Hey akwatukee,
Ok, I got a few questions to ask for the 1st part.
If Matthew 24 wasn't written to believers in Yeshua/Jesus as a whole, then who are the "elect" (v.31) at the Day of His Coming in the clouds (V.30)?
Good day TruthSeekerJG!
As the Lord returns to the earth to end the age, He sends out his angels to gather the saints who will have made it alive through the great tribulation period and are introduced in Revelation 7:9-17, as well as the remnant of Israel:
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After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and where have they come from?”
“Sir,” I answered, “you know.”
So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
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The very fact that the elder is asking John who this group after he just got done writing the seven letters to the church, demonstrates that this group is not the church. In fact John tells the elder that he doesn't know who they are. Then the elder says, "these are those who have come out of the great tribulation." These great tribulation saints will be those who will have come to Christ after the church has been gathered and during the time of God's wrath. In further support of this, you will notice that the word 'ekklesia' translated as 'church' is used 19 times throughout chapters 1 thru 3. After that, the word church is never used again until chapter 19 where the church is alluded to as the bride where she receives her fine linen, white and clean at the wedding of the Lamb. The actual word 'church' is not used again until Rev.22:16. This is not a coincidence, but a God given clue.
The key to understanding the chronology of Revelation is found in Rev.1:19 where John is told to write:
* what you have seen = Everything John wrote from Rev.1:1 to 1:19
* what is now = Represented by the letters to the seven churches and also represents the entire church period
* what will take place later = Everything that takes place after the 'what is now,' i.e. after the church period
That said, we are still in the 'what is now' part of what John was told to write. Once the Lord gathers His church, then the 'what is now' will end and the 'what take place later' will begin, which is the time of God's wrath via the seals, trumpets and bowl judgments.
The common mistake that expositors make with v.31 where it says that the Lord sends His angels out to gather His elect, is that they interpret that as the gathering of the church. However, the angels will be going to ends of the earth to gather the remnant of Israel and the great tribulation saints (Gentiles) who will have made it alive through the entire tribulation period.
According to the parable of the wheat and weeds in Matt.13:24-29 which is also referring to when Christ returns to the earth to end the age, the angels go throughout the earth and "First" gather the weeds. These are the "one's taken" in the parable of "one taken and the other left." The angels will first gather the weeds and bring them back to Armageddon where they will be killed with the double-edged sword which proceeds from the Lords mouth (Rev.19:15, 21), which figuratively represents the word of God.
"Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations."
"The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh."
I would add that it is important to not pigeonhole words such as 'elect' which simply means those whom God has chosen. In other words, that word is not specific to only referring to Israel. Israel are the elect, the church is the elect and the great tribulation saints are the elect and the 144,000 are the elect:
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Strong's Concordance
eklektos: select, by impl. favorite
Original Word: ἐκλεκτός, ή, όν
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: eklektos
Phonetic Spelling: (ek-lek-tos')
Definition: select, by implication favorite
Usage: chosen out, elect, choice, select, sometimes as subst: of those chosen out by God for the rendering of special service to Him (of
the Hebrew race, particular Hebrews, the Messiah, and the Christians).
Unless you believe that the elect mentioned here isn't the Body of Christ (church), then there would have to be a 3rd coming right?
Why would there have to be a third coming?
Prior to the beginning of God's wrath, the Lord will appear and call up His church. He does not return to the earth at this time, but will specifically come to gather His church and take them back to the Father's house (John 14:1-3, I Thess.4:13-18).
It is paramount to understand that the gathering of the church vs. the Lord's return to the earth to end the age as being two separate events, which take place at different times and for different purposes.
By putting the church through the time of God's wrath, you are ignoring the underlying principle of Christ already having experienced God's wrath on behalf of every believer, satisfying it completely. You can't just grab one scripture and ignore another. All information has to be considered.
Not only that, but it clearly said "immediately after the tribulation" is when the elect will be taken up.
Just fyi, the scripture doesn't say that the elect will be taken up. It says that they are 'gathered together form the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other,' which is a reference to gathering them from every part of the earth. Remember, it is living people that the angels will be gathering, not dead people. Those elect that the angels gather will be those who will go into the millennial period and repopulate the earth.
(Continued)