9th - A Revelaton Concerning Revelation

This week, I'd simply like to share with you a huge revelation that my dad and I had Friday night.  It began as just a family gathering to read a passage of the Bible, but my dad chose 1st Thessalonians 4, which set off an intensive study sesh to get to the bottom of the question: "When will Christians be raptured in relation to the great tribulation?"

Go grab your Bible, and come figure out this question with me through the Holy Spirit's power.  Please, please, please spend the time to read these passages thoroughly so you can really understand what I'm getting at -- don't just blindly accept what I'm saying, or discredit it because you believe something else. :)

First, read 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18.

Continue on through chapter 5, verses 1-3.

Next, we need to read Matthew 24:3-21 and 29-33.

And lastly, we get to the connective tissue, the meat of the issue: Revelation 6:12-17, 7:9, 13-17.

Now let's dig into what these passages mean.

Take another look at the second passage we read, Matthew 24:29, the "key clue":

"But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken."

Now look at the passage in Revelation 6:12-13a:

"I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth..."

The sun darkened, moon darkened in a different way, and stars falling to earth -- the passages match up exactly!!!  The events are even listed in the same order.  And there are so many other similarities which I don't have time to discuss (but you should look into!).  From these explicit similarities, we can know that Jesus is speaking of the same event as that 6th seal.

Now GET THIS.  The SIXTH SEAL.  That is part way into the tribulation!  Why do you think people have different views regarding when Christians will be raptured?  Because there is evidence for both sides, pre-trib and post-trib.  The funny thing is, I firmly believe the truth is neither.

We will be raptured after the 6th seal and before the 7th (when God pours out his full wrath on the earth).

Look again at what happens in Revelation 7:9,13-17:

"After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count...standing before the throne and before the Lamb... And [one of the elders] said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation..."

"These things" being the events of the 6th seal -- so where do you think that great multitude who came out of the great tribulation came from???  Just where Jesus says in Matthew 24:31:

"And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other."

Are you comprehending this?  It's so hard to explain it accurately.  I hope at least this makes sense to you: that the rapture will occur DIRECTLY AFTER THE 6TH SEAL OF REVELATION IS OPENED.  This means we will endure the first 6 seals, if we are alive then.  Yes, we will go through part of the tribulation, HOWEVER, we won't go through ALL of it, or any of the Great Tribulation.  This is because God does not pour out his wrath on His children.  Just as He showed when He dealt with Sodom and Gomorrah, He won't destroy a city containing even one righteous person.  We will deal with tribulation, but we WILL NOT FACE GOD'S WRATH.

So, what does this mean for us Christians, as we look towards the impending great tribulation?

We will face the first 6 seals (read Revelation 6 to look at these in detail): the reveal of the antichrist, war, famine, death, persecution of Christians, and natural terrors.  After these things, and only after these things, will we Christians be caught up to the Lord in the air.  But our rapture isn't the same event as the 2nd coming of Christ!  Christ's second coming doesn't occur until the Battle of Armageddon, which you can read about in Revelation 19:11 onward.

I'll just end with 1st Thessalonians 4:16-17.  Take heart in these words, and look forward to the day when we are united with Christ -- it is close!

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord."