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* All scriptures within this study are linked to BibleGateway.com using the "NIV".
The book of The Revelation moves chronologically toward the triumphant and glorious return of Christ to the earth. His return will be heralded by cataclysmic judgments, war, and global natural disasters. But it is all for a divine purpose. God does nothing without order and reason. His return is orchestrated perfectly, using just the right players and just the right vehicle, at just the right time, to manifest His power and glory. Paul explained God's methods in Ephesians 1:9-10--"...having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him"
Although the method and messenger of delivering the Gospel changes through the ages, the outcome and end is sure. Christ purposed and predestined all human events so that when the dispensations of time are complete, the end result is that ALL THINGS IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH ARE ONE IN CHRIST. What exciting times we are living in, witnessing the climax of one age and the unfolding of another.
Have you ever noticed in the Gospel accounts that Christ performed no miracle of healing in exactly the same way? He did this so the METHOD would not be credited for the healing. If He made clay from spittle every time He healed, hawkers would be selling spiritual healing clay. If He spoke the words, "Arise, take up your bed and walk" to every crippled or sick person, these words would be touted as an incantation with magical properties. Christ healed some by touching, others by speaking. But every miracle was accomplished through His power. We are to worship Him alone, not appropriate a method separate from the power source.
WHEN VARIOUS VEHICLES ARE USED FOR CHRIST'S PURPOSE,
WE RIGHTLY ASSOCIATE THE MIRACLE WITH HIS POWER, RATHER THAN THE PARTICULAR METHOD.
CHRIST'S POWER IS THE ONE COMMON DENOMINATOR
NEW APPROACH--SAME OUTCOME: TRANSITION IN THE WHITE SPACES
In the same way, our Lord accomplishes His overall plan of the ages by using different methods and peoples to accomplish His purpose. We have come to that place in The Revelation where a significant SHIFT in His METHOD takes place. Before beginning John's eye witness account of the Tribulation, consider the white space between chapters three and four where this seamless transition takes place. When we arrive in chapter four, the focus of the book has suddenly changed in four ways:
* The vehicle of the CHURCH changes to the vehicle of ISRAEL. But it is all to REVEAL CHRIST.
* The dispensation of GRACE ends to begin the dispensation of WRATH.
* The book shifts from the PRESENT Age to the FUTURE.
* John's location shifts from EARTH to HEAVEN.
THE FOCUS ON THE CHURCH CHANGES TO THE FOCUS ON ISRAEL:
The Revelation is the revealing of Jesus Christ. We have completed chapter one that reveals Christ in the fullness of His deity--the PAST section of the book's outline. Chapters two and three reveal His authority and headship over the Church--the PRESENT section. But there is much more to reveal about our Lord yet to come, beyond the age of the Church. In addition to demonstrating the Lord's authority in this present age of the Church, the seven letters also plot a time line through the Church Age to usher in the next age, the Tribulation. After the Rapture/Resurrection of the Church, the Lord resumes His dealing with the nation of Israel because ISRAEL IS GOD'S UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
1. A major focus of the Tribulation is to restore and redeem Israel as God promised in His covenants with Israel. Even as He visits wrath on the earth, the Lord uses the Tribulation to demonstrate His grace for His chosen people: Jeremiah 30:7-10--"How awful that day will be! None will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it..."
2. God's purpose for Israel was interrupted by their rejection of Christ as Messiah. [Luke 19:41-44] "...Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved..." [Romans 11:25-26] Although Israel is spiritually blind at present, the Jewish remnant will have eyes to see in the age to come, when Christ comes again.
3. When Christ returns at the end of the Tribulation to defend His people, He will redeem them. "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on Me [Christ], the one they have pierced, and mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son..." [Zechariah 12:10-13:1] In Jeremiah 31:31, God says "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel..." Just as the Church of called-out ones came under the blood of His New Covenant, so Israel shall be redeemed by grace through faith in Christ Jesus [Eph. 2:8-10] and come under the New Covenant.
4. Prophecy for Israel must be fulfilled. In Daniel 9, the Lord outlined 70 Weeks of Years in which He would deal directly with Israel. Seven years remain to be fulfilled, and this seven years is fulfilled in the Tribulation. Israel is the epicenter of the Tribulation during those seven years and they are central to Christ's earthly Kingdom. Israel must be a viable nation in order for the Tribulation events such as Antichrist's desecration of the re-built Temple in Jerusalem to be fulfilled. Israel will be a holy nation and Jerusalem will be God's capital city in the Millennium. Ezekiel chapters 40 to 48 describe the earthly Kingdom centered in the land of Israel in great detail. The 144,000 sealed Jews will be the Lord's chosen evangelists during the Tribulation. These are just some of the examples of how integral Israel is in the Lord's Second Coming.
5. God will fulfill His promises for His own sake. He will restore and redeem Israel not for their sakes, but for the sake of His holy name. [Ezekiel 36:22-23; 32]
WHEN THE DAY OF THE LORD ENDS,
ISRAEL WILL NO LONGER BE UNFINISHED BUSINESS!
THE DISPENSATION OF GRACE ENDS TO BEGIN THE DISPENSATION OF WRATH:
In the two thousand years of grace known as the Church Age, Christians have begun to take His unmerited favor for granted [2 Timothy 1:9]. When God's holiness demands justice, Christians join unbelievers to ask, "How could a loving God __________." You fill in the blank. The Lord's unprecedented demonstration of GRACE in the Church Age is drawing to a close. The vehicle of the Tribulation shifts to God's WRATH. As chapter four opens, we witness the commissioning service at God's throne in which Christ Jesus is given complete authority to judge the earth. These judgments will result in the death of one-half the world's population. At His Second Coming, Christ returns to take vengeance on a Christ-rejecting world. Those who are unprepared for the Christ of wrath have not understood Jesus in His full revealing. Christ Jesus is holy God. Those who question the love of God when trials come are unprepared for the vehicle of wrath He will utilize to redeem His remnant and restore His creation in the Tribulation. Just as the earth was cleansed by water in the flood, so the earth will be cleansed by fire in the Tribulation.
IN CHRIST JESUS, GRACE AND WRATH [JUDGMENT] ARE IN PERFECT BALANCE.
WHO BETTER TO JUDGE THE WORLD THAN HE WHO CREATED IT AND DIED TO SAVE IT.
The Tribulation is identified as a dispensation of WRATH, JUDGMENT--even God's fury poured out. [Revelation 6:16; 14:7; 14:10; 14:19; 15:1; 16:1; 20:15] The Tribulation culminating in the Second Coming of Christ is also called The Day of the Lord. It will be the day of Christ's reckoning with His creation. Consider Joel's description of this time of wrath:
Joel 3:12-16
12 “Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to mjudge all the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for othe harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the pwinepress is full, The vats overflow— For their wickedness is great.” 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For qthe day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness. 16 The Lord also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the Lord will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel.
Grace is still active in the Tribulation, but God's pre-eminent vehicle will be fire and wrath. God's mercy still saves in the Tribulation. In fact, God's grace shines through even more boldly on the black backdrop of lawlessness and Godlessness of the Tribulation. Note in Zechariah 13:8 we are told that two-thirds of Israel will die in the Tribulation--but one-third will be left to be redeemed when He returns . Verse 9: "This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.'" This is the grace of God, but it comes through His refining fire. But what remains after the testing shines as silver and fine gold.
THE TEXT MOVES FROM THE PRESENT TO THE FUTURE:
In the white space between chapters three and four, the Revelation moves through time from the PRESENT to the FUTURE. Recall from Revelation 1:19 the OUTLINE of the book. We have come to the third section of the outline or "what will take place after this" --FUTURE. From chapter four to the end of the revelation is now FUTURE and the major section of the book. The PAST and PRESENT sections were positioned to introduce and usher in the future portion of the Revelation. THIS IS THE SECTION OF SPECIAL INTEREST BECAUSE IT IS PROPHECY THAT HAS NOT YET BEEN FULFILLED.
THE LOCATION OF JOHN'S VISION MOVES FROM EARTH TO HEAVEN:
Up to chapter four, the vision of The Revelation unfolds through John's account on the Island of Patmos in the Mediterranean. Suddenly, in Revelation 4:1, John is taken up into the highest heaven to the throne room of God. John's eye witness accounts now come from the perspective of heaven, looking down on the earth. WHAT BETTER WAY TO UNDERSTAND THE JUDGMENT OF THE TRIBULATION THAN FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF COMMAND CENTRAL--THE WAR ROOM OF HEAVEN ITSELF. From his lofty position, John is able to see the wrath emanate directly from Christ and he sees the results of its unleashing below. We have the honor of sharing in his vision.
THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH--ALSO IN THE WHITE SPACE:
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE RAPTURE? This imminent event is of particular interest to believers in the Church Age because it is our deliverance and blessed hope! [Titus 2:13] It is also the NEXT EVENT ON GOD'S TIME TABLE. To be precise, this event is the Rapture/Resurrection of the Church. Two things take place: The raising of the "dead in Christ" and the translation or "rapture" of those who happen to be alive when Christ comes to receive us in the clouds [John 14:1-3]. So this event is both the Rapture of the living and the Resurrection of the dead "in Christ." The event is commonly referred to as The Rapture, but the resurrection is understood.
John's rapid change of location as chapter four opens is symbolic of the taking of the Church remnant to heaven in the Rapture. Because the Rapture is a sign-less, imminent [any-moment] event, we do not know on what day the Church Age will end, but we know how it will end--those in Christ are taken into heaven in an instant, in the "twinkling of an eye." [1 Corinthians 15:51-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; John 14:1-3] Only those believers who come to Christ during the Church Age are taken to heaven in the Rapture. They alone are called "in Christ" because Christ is in them in the person of the in-dwelling Holy Spirit [John 14]. The rest of the believers are resurrected at the end of the Tribulation. [More on this in Revelation 19-20.]
EVIDENCE FOR THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE:
IT IS NOT TO GOD'S GLORY TO SUBJECT HIS BRIDE,
REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB,
TO WRATH.
1 Thessalonians 5:9-11
If the Rapture/Resurrection of the Church occurs before the Tribulation, why isn't it detailed in the text?
* The Rapture is symbolically illustrated in the text by John's "rapture" into heaven; it was already reviewed and previewed in Revelation 3:10 when Christ stated clearly that He will keep overcomers in the faith "from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth." This test is for those left on the earth after the Rapture, not for the redeemed. The very chronology of The Revelation in which the Church Age is completed before the account of the Tribulation begins confirms a pre-Trib Rapture.
* The imminent nature of the Rapture is the strongest evidence that it will, indeed, happen before the Tribulation begins. To place the Rapture anywhere in the Tribulation past chapter 3 where the Church Age ends would mean the Church cannot maintain an attitude of watching for the unknown, any-moment return of Christ as we are instructed to do [Luke 12:35-48]. We would instead be watching for the signs of the Tribulation, such as the revealing of Antichrist and the beginning of the Seal Judgments, BEFORE EXPECTING HIM. The Church, then, would be living by sight rather than by faith.
*The Pre-Tribulation Rapture is not explained in more detail in the text because it was the accepted position in the Church and clarification was not necessary. JOHN WAS COMMUNICATING NEW REVELATION, NOT TRUTH THEY ALREADY POSSESSED. The early Church understood the concept of the Pre-Trib Rapture through the teachings of Paul and the principles of God's justice. It is the post-modern church that has lost the teaching. Because the Revelation shifts focus away from the Church at this point to Israel and the unleashing of judgments, the Rapture event is covered symbolically only. THE FOCUS IS ON CHRIST--HIS VEHICLE IS NOW ISRAEL.
* As further proof that the Church is already in heaven when the Tribulation begins, the elders before the throne in Revelation chapters 4 and 5, representing the completed Church, wear crowns they received at the Judgment of Rewards at the Bema, the judgment reserved for the rewards given to the Church [Revelation 4:4; 1 Cor. 3:10-15; 2 Cor. 5:9]. Only the Church believers are said to receive crowns as a reward for good works resulting from their redeemed lives, and these rewards are given immediately following the Rapture/Resurrection of the Church. The elders in heaven will delight in laying their crowns before the throne [Rev. 4:10]. As further evidence that the elders represent the Church, they sing the song of redemption in Rev. 5:8-10 that describes the blessings of those who come to Christ in the Church Age.
* Luke 21:28, 31, 34-36--After Christ's sermon on the end times, He tells the disciples as the representative remnant of believers, "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near." The beginning of these things is described in Luke 21:9 and Matthew 24:8. Luke's account states, "these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately." Matthew's account labels the transitional signs before the Tribulation as "the beginning of sorrows," those signs such as deception, racial wars, famine and earthquakes in diverse places that begin to increase in frequency and intensity. It is these signs that our Lord says will signal the Rapture. Our Lord states in Luke 21:36 that those watching will "escape ALL these things that will come to pass..." We escape because our attitude of expectation is evidence of our worthiness to "escape all."
* 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12--Paul speaks of someone who restrains the Antichrist from being revealed. Bible teachers believe this speaks of the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit as He is manifested in each Church Age believer. When the Church is taken out of the world, the multiplied power of the Holy Spirit is also taken out. When the salt and light leave, then the lawless one, Antichrist, will no longer be restrained and will be revealed. [The Tribulation begins when Antichrist signs or confirms a treaty with Israel, Daniel 9:27.] This begins the Seven year countdown. For this reason, the Rapture must take place before Antichrist's actions can begin the Tribulation.
Precedence in the Old Testament that those not appointed to WRATH are removed before judgment:
* Enoch was translated or raptured before the great world-wide flood, Genesis 5:24.
* Lot was taken out of Sodom before its destruction. In Genesis 19:20-22, Lot asked if he could flee to a nearby city. The destroying angel said to Lot, "Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there."
* Deliverance before judgment is seen in type in Daniel chapter 3. When the three Hebrew men were delivered in the midst of the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel, the prophet of the book, is conspicuously absent from the account. Daniel was most likely absent on empire business, but he also represents those taken out BEFORE judgment. His Hebrew friends represent those who come to faith during the dispensation of judgment and are taken THROUGH unharmed, as the living Tribulation remnant will be protected through it. See Revelation 7 and 12 for descriptions of the protected remnant during the Tribulation.
BELIEVERS LIVING IN THE WHITE SPACES
Everyone living in the days since the rebirth of Israel [May 14, 1948--the budding of the fig tree]] exist in the generation in which representatives will live to see all the events of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ come to pass. This is the literal interpretation of Matthew 24:34 [Mark 13:28-31; Luke 21:29-33]. You and I were chosen to live in these days in order to bring glory to God. Like Esther, we have been called to the kingdom "for such a time as this." [Esther 4:14]
Our mission is challenging and exciting as we are the remnant on the cusp of the turning of the Age. We live in the white spaces of transition. Our eyes are on the clouds, looking for Christ's imminent return for the Church. The plan of God is shifting its focus, and as Daniel 12:10 says, "...none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand."
LIVING IN INFORMED ANTICIPATION OF CHRIST'S ANY-MOMENT RETURN:
The men of the tribe of Issachar were called wise because
they "understood the times and knew what God would have them to do." 1 Chronicles 12:32
Next Time: Revelation Chapter 4
In Him We Wait, Work, and Watch,
[Luke 12:35-59]
Sharon
[Prophecy Chat is a weekly commentary of current events in light of Bible prophecy. Sharon L. Clemens is an evangelical, premillennial, dispensational teacher of eschatology. She can be reached for comment or questions by e-mail at farmgrove@frontier.com]
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