Summary of Bible references on the Rapture

The Defense and Confirmation of the Gospel (part 4)

If we summarize this chapter we can see four churches that are described in Revelation. The Catholic church claims their authority comes from God as the first Pope was Peter and this authority has been handed down by the laying on of hands ever since. However, we also see that this church is not going to willingly greet Jesus as the Messiah, rather some will be broken and others ground to powder. They have built their own little kingdom and do not want to hand it over. In revelation we discover that the overcomers in this church will be given a rod of iron signifying authority.

The second church we see is Sardis. This represents the big denominations. They have FreeMasons on the board and have cut a deal with the government in exchange for their tax exempt status. The 501(c)3 churches. This is like the rich young ruler who is told to sell all that he has and come follow the Lord. As long as you let the Board of directors pull the strings and tell you what you can and cannot speak you can't follow the Lord's leading in your spirit. If you belong to the Lord, if you have his image and superscription on your heart then He should be the only one who has the final say on what you can and cannot say.

The third church is Laodicea, they are depicted by the Sadducees, those who worship the Lord according to their own opinion and not according to the truth in the word of God.

The fourth church is Philadelphia, much harder to see but clearly there. At the conclusion Jesus speaks directly to His disciples to beware of the hypocritical worship of those who love the long robes, the best seats, but who secretly devour widow's houses and make a big show of their spirituality. In the church of Philadelphia they are told that they will not have to go out anymore indicating that they were in one of these other churches but eventually were forced out, either by Jezebel, or excommunicated from Sardis (blotted out of their book) or locked out of Laodicea along with Jesus.

How does the Lord build an unshakeable kingdom

21:1 And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. 2 And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. 3 And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: 4 For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

This word balances us to have a different perspective. A rich man donates $1 million dollars to a charity and that may seem to us like a lot, and the Lord doesn't deny that the quantity is a lot, but it does not reflect that they are giving of themselves. They have an abundance, it is like leaving a tip for the waiter. Instead of looking at how much money was given, look at how much of the person was given. The poor widow gave more of herself than the rich men. A rich man might be able to give $1 million without it having any impact on his personal life. It is a nice gift, but it isn't a sacrificial gift. This is a chapter on a great shaking, and that is what most people focus on, but a more important question is how do you build up your faith so that it is unshakeable? The only way is to spend time with the Lord and let Him fill you with faith and that requires a sacrifice of all your living. If church is something I do Sunday morning and the rest of the time I am off doing my own thing you cannot possibly build up an unshakeable faith.

5 And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, 6 As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

It is very likely that those rich men did have a form of a faith. Why give money to the temple if you don't believe in the Lord? Yes, you can give money to charity as a way to polish your image, but it doesn't have to be the temple. You can give scholarships to kids to go to school if you think that will help, you can build libraries if you think access to books will help or you can give money to doctors to find a cure for cancer. There are many charitable opportunities, all of which will polish your image. So let's assume that all of these ones are representing believers in the Lord. For many, what they give to the church is "extra", it is out of their abundance. But to one poor widow it is all the living that she has. This is what Paul said "for me to live is Christ". Ask someone what they like to do in their free time. If they say they watch some sports team, or play golf, or do many other things then is it true for them to say "for me to live is Christ"? We are not to judge others, simply examine yourself. That is the first question I would use to examine myself. The second is this, I am a living stone, but is my faith resting on the faith of another living stone, or is my faith resting on the rock of my salvation? Jesus did not say the pillars which sit upon the foundation rock, which is the revelation of Jesus, He didn't say they get cast down. He only said that every stone that is upon another stone will be cast down. If I say that the Bible does not ever say that you cannot know who the Antichrist is prior to the rapture, do you respond "no, brother so and so says you can't"? If so then your faith is resting upon another stone. However, if you go to the word and say "see, the man of sin is revealed after the restrainer steps aside". That is after the rapture. OK, so then I would ask "who was restraining the man of sin?" It was the saints who were filled with the Holy Spirit. OK, how could they restrain the man of sin if they couldn't see him? The verse actually says that he will be revealed to those left behind, it never says that those who were raptured did not see him prior to being raptured. Now how do you respond to that, do you start to shake and shut down because you have always trusted in others to tell you what the Bible says? Well then, you are a stone that is resting on another stone. Or do you say "I never heard this before, I am going to pray about this and study the word"? That is what it means to have your faith on the rock, the revelation of Jesus Christ.

How does the Lord build an unshakeable kingdom, part 2

7 And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?

This is typical, this is what everyone wants to know. But this is not the most important question, the most important question is how do you build an unshakeable faith so that when it does happen you do not become part of the rubble?

8 And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.

Already, the fact that you are even asking these questions indicates you will be easy to deceive. This is what people are looking for, when will it be, and what will be the sign. If I know the day that the twin towers will be hit by the terrorist attack I can stay home that day. That is a terrible strategy. Instead, if I know how to discern when an attack is coming I can help thwart it and save thousands of lives. So know this, many will come in the name of the Lord, they will claim to have a special anointing, they will point to the events happening around you, and their goal is to get you to follow them so they can make merchandise of you. There are many channels on Youtube that are monetized. That means they make money when you watch them. That may not seem like a cause for concern, but listen to them talk. You will hear what is in their heart. Perhaps their focus is on their sound system, perhaps it is on their graphics, perhaps they want you to share what they are speaking to help advertise their channel, maybe they want you to comment and help the algorithm. Now you have a second motivation into every video, one may be their desire to speak the truth and have the Lord shine light on the situation, but the other is to make more money. They can argue that this is not true, they want the truth going out to more people. OK, but if the truth goes out to more people they make more money. Then they discover that the titles that get the most clicks are vague threats of impending doom. Words like "unprecedented", "a stark warning", "Deadly tornadoes", "Is this volcano about to blow?", etc. Hey, its only the title. But my question is, who is the Lord that they are one with in their speaking? Is Jesus the one giving them the title or is the goal of getting more clicks the goal? Jesus could just as easily have warned about click bait saying "don't go after them".

How does the Lord build an unshakeable kingdom, part 3

In the previous chapter we saw three examples of churches that missed the mark in one way or the other -- Thyatira, Sardis and Laodicea. We saw the underlying issue and we saw that the disciples of the Lord that He was speaking to specifically represented Philadelphia. They were warned to beware of certain hypocritical religious figures, in Thyatira you have Jezebel, in Sardis you have those who claim to be a live but are dead, and in Laodicea the church is run by the laity and have locked Jesus, the incarnated word of God out of the church. However, this chapter begins with us seeing this poor widow who for her to live is Christ. She represents the raptured saints. She does not simply represent Philadelphia because there are saints who are overcomers in Thyatira, and in Sardis, and if they leave Laodicea they also might be overcomers.