to analyze: in this current time of Apocalypse the Dragon has 7 heads, and 10 horns, and a TAIL. Notice that when JESUS was born, the Dragon still had not this body as a whole, understand? To say the man child is JESUS, it is fake.
'Ronald' SAID: (between quotation)
2 - "The scripture is clear this STARTS BEFORE Jesus was born"
(FAKE, Scripture refers not to JESUS. In fact, the man child is another person,not JESUS.
3- "the dragon was going to devour the child as soon as it was born."
(RIGHT, but you believed in lie, the mother of the man child, who you imagine to be JESUS in this time of Apocalypse, she is not Mary,and JESUS would not have two mothers, for sure).
4- "We see this effort of Satan when King Herod ordered not only the killing of all the children in Bethlehem".
(Herod didn't know JESUS already was in Egypt, but the red Dragon knew that JESUS was not in Israel.What Satan could do was to kill all the children in Bethlehem, the place where JESUS born by prophecy- Micah 5:2.Take a look
2 Esdras is not in the cannon and should not be taken serious as scripture from the inspiration of God. That being said, I believe that the man is Jesus. It seems to be a vision of when Jesus cam back after the tribulation, seven days signifying seven years.
I hope this helps, but again I do not believe that the apocrypha is from God. I know they were originally in the Bible, but were taken our because of their error. I encourage you to compare scripture with scripture. The word must be built upon and must have the same doctrine or else it will cause error. I say this not to offend you, but to encourage you read the Bible that is commonly accepted as to not cause any error in your belief of who God truly is ( 2 Timothy 3:16). The apocrypha can cause a misconception that God is not the same as the cannon believes, when the Bible says that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Isaiah 28:9-14a
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
I agree with your statement David, but I think we need to be more specific. I wont call you intoxicated like Frankie did, but I do believe that you are just ignorant to certain scriptures. By ignorant I'm using it as the Bible does in the sense of you just haven't been taught.
So the Bible is the FINAL authority in the Christian life ( 2 Peter 1:19). I agree with Frankie that you need the Holy Spirit to discern the things of God in His word. The Bible clearly states that in 1 Peter 1:11-12. The Bible also says that we need a preacher, because how can we hear without one ( Romans 10:14). So the Bible was given by the Holy Spirit/God and needs to be discerned through that, because the Bible is of no private interpretation ( 2 Peter 1:20-21). God had a specific meaning for each word and only He can tell us what that is.
I also believe what the Bible says in Acts 2:17 that in the last days people will prophesy, have dreams, and visions. If the Bible says it, then it's true. That being said, since the Bible is the final authority, if anything they say happened in the prophesy, dream, or vision that goes against the Bible, then it's a false dream.
Here's how to discern if they are truly a "prophet" in the sense of them prophesying, dreaming, and having visions:
1. Does it follow scripture ( 2 Peter 3:16)
2. Look at their fruits ( Matthew 7:15-20)
3. It doesn't breed confusion ( 1 Corinthians 14:29-33)
4. It is of the Holy Ghost/Jesus ( 1 Corinthians 12:1-3, John 16:13-15)
I hope this was a help to you and there is definitely more studying that can go into this, but that's about the summary of this.
The falling away in grk is "apostasis". From apo(=from) and stasis=(a stationary point, a stand, a stop). So it litterally means one who keeps a distance from somebody/something. In ancient grk (but not modern grk) divorcement is "apostaseion". Apostaseion/divorce was a letter that men wrote for their wives whom they wanted to divorce, so those women were free to remarry. If they didn't have that paper they would had been called an adulterer and were in a danger to be stonned. So it was something for the benefit of the divorced women.
That word, apostaseion, although originates from the same root words as apostasis, in Thessalonians it has not the same meaning. It doesn't mean a divorce but rather means the church who keeps a distance, separates herself from their head, the Lord. I believe it means the old christian nations who at that time turn their back to God and become atheists or/and they turn away from the right beliefs trying to compromise the Word of God with the beliefs of the world.
Let me make a summary of your posts to see whether I have understood you correctly.
Some time in the future the antichrist appears in the world. The last 7 year period starts. Sometime during that time as the antichrist has aquired power as the leader of a union of the most powerful nations on earth, he starts placing his mark on people. Then the tribulation of christians starts. Sometime during that time Jesus Christ comes and gathers His saints in the air. The marriage of Jesus with His church takes place in Heaven. At that time on earth many catastrophies due to God's wrath start occuring. At the end Jesus with His saints come back on earth and all things end here. So according to you who or what is the restrainer that hinders the antichrist appearing in the world's system?
I have an objection about the above brother. On Rev 21:2 it seems that the marriage has not occured yet, as if it is going to occur on the new earth, "1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.".
But it may mean that the marriage has already taken place? If the marriage has alredy taken place before Jesus' final arriving here, then no people will be saved during the millenium? During the millenium it seems to me that there will be 2 kinds of people, the marked and the unmarked ones, because I don't believe that the antichrist will manage to mark all people. And not all unmarked people will be saved, they have to believe in Jesus, too. Because, say a muslim who refused to receive the mark and makes it to the end, is he going to be saved?
Anyway. If we assume that the restrainer is the Holly Spirit, and this is a very good assumption, then the church has to go together. This is where the pretribulation belief mainly relys on. So to you what else may the restrainer be?
I agree! Daniel and many prophets and Apostles were a instrument for the Lord.
They gave God glory, God worked mightily through them.
Israel was and still is an Instrument for the Lord, and their tune is not done playing!
It's going to come a time when the world will see the glory of God through them again instead of despising them. Jeremiah 16:14-15.
Much of the church today is antisemitic because lack of knowledge of the word of God.
Some say the teaching of the Talmud is the primary writings for all of Israel since the Babylonian and it teaches the Israelites to murder kill and hate other people but I don't hold that view and the Bible doesn't teach it.
They also had the writings of Moses as seen in Nehemiah 8:3-18.
The Jews was told to be separated from the world and the world hated them as well as today, including many false Christians.
When Israel left Babylon they had the same writtings that clearly tells them in Leviticus 19:33-34 not to oppress the stranger.
They all didn't do that, But we don't focus on the ethnic group, we focus on the remnant.
Israel history wasn't perfect and neither was the Church!
Today we are not perfect!
Our nation is not perfect! I've seen these same people that criticize Israel but yet by their own mouth, Justify slavery in our Country!
They must consider Matthew 7:1-2."Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
If we read Ezekiel 16:1-63
We will see the sin of Israel. They married/Joined themselves to the Spirit of the World as we have done as well.
So the holocaust and there history of turmoil was them departing the God that Provides.
Daniel gave a great example how to rise in to world powers and not conform to their culture.
This allegorical became a spiritual reality for Joseph & his family, & in time God wrought out Israel literal salvation through it.
We must Proverbs 3:5 for His Isa 55:8-11 & He will Isa 42:16 this is the Life of faith we're all invited too, were self effort & its wisdom from the letter is nothing. It's a picking up the cross & dying daily to that, that 1 Cor 1:29
This is our entrance through the door into putting on the mind of Christ, He sent His Holy Spirit to teach & guide us into all Truth & is not a lie, that we may know the things that are freely given unto us by God, that which the "Holy Spirit reveals" is a certainty, a infallible rule / foundation which a Christian can bottom on. Joseph & his family did not fall off a cliff, & neither will any that trusteth in Him.
Look at the fiery trial that tried Joseph faith, becoming more precious than gold & silver that perishes, though it was severely tried by fire, the praise, glory & honor he was given as God wrought out His word to him, as he remain faithful to his God, & sin not against Him, abiding in the Vine throughout all the hardship he faced, not knowing what was to befall him next in this strange land were he was sold as a slave. Then his reward for doing good betrayed, falsely accused & put into prison for it.
Did he have any books that he might read & study to receive a better understand of what God was up to, No.
He had learnt the practice of the ancients, "the better part' Psalm 46:10, sat still & waited in silent prayer, which truly is a cross to self, until God was please to arise, reveal Himself & comfort him in his afflictions, Psalms 12:5-7 strengthening his faith to endure, while working in him a character of godliness that's not to be repented of.
Joseph could not have come to his end, without the lessons God had taught him through this journey, which God was please to bring him through, thus enabling Joseph to fulfill God glorious plan. Meaning Joseph could no have the one without the experiencing the other, it was his preparation for the call that God had place on his life. This happens to all of us in our everyday ordinary experiences in life, which sometime are more riveting than others
In this stillness & quietness of soul, waiting upon the Lord he found Psalms 91:1 He was given the a understanding
1 John 5:20 He came to know Daniel 2:22,23
Ronald, that which gave you a sight of these things, is He that will lead you into the literal, spiritual experiential truth of them.
Christian Greetings brother Jesse, I can support what you have written here. Thank you. It was very necessary (I believe) that Matthew wrote clearly for the Jews ahead of 70AD. All the Gospel though it may prick our conscience it comforts too. The Greek language was very important for the spreading of the knowledge of God especially in its time, likely Alexander the Great played a part in this spreading. I myself am a poor student of Bible History but it is very important in how God teaches us His Will. Thank you for continuing to share. The Lord Willing.
Agree with you in your prayers that come to us in requests often. It is so good to hear you be so persistent in making your requests to our Heavenly Father through Jesus, His Son, who will always hear and is willing to answer our prayers in accordance to His will. He knows the beginning from the end of every situation. He knows the fullness of what He wishes to accomplish in us and those we love. He sees the big picture and the long game for every request we bring to Him. We can trust Him and can cast our cares and ourselves onto His mercy and love at all times.
CHAPTERS 3 AND 4 - The Introduction to the Public Ministry of the Christ. And notice how I worded it. It is always "The Christ," because that is the Jewish understanding of Yeshua. He is the Christ. And He is presented in Matthew Chapter 1 as "Jesus, the one being called the Christ."
CHAPTERS 5 THROUGH 25 - The Public Ministry of the Christ. And what is interesting is that there are five sermons in Chapters 5 through 25. Matthew's gospel is very systematic! He always uses fives. He gives five messages and sermons.
And right after those messages, he'll use two chapters to compile and present to us different miracles, and different things that Jesus did to back up the message that He gave. For instance, when we get to Matthew Chapters 5 through 7 (the Sermon on the Mount), we'll see that at the end of Chapter 7 that the people were amazed that Jesus taught with authority. And so, Matthew Chapters 8 and 9, it's the authority of Christ's word to forgive. It is constantly showing the authority of Christ's word, to heal.
So, it is very neatly laid out. And if we understand how Matthew wanted it presented, or how he did present it, and how he wanted us to understand it, we can understand it in context. It is very systematic, and it is very well laid out.
CHAPTERS 26 AND 27 - The Crucifixion of the Christ
CHAPTER 28 - The Resurrection of the Christ
Those are the 5 Section Outlines of Matthew's gospel. I will share my introduction to Mark's gospel soon, Lord willing!
The theme of Matthew is fulfillment. Matthew alludes to or presents over 60 references to the Old Testament, more than double of any other gospel writer because he is using this word over and over again through his gospel that Jesus came, and he shows the fulfillment of the scripture that Jesus fulfilled, showing them (the Jews), that Jesus was the Messiah.
The Key Verse for the book of Matthew is Matthew 5:17. Jesus said, "think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy but to fulfill." He didn't come to eliminate the law. He came to fulfill all of its requirements. And that's what Matthew is doing for the Jews, showing that Jesus Christ has fulfilled all the requirements and the commandments of the scripture.
I mentioned to you that Matthew's gospel is presented in five sections, and I will conclude in (Part 4) how it is broken down.
Matthew was one of the 12 Apostles. In Matthew 10:3, we have the record of Matthew being called out from the disciples to be one of the original 12 Apostles.
NOW FOR MATTHEW'S GOSPEL:
WHEN IT WAS WRITTEN:
It was written in the late 60's AD. Here are some things that are important to know:
LINK TO OTHER BOOKS:
Out of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Mark was written first. It is the shortest of the gospels. But it is interesting that out of the 661 verses in Mark, Matthew has 500 of them, almost word for word. It shows that Matthew was following Mark's Gospel as a template for his writings.
So, Mark wrote his first, Matthew second, and then Luke. And if you've ever read the introduction to Luke (the first four verses of Chapter 1), Luke says he has collected all the writings that he could find in order to write his gospel.
So, Luke had Matthew, he had Mark, and he had all the different writings from the different witnesses and the different people who were with Christ. So, he wrote his gospel, and out of the synoptic gospels, Luke's was written third and was written last.
Now the purpose for the Synoptic Gospels was to present a certain side of Jesus to a certain group of people. To the Jews they were presented the Messiah. To the Roman mind, the Servant, God who came as a Servant to die for our sins. And then Luke, his gospel was for the Gentiles.
We find a lot of literature in Matthew. This is very important because some pull verses out of Matthew that are not found in the other gospels, and they apply it incorrectly to Christians today because what you find in Matthew, you don't find anywhere else. It's because Matthew wrote them uniquely for the Jews. Ten parables in Matthew are not found anywhere else because they were written to the Jews. And we have to understand that from a Jewish perspective, not from a culture of the Gentiles. So, it is very important to understand how all these books function in their purpose.
Matthew is his Greek name. Matthew means gift of Yahweh. His Jewish name is Levi. And because his name is Levi, that tells us that he is from the tribe of Levi, and he is a priest of all people. Priests come from the tribe of Levi.
But what is interesting is this next part.
Occupation:
In Matthew 9:9, we find out that Matthew was a tax collector when Jesus called him. Now the Roman government would put the tax collection business up for bid every five years. The one that bid the highest gets to be the tax collector. And he would collect both what we call income tax and travel tax, and he would send it to the Roman government as they have prescribed. But he can tack on any amount he wants to keep for himself. So, tax collectors were very rich.
The problem is that we have a Jewish man from the tribe of Levi who should be serving as a priest in the temple, and he bids on the tax collector's job, and he starts working for the Roman government to tax his own people. Tax collectors were considered traitors by the Jews. They were unclean and unable to participate in the synagogue.
And so, here's Matthew saying I don't care, I am a rich man. Of course, the fellow Jews are calling him names and getting angry with him. But he doesn't care because he gets their money! But he is sitting at the tax collection booth when he is called by Jesus. And he gets up immediately and leaves. Right after this, and we see it in Matthew Chapter 9, but right after this, Matthew has a dinner in his home, and he invites all of his tax collector friends. He wants them to meet Jesus.
So then religious leaders got a little upset because they wanted to know why Jesus and the disciples, the people who were with Him at the beginning, why they were sitting down with tax collectors and sinners? A sinner to a Jew is somebody who didn't keep the law. They were considered traitors.
The Gospel of Mark was written for the Romans, written for the Roman mind. He wrote his short presentations to match the Roman legal system. To the people in Rome, everything had to match up with the law (the law of the land). And so, Mark's presentation is to present Jesus to the Roman mind.
And Mark wrote his gospel under the influence and testimony of Peter. Mark wasn't there. Peter was there and he gave Mark the testimony, and Mark wrote it. Mark wrote to present Jesus as the Suffering Servant, and he ends his gospel with the ascension.
C. Luke
Then there's Luke. Remember I told you Luke and Acts used to travel together. Luke was written to the Gentiles. It was written to present Jesus as the Son of Man. And Luke, being a physician, he emphasized the human side of Jesus as the Son of Man.
Luke ends his gospel with the promise of the Holy Spirit. And that opens up his next volume (the book of Acts), with the coming of the Holy Spirit. So that sets us up for his sequel.
D. The Gospel of John
Only the first three gospels are synoptic. They were all written in the 60's A.D. The Gospel of John was written to the church around 95 A.D. So approximately 30 years after the other three gospels were written, the Gospel of John was written.
He wrote to present Jesus as the Son of God, His deity. And he ends his gospel with the promise of His return. And that opens it up for John's sequel, as he wrote the book of Revelation, and talked about the return of Christ. So, it is very interesting how these books were arranged.
I will begin with the introduction to Matthew next.
From the beginning of Paul's letters, all the way through to the end of Revelation, that is 63 years of church history. So, if you want to know in 63 years of the early church history, with all of the apostles there, and all of the apostles who have their testimony, why in 63 years of church history didn't Paul or anybody else teach that new teaching that some person just told you about? It's because it is not in the word and it is not God's word.
INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPELS
I. The Synoptic Gospels
The word Synoptic comes from the Greek word SUNOPSIS, and it means "to view together."
A. Matthew
Matthew wrote his gospel in five sections. Most Jewish writers did this in order to lineup with the first five books of the bible, the Torah, or Law. So, Matthew wrote his gospel in five sections.
Matthew's gospel was written to the Jews. It was written to present Jesus as the coming Savior/Messiah. Notice I said "Savior/Messiah?" The Jews were not just expecting the Messiah, but they were expecting the Messiah to come as a Savior.
We see in Matthew 1:21 that it says, "And she shall bring forth a Son, (the angel said this about Mary), and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." That's what the Jews believed, that when the Messiah would come, He would save His people from their sins.
Matthew is presenting Jesus as the fulfillment of the coming Savior/Messiah. Matthew ends with the resurrection. It is all good Jewish literature. All Jews hold to a resurrection. So, Matthew ends his book with a resurrection.
Paul's writings are at the beginning of the teaching section. And in Galatians 1:8-9, Paul makes a very bold statement. He says, "If anyone preaches any other Gospel than that which I have preached, let them be accursed." Even if an angel comes down, or if we change our teaching and give you a different gospel, it is only the gospel that Paul preached.
And that is what the early church went by, and that is why the New Testament is laid out the way it is. It is so that they would have history, and then they would have Paul's writings at the beginning of the teaching section. And everyone else's teachings had to line up with Paul's. If it was different than Paul's, it was not considered legitimate because the early church had already accepted the fact that Paul was chosen to be the instrument to reveal the mysteries of Christ. Nobody else!
This layout of the New Testament is "Foolproof!" If we are presented something from scripture that doesn't seem quite right, all we need to do is go to Paul's teachings. What did Paul teach about that? Well, we know that Paul was taught by Jesus Himself while he was out in the desert for three years. So, if we are presented something, we have the responsibility to search the scriptures. What did Paul teach? If it is different from what he taught, we are not to even entertain it!
We in the church today are under the same thing as far as what we preach and teach. If we preach any other gospel than what Paul preached, we are in trouble, and that's paraphrasing it lightly!
Even in the Jewish literature section (Hebrews through Revelation), in their writings, they would make reference back to Paul's teaching, and you'll never find anything in the Jewish literature section that contradicts anything that Paul said. They all blend together.
Richard H Priday I hope you don't mind me responding to your comment to Giannis. Your last paragraph really stood out to me Richard, you said "No matter what opinion we have on the subject (subject is when is the rapture) being prepared to die with Christ NOW is in order; and that starts with dying to self a little more each day. Anyone who thinks the Seal Judgments aren't too bad need a serious reality check. If we have to be in it it's one thing; none of us should WANT to go through the Trib if logical".
Very wise words Richard!
You see it as, if a pre-tribulation rapture doesn't happen you will be prepared. Many, many pre-trib believers think its 100% going to happen there are no other options. No preparations, mainly what should be spiritual strengthening as putting on the whole armour of God ( Eph. 6:10-17) to stand against the (wiles) of the devil ( Eph. 6:11) in the evil day ( Eph. 6:13)
I'm sure you're right about nobody wanting to go through the tribulation period as it will be a time of testing like there has never been before. I think its much better to go into something with a knowledge of what is coming at you, rather than expecting to be taken out of a bad situation, but then having to go through that bad situation along with pure deception and evil, and not expecting it.
( 2 Thess. 1-3) v3 Tells us "for that day shall not come, except there come a (falling away) first. The words (falling away) #646; it means defection from truth [properly the state] ("apostasy"), forsake, something separative, divorce, (writing of) divorcement. Those (falling away) are True Believers or they would not receive a (writing of) divorcement from Jesus Christ.
It just so happens this (writing of) divorcement (falling away) happens when the man of sin is revealed. ( 2 Thess. 2:4) "so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God".
Do you see what could be happening here Richard if there is no pre-tribulation rapture?
Before I share my introduction to Matthew, I would like to share how I began the bible study I led. I began with a brief rundown of the New Testament, followed by a short introduction to the Gospels. Here is how I laid it out:
The original language of the New Testament was Greek. Its contents are History and Doctrine, or Teaching. Greek is an exact language, and in order for God to give teaching and doctrine, it had to be through an exact language. The New Testament is laid out perfectly. The first part, Matthew through Acts is History. It is an historical account of the earthly public ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, along with the book of Acts, because originally, the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts travelled together. They were actually known as Luke Part 1 and Luke Part 2. They were both written by Luke. And it wasn't until later on in the second century that those two books got split up and divided into two. So, from Matthew Chapter 1, all the way through the end of Acts, that is called the historical section of the New Testament.
The second half of the New Testament is called the doctrine or teaching section. This section was purposely designed with books in order, because the books are not chronological. They are not in the order in which they were written. The first books in the teaching section are Paul's letters. All of Paul's letters, from Romans through Philemon, are at the front of the teaching section for a reason. And I'll share that with you in a minute.
From the book of Hebrews, all the way through Revelation, that is known as Jewish literature. From the book of Revelation alone, out of the 400 and some verses, there are over 800 references to the Old Testament. If we want to understand Jewish literature, we have to understand the Old Testament, because all of the language and the symbols and representations of the book of Revelation, Peter, James, all of them, have been taken from the Old Testament.
The question exists; of course if all those left behind are unbelievers or if some have either not produced fruit at present and ARE His children. That could result from living in unrepentant sin; perhaps for quite some time. As far as a lifestyle of sin; it is certain that there are some who not only will miss the Rapture but continue on afterwards and be deceived by "THE LIE" and ultimately worship the Antichrist because they didn't LOVE the truth even though they knew it. The main reasoning I have is to have garments in the first place we must be saved; making them white in the blood of martyrs is basically the only way to produce fruit in the Tribulation. God has created us for good works; but the lukewarm church today is largely indistinguishable from the world. God knows ultimately if we are saved; His sheep or not.
I would say it is possible the firstfruits would be indicative of ALL those from Christ Himself; then those who rose out of their graves at the Resurrection; then the "last trump" Resurrection and Rapture event; then the 144,000 being (likely) translated and finally the two witnesses (can't remember which comes first). Anyway; some will not be Resurrected it apears in Revelation 20 until the Trib is over. Some of these could be those left behind who may either have already been believers or new believers. Those at His coming indicate the Second Coming as to those physically alive or Resurrected at that time.
The O.T. timing of the OLD TESTAMENT saints seems to show their Resurrection right around the midpoint of the Trib; PERHAPS indicating a different timing from the rest of the church saints. One difference not mentioned yet here is the sounding of THE archangel Michael at the Rapture; as opposed to angels (plural) at the Resurrection of the elect later on in the Trib.
There is probably a lot more I could say. It is clear that Christ coming at a time of relative prosperity is likely showing an event before the Trib begins. That also fits into the Restrainer being removed; which I would contend as others indicates the Holy Spirit's ministry during the Church Age; as compared with the signs and wonders predominating afterwards. I don't believe even if the Rapture is "secret" many open graves can be explained away or hidden (even if we are considered "reprogrammed" as the unenlightened ones). We probably will be considered the aliens when Christ returns in my opinion.
No matter what opinion we have on the subject being prepared to die with Christ NOW is in order; and that starts with dying to self a little more each day. Anyone who thinks the Seal Judgments aren't too bad need a serious reality check. If we have to be in it it's one thing; none of us should WANT to go through the Trib if logical
Dear Giannis: I have looked at a possible solution here to integrate all the scriptures that the Rapture may be a reward rather than just a salvation issue. There are types and shadows with those who escaped FROM and event such as Enoch from the Flood judgment (who pleased God and walked with Him) and those such as Lot who escaped THROUGH an event (namely going through the fire as it will but in some sense suffering loss).
Arguments have come up here as to the statement in Thessalonians and Corinthians in regard to ALL the church being raptured at the time of the Resurrection of the rest of the Church saints. This; however would in some sense make verses such as the one in Luke about praying to be worthy to escape moot. Clearly not ALL saints; in fact only few meet the Malachi 3 "Book of Rememberance" status in regard to them speaking often of the event and fearing God; etc. We also need to consider the "white and unspotted/unwrinkled" state in Ephesians discussing those who are part of the Bride; as well as those in Rev. 4 who appear as "kings and priests"; compared with the fate of those whose garments are tarnished and appear to have the made white through martyrdom as Rev. 6 indicates.
Clearly complexities arise as to whether these are some of the Christians left behind; or purely a new batch of saints after the witness of the 144,000. Daniel shows the difference; saints WILL be overcome whereas now in this era the gates of hell will not prevail against the church (I'll let you look up the verses). Perhaps going through the fire so to speak is simply limited to the Bema Seat or it involves being purified along with those Jews in Jacob's trouble. Surely the churches appear absent after Rev. 3 ends; the first part of chapter 4 seems to indicate that. There are also tricky verses later on such as that in Rev. 19 where the thief in the night analogy of being naked is indicated. That could be the last holdouts that get in "as through the fire
So if we want to include all relevant verses in an explanation we have to have 2 separate comings of Jesus
2. Is rapture a reward or salvation? I would rather use the term a salvation completed. What about the 5 unwise virgins who will go through the tribulation? May be saved or may not. It depends on the decisions they will make in their lives, whether to receive the mark or not. Many say, in my opinion lightly, that they will stand during that period. Really? One day we fast and we raid the fridge in the evening and we believe that we will stay strong during that time of starvation? When our babies cry for food, we will just stay strong watching them starving to death and not receive the mark? Are we serious? When we will watch our loved ones dying without any access to medicine, doctors, hospitals we will just play it strong in faith? Science fiction. Many will accept the mark. One should be exceptionally strong (x many times) to stand the great tribulation. Even in the ancient church thousands of christians prefered to swear in the emperor's name and avoid the lions. Do we think that all martyred? No, not. A major problem in the ancient church was what to do with all those who committed obedience to the emperor but then repented(?) and came back to the church? Should they accepte them back or not? Some churches never accepted them back, some did. So let's not anwer lightly. Some will stand, some will not. So the rapture is not really a reward but a secured salvation. If we are left out ? God help us
3. About those 144000. I believe they are the firstfruits of the nation of Israel. That woman who is pregnant in Christ can not be the church, because for us Christ has already been born in our hearts. It has to be Israel. But I may be wrong
About the other details brother in your post, I can not really say anything, as I said I am not studying the eschatology enthusiastically. Thanks brother, I appreciate your respone, sorry I can not answer your points
You raise many points in your post. You seem to have studied eschatology in details. But not me. Everytime I have tried to place all those events at the end in an order I ended up having a headache, so I have quited really. But I know some general things. Daniel at the end of his book writes that the angel who was revealing him the future said " Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.".
To me this may mean that nobody can really translate these last events clearly. As time for the fulfillment of these events approaches then people who will be living during that time will compare the events taking place in their lives to what is written and with the help of the Holly Spirit they will get the meaning (that is maybe why we are warned not to add or subtract to Rev). Sometimes trying to do that beforehand leads to wrong conclusions. Say if somebody who lived 1000 years ago tried to figure out what the mark is, he could never think of a chip or a barcode placed on people. So who are the 10 nations? Who is that little horn? We still cannot figure out, can we really?
Thanks for the reply brother. I will try to answer to some.
1. A Rapture before the end? As I have said, also you stated, at the time of the rapture the condition of the world, life as usual, people dealing with their lives as always, christians warned not to look after their pleasure and cares of this life, definitely doesn't concur with the horrible conditions on earth in Revelation. So it has to be some other time. When? If the restrainer is the Holly Spirit then before the antichrist. If not, then sometime, probably after the first 3 and 1/2 years.
The parable of the 10 virgins also shows a normal life. How could all of those 10 virgins sleep at a time that christians are slaughtered? How could 2 (1 is raptured) be in the field or in modern terms in their works when christians will not be able to do any work unless they have the mark on them?
I am sorry I should have proofread that better. It should have been Revelation 2:27 Revelation 12:5 and Revelation 19:15, these are verses that show the man child the woman birthed is Jesus That He will reign and rule with a rod of iron.
God bless,
RLW
Sorry, there is not verse 27 in Revelation 12 as you cited.
First, Revelation was written around 65 years after JESUS' ascension. GOD gave unto Him the sealed book to break the seven seals and showing unto His servants things which should shortly come to pass in future times, so JESUS meant the things should happen exclusively in future times.
Second, don't you perceive or at least even in last case to think that the theory you have learned linking the BIRTH of JESUS to the sealed book of GOD with seven seals, which GOD gave to JESUS to broke them only and only 65 years after His ascention, it is A RIDICULOUS and false and devilish THEORY? There are many inventions interpretatives. Be careful.
'Ronald' SAID: (between quotation)
1- "We know the dragon is Satan because scripture says":
RIGHT, the Scripture is the Truth. But we have an interesting detail to analyze: in this current time of Apocalypse the Dragon has 7 heads, and 10 horns, and a TAIL. Notice that when JESUS was born, the Dragon still had not this body as a whole, understand? To say the man child is JESUS, it is fake.
'Ronald' SAID: (between quotation)
2 - "The scripture is clear this STARTS BEFORE Jesus was born"
(FAKE, Scripture refers not to JESUS. In fact, the man child is another person,not JESUS.
3- "the dragon was going to devour the child as soon as it was born."
(RIGHT, but you believed in lie, the mother of the man child, who you imagine to be JESUS in this time of Apocalypse, she is not Mary,and JESUS would not have two mothers, for sure).
4- "We see this effort of Satan when King Herod ordered not only the killing of all the children in Bethlehem".
(Herod didn't know JESUS already was in Egypt, but the red Dragon knew that JESUS was not in Israel.What Satan could do was to kill all the children in Bethlehem, the place where JESUS born by prophecy- Micah 5:2.Take a look
I hope this helps, but again I do not believe that the apocrypha is from God. I know they were originally in the Bible, but were taken our because of their error. I encourage you to compare scripture with scripture. The word must be built upon and must have the same doctrine or else it will cause error. I say this not to offend you, but to encourage you read the Bible that is commonly accepted as to not cause any error in your belief of who God truly is ( 2 Timothy 3:16). The apocrypha can cause a misconception that God is not the same as the cannon believes, when the Bible says that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Isaiah 28:9-14a
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD."
So the Bible is the FINAL authority in the Christian life ( 2 Peter 1:19). I agree with Frankie that you need the Holy Spirit to discern the things of God in His word. The Bible clearly states that in 1 Peter 1:11-12. The Bible also says that we need a preacher, because how can we hear without one ( Romans 10:14). So the Bible was given by the Holy Spirit/God and needs to be discerned through that, because the Bible is of no private interpretation ( 2 Peter 1:20-21). God had a specific meaning for each word and only He can tell us what that is.
I also believe what the Bible says in Acts 2:17 that in the last days people will prophesy, have dreams, and visions. If the Bible says it, then it's true. That being said, since the Bible is the final authority, if anything they say happened in the prophesy, dream, or vision that goes against the Bible, then it's a false dream.
Here's how to discern if they are truly a "prophet" in the sense of them prophesying, dreaming, and having visions:
1. Does it follow scripture ( 2 Peter 3:16)
2. Look at their fruits ( Matthew 7:15-20)
3. It doesn't breed confusion ( 1 Corinthians 14:29-33)
4. It is of the Holy Ghost/Jesus ( 1 Corinthians 12:1-3, John 16:13-15)
I hope this was a help to you and there is definitely more studying that can go into this, but that's about the summary of this.
Thank you,
God bless,
RLW
The falling away in grk is "apostasis". From apo(=from) and stasis=(a stationary point, a stand, a stop). So it litterally means one who keeps a distance from somebody/something. In ancient grk (but not modern grk) divorcement is "apostaseion". Apostaseion/divorce was a letter that men wrote for their wives whom they wanted to divorce, so those women were free to remarry. If they didn't have that paper they would had been called an adulterer and were in a danger to be stonned. So it was something for the benefit of the divorced women.
That word, apostaseion, although originates from the same root words as apostasis, in Thessalonians it has not the same meaning. It doesn't mean a divorce but rather means the church who keeps a distance, separates herself from their head, the Lord. I believe it means the old christian nations who at that time turn their back to God and become atheists or/and they turn away from the right beliefs trying to compromise the Word of God with the beliefs of the world.
GBU
Let me make a summary of your posts to see whether I have understood you correctly.
Some time in the future the antichrist appears in the world. The last 7 year period starts. Sometime during that time as the antichrist has aquired power as the leader of a union of the most powerful nations on earth, he starts placing his mark on people. Then the tribulation of christians starts. Sometime during that time Jesus Christ comes and gathers His saints in the air. The marriage of Jesus with His church takes place in Heaven. At that time on earth many catastrophies due to God's wrath start occuring. At the end Jesus with His saints come back on earth and all things end here. So according to you who or what is the restrainer that hinders the antichrist appearing in the world's system?
I have an objection about the above brother. On Rev 21:2 it seems that the marriage has not occured yet, as if it is going to occur on the new earth, "1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.".
But it may mean that the marriage has already taken place? If the marriage has alredy taken place before Jesus' final arriving here, then no people will be saved during the millenium? During the millenium it seems to me that there will be 2 kinds of people, the marked and the unmarked ones, because I don't believe that the antichrist will manage to mark all people. And not all unmarked people will be saved, they have to believe in Jesus, too. Because, say a muslim who refused to receive the mark and makes it to the end, is he going to be saved?
Anyway. If we assume that the restrainer is the Holly Spirit, and this is a very good assumption, then the church has to go together. This is where the pretribulation belief mainly relys on. So to you what else may the restrainer be?
I agree! Daniel and many prophets and Apostles were a instrument for the Lord.
They gave God glory, God worked mightily through them.
Israel was and still is an Instrument for the Lord, and their tune is not done playing!
It's going to come a time when the world will see the glory of God through them again instead of despising them. Jeremiah 16:14-15.
Much of the church today is antisemitic because lack of knowledge of the word of God.
Some say the teaching of the Talmud is the primary writings for all of Israel since the Babylonian and it teaches the Israelites to murder kill and hate other people but I don't hold that view and the Bible doesn't teach it.
They also had the writings of Moses as seen in Nehemiah 8:3-18.
The Jews was told to be separated from the world and the world hated them as well as today, including many false Christians.
When Israel left Babylon they had the same writtings that clearly tells them in Leviticus 19:33-34 not to oppress the stranger.
They all didn't do that, But we don't focus on the ethnic group, we focus on the remnant.
Israel history wasn't perfect and neither was the Church!
Today we are not perfect!
Our nation is not perfect! I've seen these same people that criticize Israel but yet by their own mouth, Justify slavery in our Country!
They must consider Matthew 7:1-2."Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
If we read Ezekiel 16:1-63
We will see the sin of Israel. They married/Joined themselves to the Spirit of the World as we have done as well.
So the holocaust and there history of turmoil was them departing the God that Provides.
Daniel gave a great example how to rise in to world powers and not conform to their culture.
They didn't rub off on him,
He rubbed off on them!
Read Daniel 4:1-37.
God bless.
Friend
This allegorical became a spiritual reality for Joseph & his family, & in time God wrought out Israel literal salvation through it.
We must Proverbs 3:5 for His Isa 55:8-11 & He will Isa 42:16 this is the Life of faith we're all invited too, were self effort & its wisdom from the letter is nothing. It's a picking up the cross & dying daily to that, that 1 Cor 1:29
This is our entrance through the door into putting on the mind of Christ, He sent His Holy Spirit to teach & guide us into all Truth & is not a lie, that we may know the things that are freely given unto us by God, that which the "Holy Spirit reveals" is a certainty, a infallible rule / foundation which a Christian can bottom on. Joseph & his family did not fall off a cliff, & neither will any that trusteth in Him.
Look at the fiery trial that tried Joseph faith, becoming more precious than gold & silver that perishes, though it was severely tried by fire, the praise, glory & honor he was given as God wrought out His word to him, as he remain faithful to his God, & sin not against Him, abiding in the Vine throughout all the hardship he faced, not knowing what was to befall him next in this strange land were he was sold as a slave. Then his reward for doing good betrayed, falsely accused & put into prison for it.
Did he have any books that he might read & study to receive a better understand of what God was up to, No.
He had learnt the practice of the ancients, "the better part' Psalm 46:10, sat still & waited in silent prayer, which truly is a cross to self, until God was please to arise, reveal Himself & comfort him in his afflictions, Psalms 12:5-7 strengthening his faith to endure, while working in him a character of godliness that's not to be repented of.
Joseph could not have come to his end, without the lessons God had taught him through this journey, which God was please to bring him through, thus enabling Joseph to fulfill God glorious plan. Meaning Joseph could no have the one without the experiencing the other, it was his preparation for the call that God had place on his life. This happens to all of us in our everyday ordinary experiences in life, which sometime are more riveting than others
In this stillness & quietness of soul, waiting upon the Lord he found Psalms 91:1 He was given the a understanding
1 John 5:20 He came to know Daniel 2:22,23
Ronald, that which gave you a sight of these things, is He that will lead you into the literal, spiritual experiential truth of them.
In love & truth
:)
Agree with you in your prayers that come to us in requests often. It is so good to hear you be so persistent in making your requests to our Heavenly Father through Jesus, His Son, who will always hear and is willing to answer our prayers in accordance to His will. He knows the beginning from the end of every situation. He knows the fullness of what He wishes to accomplish in us and those we love. He sees the big picture and the long game for every request we bring to Him. We can trust Him and can cast our cares and ourselves onto His mercy and love at all times.
CHAPTERS 1 AND 2 - The Birth of Christ
CHAPTERS 3 AND 4 - The Introduction to the Public Ministry of the Christ. And notice how I worded it. It is always "The Christ," because that is the Jewish understanding of Yeshua. He is the Christ. And He is presented in Matthew Chapter 1 as "Jesus, the one being called the Christ."
CHAPTERS 5 THROUGH 25 - The Public Ministry of the Christ. And what is interesting is that there are five sermons in Chapters 5 through 25. Matthew's gospel is very systematic! He always uses fives. He gives five messages and sermons.
And right after those messages, he'll use two chapters to compile and present to us different miracles, and different things that Jesus did to back up the message that He gave. For instance, when we get to Matthew Chapters 5 through 7 (the Sermon on the Mount), we'll see that at the end of Chapter 7 that the people were amazed that Jesus taught with authority. And so, Matthew Chapters 8 and 9, it's the authority of Christ's word to forgive. It is constantly showing the authority of Christ's word, to heal.
So, it is very neatly laid out. And if we understand how Matthew wanted it presented, or how he did present it, and how he wanted us to understand it, we can understand it in context. It is very systematic, and it is very well laid out.
CHAPTERS 26 AND 27 - The Crucifixion of the Christ
CHAPTER 28 - The Resurrection of the Christ
Those are the 5 Section Outlines of Matthew's gospel. I will share my introduction to Mark's gospel soon, Lord willing!
God Bless!!!
TO WHOM IT WAS WRITTEN:
It was to the Hebrew or Jewish people.
WHY IT WAS WRITTEN:
To present Jesus as the Savior/Messiah.
THEME:
The theme of Matthew is fulfillment. Matthew alludes to or presents over 60 references to the Old Testament, more than double of any other gospel writer because he is using this word over and over again through his gospel that Jesus came, and he shows the fulfillment of the scripture that Jesus fulfilled, showing them (the Jews), that Jesus was the Messiah.
The Key Verse for the book of Matthew is Matthew 5:17. Jesus said, "think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy but to fulfill." He didn't come to eliminate the law. He came to fulfill all of its requirements. And that's what Matthew is doing for the Jews, showing that Jesus Christ has fulfilled all the requirements and the commandments of the scripture.
I mentioned to you that Matthew's gospel is presented in five sections, and I will conclude in (Part 4) how it is broken down.
Matthew was one of the 12 Apostles. In Matthew 10:3, we have the record of Matthew being called out from the disciples to be one of the original 12 Apostles.
NOW FOR MATTHEW'S GOSPEL:
WHEN IT WAS WRITTEN:
It was written in the late 60's AD. Here are some things that are important to know:
LINK TO OTHER BOOKS:
Out of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Mark was written first. It is the shortest of the gospels. But it is interesting that out of the 661 verses in Mark, Matthew has 500 of them, almost word for word. It shows that Matthew was following Mark's Gospel as a template for his writings.
So, Mark wrote his first, Matthew second, and then Luke. And if you've ever read the introduction to Luke (the first four verses of Chapter 1), Luke says he has collected all the writings that he could find in order to write his gospel.
So, Luke had Matthew, he had Mark, and he had all the different writings from the different witnesses and the different people who were with Christ. So, he wrote his gospel, and out of the synoptic gospels, Luke's was written third and was written last.
Now the purpose for the Synoptic Gospels was to present a certain side of Jesus to a certain group of people. To the Jews they were presented the Messiah. To the Roman mind, the Servant, God who came as a Servant to die for our sins. And then Luke, his gospel was for the Gentiles.
We find a lot of literature in Matthew. This is very important because some pull verses out of Matthew that are not found in the other gospels, and they apply it incorrectly to Christians today because what you find in Matthew, you don't find anywhere else. It's because Matthew wrote them uniquely for the Jews. Ten parables in Matthew are not found anywhere else because they were written to the Jews. And we have to understand that from a Jewish perspective, not from a culture of the Gentiles. So, it is very important to understand how all these books function in their purpose.
I. About the Author (Name and nationality):
Matthew is his Greek name. Matthew means gift of Yahweh. His Jewish name is Levi. And because his name is Levi, that tells us that he is from the tribe of Levi, and he is a priest of all people. Priests come from the tribe of Levi.
But what is interesting is this next part.
Occupation:
In Matthew 9:9, we find out that Matthew was a tax collector when Jesus called him. Now the Roman government would put the tax collection business up for bid every five years. The one that bid the highest gets to be the tax collector. And he would collect both what we call income tax and travel tax, and he would send it to the Roman government as they have prescribed. But he can tack on any amount he wants to keep for himself. So, tax collectors were very rich.
The problem is that we have a Jewish man from the tribe of Levi who should be serving as a priest in the temple, and he bids on the tax collector's job, and he starts working for the Roman government to tax his own people. Tax collectors were considered traitors by the Jews. They were unclean and unable to participate in the synagogue.
And so, here's Matthew saying I don't care, I am a rich man. Of course, the fellow Jews are calling him names and getting angry with him. But he doesn't care because he gets their money! But he is sitting at the tax collection booth when he is called by Jesus. And he gets up immediately and leaves. Right after this, and we see it in Matthew Chapter 9, but right after this, Matthew has a dinner in his home, and he invites all of his tax collector friends. He wants them to meet Jesus.
So then religious leaders got a little upset because they wanted to know why Jesus and the disciples, the people who were with Him at the beginning, why they were sitting down with tax collectors and sinners? A sinner to a Jew is somebody who didn't keep the law. They were considered traitors.
B. Mark
The Gospel of Mark was written for the Romans, written for the Roman mind. He wrote his short presentations to match the Roman legal system. To the people in Rome, everything had to match up with the law (the law of the land). And so, Mark's presentation is to present Jesus to the Roman mind.
And Mark wrote his gospel under the influence and testimony of Peter. Mark wasn't there. Peter was there and he gave Mark the testimony, and Mark wrote it. Mark wrote to present Jesus as the Suffering Servant, and he ends his gospel with the ascension.
C. Luke
Then there's Luke. Remember I told you Luke and Acts used to travel together. Luke was written to the Gentiles. It was written to present Jesus as the Son of Man. And Luke, being a physician, he emphasized the human side of Jesus as the Son of Man.
Luke ends his gospel with the promise of the Holy Spirit. And that opens up his next volume (the book of Acts), with the coming of the Holy Spirit. So that sets us up for his sequel.
D. The Gospel of John
Only the first three gospels are synoptic. They were all written in the 60's A.D. The Gospel of John was written to the church around 95 A.D. So approximately 30 years after the other three gospels were written, the Gospel of John was written.
He wrote to present Jesus as the Son of God, His deity. And he ends his gospel with the promise of His return. And that opens it up for John's sequel, as he wrote the book of Revelation, and talked about the return of Christ. So, it is very interesting how these books were arranged.
I will begin with the introduction to Matthew next.
God Bless!!!
From the beginning of Paul's letters, all the way through to the end of Revelation, that is 63 years of church history. So, if you want to know in 63 years of the early church history, with all of the apostles there, and all of the apostles who have their testimony, why in 63 years of church history didn't Paul or anybody else teach that new teaching that some person just told you about? It's because it is not in the word and it is not God's word.
INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPELS
I. The Synoptic Gospels
The word Synoptic comes from the Greek word SUNOPSIS, and it means "to view together."
A. Matthew
Matthew wrote his gospel in five sections. Most Jewish writers did this in order to lineup with the first five books of the bible, the Torah, or Law. So, Matthew wrote his gospel in five sections.
Matthew's gospel was written to the Jews. It was written to present Jesus as the coming Savior/Messiah. Notice I said "Savior/Messiah?" The Jews were not just expecting the Messiah, but they were expecting the Messiah to come as a Savior.
We see in Matthew 1:21 that it says, "And she shall bring forth a Son, (the angel said this about Mary), and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." That's what the Jews believed, that when the Messiah would come, He would save His people from their sins.
Matthew is presenting Jesus as the fulfillment of the coming Savior/Messiah. Matthew ends with the resurrection. It is all good Jewish literature. All Jews hold to a resurrection. So, Matthew ends his book with a resurrection.
Now, back to Paul's writings:
Paul's writings are at the beginning of the teaching section. And in Galatians 1:8-9, Paul makes a very bold statement. He says, "If anyone preaches any other Gospel than that which I have preached, let them be accursed." Even if an angel comes down, or if we change our teaching and give you a different gospel, it is only the gospel that Paul preached.
And that is what the early church went by, and that is why the New Testament is laid out the way it is. It is so that they would have history, and then they would have Paul's writings at the beginning of the teaching section. And everyone else's teachings had to line up with Paul's. If it was different than Paul's, it was not considered legitimate because the early church had already accepted the fact that Paul was chosen to be the instrument to reveal the mysteries of Christ. Nobody else!
This layout of the New Testament is "Foolproof!" If we are presented something from scripture that doesn't seem quite right, all we need to do is go to Paul's teachings. What did Paul teach about that? Well, we know that Paul was taught by Jesus Himself while he was out in the desert for three years. So, if we are presented something, we have the responsibility to search the scriptures. What did Paul teach? If it is different from what he taught, we are not to even entertain it!
We in the church today are under the same thing as far as what we preach and teach. If we preach any other gospel than what Paul preached, we are in trouble, and that's paraphrasing it lightly!
Even in the Jewish literature section (Hebrews through Revelation), in their writings, they would make reference back to Paul's teaching, and you'll never find anything in the Jewish literature section that contradicts anything that Paul said. They all blend together.
Very wise words Richard!
You see it as, if a pre-tribulation rapture doesn't happen you will be prepared. Many, many pre-trib believers think its 100% going to happen there are no other options. No preparations, mainly what should be spiritual strengthening as putting on the whole armour of God ( Eph. 6:10-17) to stand against the (wiles) of the devil ( Eph. 6:11) in the evil day ( Eph. 6:13)
I'm sure you're right about nobody wanting to go through the tribulation period as it will be a time of testing like there has never been before. I think its much better to go into something with a knowledge of what is coming at you, rather than expecting to be taken out of a bad situation, but then having to go through that bad situation along with pure deception and evil, and not expecting it.
( 2 Thess. 1-3) v3 Tells us "for that day shall not come, except there come a (falling away) first. The words (falling away) #646; it means defection from truth [properly the state] ("apostasy"), forsake, something separative, divorce, (writing of) divorcement. Those (falling away) are True Believers or they would not receive a (writing of) divorcement from Jesus Christ.
It just so happens this (writing of) divorcement (falling away) happens when the man of sin is revealed. ( 2 Thess. 2:4) "so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God".
Do you see what could be happening here Richard if there is no pre-tribulation rapture?
Blessings to you.
Hello all,
Before I share my introduction to Matthew, I would like to share how I began the bible study I led. I began with a brief rundown of the New Testament, followed by a short introduction to the Gospels. Here is how I laid it out:
The original language of the New Testament was Greek. Its contents are History and Doctrine, or Teaching. Greek is an exact language, and in order for God to give teaching and doctrine, it had to be through an exact language. The New Testament is laid out perfectly. The first part, Matthew through Acts is History. It is an historical account of the earthly public ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, along with the book of Acts, because originally, the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts travelled together. They were actually known as Luke Part 1 and Luke Part 2. They were both written by Luke. And it wasn't until later on in the second century that those two books got split up and divided into two. So, from Matthew Chapter 1, all the way through the end of Acts, that is called the historical section of the New Testament.
The second half of the New Testament is called the doctrine or teaching section. This section was purposely designed with books in order, because the books are not chronological. They are not in the order in which they were written. The first books in the teaching section are Paul's letters. All of Paul's letters, from Romans through Philemon, are at the front of the teaching section for a reason. And I'll share that with you in a minute.
From the book of Hebrews, all the way through Revelation, that is known as Jewish literature. From the book of Revelation alone, out of the 400 and some verses, there are over 800 references to the Old Testament. If we want to understand Jewish literature, we have to understand the Old Testament, because all of the language and the symbols and representations of the book of Revelation, Peter, James, all of them, have been taken from the Old Testament.
The question exists; of course if all those left behind are unbelievers or if some have either not produced fruit at present and ARE His children. That could result from living in unrepentant sin; perhaps for quite some time. As far as a lifestyle of sin; it is certain that there are some who not only will miss the Rapture but continue on afterwards and be deceived by "THE LIE" and ultimately worship the Antichrist because they didn't LOVE the truth even though they knew it. The main reasoning I have is to have garments in the first place we must be saved; making them white in the blood of martyrs is basically the only way to produce fruit in the Tribulation. God has created us for good works; but the lukewarm church today is largely indistinguishable from the world. God knows ultimately if we are saved; His sheep or not.
I would say it is possible the firstfruits would be indicative of ALL those from Christ Himself; then those who rose out of their graves at the Resurrection; then the "last trump" Resurrection and Rapture event; then the 144,000 being (likely) translated and finally the two witnesses (can't remember which comes first). Anyway; some will not be Resurrected it apears in Revelation 20 until the Trib is over. Some of these could be those left behind who may either have already been believers or new believers. Those at His coming indicate the Second Coming as to those physically alive or Resurrected at that time.
The O.T. timing of the OLD TESTAMENT saints seems to show their Resurrection right around the midpoint of the Trib; PERHAPS indicating a different timing from the rest of the church saints. One difference not mentioned yet here is the sounding of THE archangel Michael at the Rapture; as opposed to angels (plural) at the Resurrection of the elect later on in the Trib.
There is probably a lot more I could say. It is clear that Christ coming at a time of relative prosperity is likely showing an event before the Trib begins. That also fits into the Restrainer being removed; which I would contend as others indicates the Holy Spirit's ministry during the Church Age; as compared with the signs and wonders predominating afterwards. I don't believe even if the Rapture is "secret" many open graves can be explained away or hidden (even if we are considered "reprogrammed" as the unenlightened ones). We probably will be considered the aliens when Christ returns in my opinion.
No matter what opinion we have on the subject being prepared to die with Christ NOW is in order; and that starts with dying to self a little more each day. Anyone who thinks the Seal Judgments aren't too bad need a serious reality check. If we have to be in it it's one thing; none of us should WANT to go through the Trib if logical
Arguments have come up here as to the statement in Thessalonians and Corinthians in regard to ALL the church being raptured at the time of the Resurrection of the rest of the Church saints. This; however would in some sense make verses such as the one in Luke about praying to be worthy to escape moot. Clearly not ALL saints; in fact only few meet the Malachi 3 "Book of Rememberance" status in regard to them speaking often of the event and fearing God; etc. We also need to consider the "white and unspotted/unwrinkled" state in Ephesians discussing those who are part of the Bride; as well as those in Rev. 4 who appear as "kings and priests"; compared with the fate of those whose garments are tarnished and appear to have the made white through martyrdom as Rev. 6 indicates.
Clearly complexities arise as to whether these are some of the Christians left behind; or purely a new batch of saints after the witness of the 144,000. Daniel shows the difference; saints WILL be overcome whereas now in this era the gates of hell will not prevail against the church (I'll let you look up the verses). Perhaps going through the fire so to speak is simply limited to the Bema Seat or it involves being purified along with those Jews in Jacob's trouble. Surely the churches appear absent after Rev. 3 ends; the first part of chapter 4 seems to indicate that. There are also tricky verses later on such as that in Rev. 19 where the thief in the night analogy of being naked is indicated. That could be the last holdouts that get in "as through the fire
Sounds good.
RLW
Should be Revelation 12:27 And chap. 19.
Sorry about that