This internet may qualify everyone to voice an opinion, but GOD will still hold you accountable for everyone you mislead...
Also zechariah and IsaiahDoes the Revelation of Christ not reiterate the prophecies of Daniel and Ezekiel? In fact, without Daniel and Ezekiel, would Revelation make any discernible sense at all?
And who taught you your wisdom?Eisegesis. Learned from one of those denominations you were talking about.
You don't know because you're hardened in your beliefs. Babies taught by babies won't get much, & it's not always the new converts' fault.
Not entirely true. Again, babies teaching babies won't take a new convert very far. Plus, some of these teaching babies have been deceived by some false doctrine.
That's why the scriptures say Satan will try to deceive the very elect, because he knows it's possible.
YES, sleeping in the dust of the earth is a metaphor for those who died and their bodies buried = 100% Correct
Did you read 1 Thess ch4 which Guarantees that the Dead in Christ are physically Resurrected at His Coming?
Did you read 1 Cor ch15 which Guarantees that the Dead in Christ are physically Resurrected and our bodies transformed into Immortal Bodies?
Did you REALLY read 1 Thessalonians chapter 4? Where are physical bodies mentioned? They are not. Paul was writing to those very Thessalonians of his day. He included himself in the WE. The teachings of 1 Thessalonians 4 are not directed at us. THEY were not to precede the rising of the "dead in Christ," but all would be caught together in Christ. This is the gathering together by the mighty angels of all of the elect from the four "winds" at Christ's appearing in THAT generation. "THIS generation will by no means pass away until ALL THESE THINGS take place" (Mat. 24:34). First Thessalonians 4 reflects Paul's teachings in 1 Corinthians 15.
First Corinthians 15 also makes no mention of physical bodies. You are reading that into the text. Paul uses the expression ek nekron (from out of the DEAD ONES--15:12). It is a PLURAL participle, and it speaks of the company of those who died and went to SHEOL. THEY were the "dead ones." From that group imprisoned in Sheol/Hades (those who awaited the resurrection), Jesus was raised. He came back into His physical body as a SIGN that He had accomplished the resurrection from the DEAD ONES. He was resurrected (restored to full fellowship with God the Father having conquered sin) BEFORE he reclaimed His physical body.
Many, especially the Greeks, saw no escape from what they considered the netherworld. It is significant that Paul is writing to the Church at Corinth--a mostly Gentile audience. While they did not deny His physical coming forth from the tomb, some of THEM denied that He had escaped the clutches of the realm of the DEAD ONES (Sheol/Hades). Jesus died and went to HADES because that was the destination of ALL men. Paul's point is that if Christ Himself, the Son of Man and the Son of God, had not overcome the prison of Sheol/Hades, then who could? No one. If Christ hadn't achieved victory, no one could, and they would forever be lost in their sins! If you make this about physical bodies coming up out of their tombs, you miss the entire point of Paul's words.
Are the DEAD, those who "sleep in the dust of the earth," raised or are they not? In other words, can they be? If Christ did not win over death and the wages of sin, then no one can! "You are still in your sins" (vs. 17). "Those who have fallen asleep (and are in Sheol/Hades awaiting resurrection), in Christ HAVE PERISHED (vs. 18).
What was the truth Paul was imparting? Christ was in fact RESURRECTED out of SHEOL/HADES and out of the realm of the DEAD ONES. RESURRECTION is coming forth out of that realm! He was "the FIRSTFRUITS of those who have fallen asleep" (vs.20). The rest of the Harvest which would remove the "dead ones" out of the clutches of SHEOL/HADES would come at His return (vs. 23) in A.D. 70 when He opened the "bars" of that realm and set the prisoners free--some to everlasting life and others to eternal banishment from His presence. THAT was the resurrection, the Hope of Israel. It was limited to those who had died and gone to SHEOL/HADES. That realm has been emptied and destroyed. There is no more resurrection. It was NEVER the hope of the Church. It was the hope of OT Israel. It was for that hope that Paul was imprisoned!
The futurist assumption of physical bodies comes from a misunderstanding of Paul's answer to THEIR question: "How are the dead [nekroi--PLURAL) raised? With what kind of BODY [singular] do they come?" (vs. 35). The false perception is that since Jesus came back for a short time to dwell in His physical body, we will all do the same. Paul chastises them and then presents a metaphor of a sower--something they clearly understood. The sower plants a seed and it DIES (vs. 36). The SEED remains in the EARTH and returns to the dust. The SEED does NOT come forth. That which is not LIKE the SEED comes forth--something that is fitted for a different realm. God does not change the seed; He gives a completely different type of "body." Why? Because "there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies" (vs. 40). They each have their own "glory" and their own realm (vs. 40).
Paul elaborates: "What is sown is PERISHABLE, what is raised is IMPERISHABLE" (vs. 42). One is not turned into the the other. They are separate. They do not mix; they do not exchange, they are not transformed. They are what they are and they remain what they are. Sown in "dishonor"; raised in "glory." Sown in "weakness"; raised in "power." Sown a "natural" BODY; raised a "spiritual" (BODY). The physical body of flesh is not emphasized here since it pertains to both the "natural" and the "spiritual." Both have a "body." The "natural" came first. This is associated with Adam. Again, it is not physical. It speaks of the essence of "a man of dust" (earthly--vs. 47). All mankind is "of dust." This is compared to the man "from heaven." They are distinct. All are first "of dust," before they are raised through faith in Christ as "those who are of heaven" (vs. 48). All bear the "image of the man of dust" until through faith in Christ, they "bear the image of the man of heaven" (vs. 49).
The PERISHABLE (man of dust, the man of the earthly realm) does not inherit the IMPERISHABLE (vs. 50). Imperishability cannot be bequeathed because it is NOT of the family lineage! One does NOT become the other. They each remain in their own realm.
Paul goes on to explain that THEY would not all SLEEP--(sleep with their fathers in SHEOL/HADES). Some would live until His coming; until He emptied Hades so no one ever "SLEPT" there again. Many died before His return and did join those in that realm, but others lived to never see that realm. Study Jesus' words in Matthew 16:28--"There are some standing HERE who will not taste death until THEY see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." Some would never be relegated to the realm of HADES. Some would never sleep. They would live until Christ came and forever destroyed it. At that time, ALL would be changed. Hades was emptied; those in Christ were changed to be heavenly and those who still lived at His appearing were changed to be heavenly. Since that time, no one goes to wait in Hades. ALL in Christ die, never sleeping "in the dust of the earth" and immediately go into His presence. In other words, Christians do not SLEEP because they ARE resurrected!
It is unfortunate that translations render verse 53 with the word "body." The word is not there in the Greek. It simple says: "For this PERISHABLE must put on the IMPERISHABLE, and this MORTALITY must put on IMMORTALITY. The fear of DEATH is eradicated; there is no more STING; there is VICTORY. This victory has been achieved--a long time ago--when Christ came and did away with the law that brought condemnation and guilt. When the Roman armies destroyed the city and the Temple, the tenets of Judaism and its guilt without hope were burned with FERVENT heat (2 Peter 3) and "heaven and earth" (the Old Covenant--the "elements") passed away! We now live in the "new heavens and earth" of the New Covenant.
If there has been no resurrection, all Christians still go to Hades to join the Dead One and await its reality. Hope delayed makes the heart sick" (Proverbs 13:12).
Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,
and the graves were opened;
and many bodies of the saints who had died were raised;
and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
Matt ch27
[whereas Isaiah 26:14-19,20-21 is speaking of Israel's "future," just like Ezekiel 37:12-14,20-23 and Hos5:14-6:3 and Rom11:15[25,27(Isa27:9[,12-13]; and the Dan9:24 prophecy re: "thy [Daniel's] people" and "thy [Daniel's] holy city)] and several other passages on that same Subject: i.e. Israel coming up out of the graveyard OF NATIONS, WHERE SCATTERED...]
...this Matthew 27 passage is also what came to my mind when I read @LetGodBeTrue 's Post #86 ^^ (esp. regarding the word/subject: "resurrection / resurrected / resurrect" or even regarding "His resurrection").
Matthew 27 -
50 And Jesus, having cried again in a loud voice, yielded up His spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn into two from top to bottom. And the earth was shaken, and the rocks were split. 52 And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints having fallen asleep arose. 53 And having gone forth out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered into the holy city and appeared to many.
[whereas Isaiah 26:14-19,20-21 is speaking of Israel's "future," just like Ezekiel 37:12-14,20-23 and Hos5:14-6:3 and Rom11:15[25,27(Isa27:9[,12-13]; and the Dan9:24 prophecy re: "thy [Daniel's] people" and "thy [Daniel's] holy city)] and several other passages on that same Subject: i.e. Israel coming up out of the graveyard OF NATIONS, WHERE SCATTERED...]
...this Matthew 27 passage is also what came to my mind when I read @LetGodBeTrue 's Post #86 ^^ (esp. regarding the word/subject: "resurrection / resurrected / resurrect" or even regarding "His resurrection").
Matthew 27 -
50 And Jesus, having cried again in a loud voice, yielded up His spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn into two from top to bottom. And the earth was shaken, and the rocks were split. 52 And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints having fallen asleep arose. 53 And having gone forth out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered into the holy city and appeared to many.
In addition to that point ^ , ( @LetGodBeTrue )
consider also a post I made some time back, regarding 1 Peter 3:19-20's "spirits in prison"...
Post #1274 (quoting Gaebelein's commentary, with which I agree) - https://christianchat.com/threads/l...the-rapture-is-compelling.197095/post-4491982
[quoting from that old post]
[quoting Gaebelein on 1 Peter 3 - re: "preached to the spirits in prison"]
"What, then, does the passage mean? It is very simple after all. He preached by the Spirit, or in the Spirit, that is, the same Spirit who raised Him from among the dead, the Holy Spirit of life and power, to the spirits who are now in prison. But when the preaching occurred they were not in prison. And who were they? All the wicked dead for 4,000 years? The text makes it clear that they are a special class of people. They were living in the days of Noah. It is incomprehensible how some of these teachers, misinterpreting this passage, can teach that it includes all the lost, or angels which fell, or the righteous dead. The Spirit of God preached to them, that is, the Spirit who quickened the body of Christ, the same Spirit preached to the generation of unbelievers in the days of Noah. The time of the preaching, then, did not occur between the death and resurrection of Christ, but it took place in Noah’s day. Christ was not personally, or corporeally present, just as He is not present in person in this age when the gospel is preached; His Spirit is here.
"So was He present by His Spirit in the days of Noah. It is written: “My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years” (Genesis 6:3). His Spirit was then on the earth. In long-suffering God was waiting for one hundred and twenty years while the ark was preparing. His Spirit preached then. But He needed an instrument. The instrument was Noah; in him was the Spirit of Christ and as the preacher of righteousness (2Peter 2:5) he delivered the warning message of an impending judgment to those about him, who did not heed the message, passed on in disobedience, were swept away by the deluge and are now the spirits in prison. As the Spirit of Christ was in the prophets (1Peter 1:11) testifying beforehand of the suffering of Christ and the glory that should follow, so the Spirit of Christ preached through Noah. This is the meaning of this passage, and any other is faulty and unscriptural."
--Gaebelein - https://biblehub.com/commentaries/gaebelein/1_peter/3.htm
[end quoting; bold and underline mine]
[MORE AT LINK... particularly the two paragraphs which precede this paragraph, at link... but even this much ^ suffices to the present point]
In addition to that point ^ , ( @LetGodBeTrue )
consider also a post I made some time back, regarding 1 Peter 3:19-20's "spirits in prison"...
Post #1274 (quoting Gaebelein's commentary, with which I agree) - https://christianchat.com/threads/l...the-rapture-is-compelling.197095/post-4491982
[quoting from that old post]
[quoting Gaebelein on 1 Peter 3 - re: "preached to the spirits in prison"]
"What, then, does the passage mean? It is very simple after all. He preached by the Spirit, or in the Spirit, that is, the same Spirit who raised Him from among the dead, the Holy Spirit of life and power, to the spirits who are now in prison. But when the preaching occurred they were not in prison. And who were they? All the wicked dead for 4,000 years? The text makes it clear that they are a special class of people. They were living in the days of Noah. It is incomprehensible how some of these teachers, misinterpreting this passage, can teach that it includes all the lost, or angels which fell, or the righteous dead. The Spirit of God preached to them, that is, the Spirit who quickened the body of Christ, the same Spirit preached to the generation of unbelievers in the days of Noah. The time of the preaching, then, did not occur between the death and resurrection of Christ, but it took place in Noah’s day. Christ was not personally, or corporeally present, just as He is not present in person in this age when the gospel is preached; His Spirit is here.
"So was He present by His Spirit in the days of Noah. It is written: “My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years” (Genesis 6:3). His Spirit was then on the earth. In long-suffering God was waiting for one hundred and twenty years while the ark was preparing. His Spirit preached then. But He needed an instrument. The instrument was Noah; in him was the Spirit of Christ and as the preacher of righteousness (2Peter 2:5) he delivered the warning message of an impending judgment to those about him, who did not heed the message, passed on in disobedience, were swept away by the deluge and are now the spirits in prison. As the Spirit of Christ was in the prophets (1Peter 1:11) testifying beforehand of the suffering of Christ and the glory that should follow, so the Spirit of Christ preached through Noah. This is the meaning of this passage, and any other is faulty and unscriptural."
--Gaebelein - https://biblehub.com/commentaries/gaebelein/1_peter/3.htm
[end quoting; bold and underline mine]
[MORE AT LINK... particularly the two paragraphs which precede this paragraph, at link... but even this much ^ suffices to the present point]
Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death,c so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope. 14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep/died in Him.
15By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep.
16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise.= dead bodies in the dust/grave
17After that, 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 will always be with the Lord.
18Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Your dead shall live;
Together with my dead body they shall arise.
Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust;
For your dew is like the dew of herbs,
And the earth shall cast out the dead. - Isa ch26
Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,
and the graves were opened;
and many bodies of the saints who had died were raised;
and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
Matt ch27
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
The sea gave up the dead who were in it,
and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.
And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Rev ch20
WAKE UP to TRUTH
This is found in Revelation, in the vision which John was shown which was to SHORTLY take place ...[...] (Rev1:1; 22:6)...
Again, John was shown those things which were to SHORTLY take place...[....] (Rev1:1; 22:6; [...])...
When we cursorily take a verse out of its context, we rip it from that perspective and force our own understanding onto it.
^ Problem alert.
@LetGodBeTrue says (again),
Revelation 1:1; 22:6 says this instead,
"things which must come to pass IN QUICKNESS [en tachei / taxei G1722 G5034 - NOUN]..."
Which I had explained here (and not the first time in that thread):
-- Post #359 (and #360) of a different thread - https://christianchat.com/threads/are-we-in-the-end-times.202587/post-4803528
... to which LetGodBeTrue eventually acknowledged, in his Post #368 of that thread, by saying, "I stand corrected..."
...but now (while going back to his original stating that it says "SHORTLY," which is doesn't state), he's saying,
Let the readers note that I've already address with this poster, the following, which he has basically IGNORED and not addressed in my numerous posts regarding these:
--the SEALS in Rev6 are EQUIVALENT to "the beginning of birth PANGS" which Luke 21:12 tells us that the 70ad events of vv.12-24 must take place "BEFORE ALL THESE" (BEFORE all these beginning of birth PANGS); This means that "the SEALS / the beginning of birth PANGS" take place SEQUENTIALLY AFTER the 70ad events; they are NOT what precede and LEAD UP TO the 70ad events;
Same for Paul's telling of the ARRIVAL of "the DOTL" time-period (in 1Th5:1-3), which he states will be "exactly like [hosper]" the INITIAL "birth PANG [SINGULAR]" which COMES UPON a woman (same one Jesus spoke of in Matt24:4 / Mk13:5 "G5100 - tis - 'A CERTAIN ONE' ['a certain one' bringing deception]"), aka SEAL #1 (the rider on the white horse WITH A BOW... where "bow" is often used, in scripture, to mean "DECEPTION");... which leads to my next point...
--there's been no explanation provided by LetGodBeTrue as to WHY Rev17:8 says, "... [when they behold the beast] that WAS, and IS NOT, and YET SHALL BE [future tense].";... if Revelation was supposedly written BEFORE the events of 70ad (like, say, in the mid-60s-ad, as is supposed by the Preterists), then WHY does this text state (of the beast) "and IS NOT" (at the time of that supposed "mid-60s-ad" writing)??
Hal Lindsay's a false prophet. He predicted the return of Jesus before 1988. Guess what? No return of Jesus before 1988. Big surprise.
Well babies all have spirit seed that are born every moment, seed is innumerable not just sand that's for see and pick up, man can try and count is impossible for man, going to Mars has more than earth, trillions of planets are beyond even trying immpossible which is like grace and mercy is also never born or death so forgive limited beliefs.
Re: 1Pet 3:19-20In addition to that point ^ , ( @LetGodBeTrue )
consider also a post I made some time back, regarding 1 Peter 3:19-20's "spirits in prison"...
Post #1274 (quoting Gaebelein's commentary, with which I agree) - https://christianchat.com/threads/l...the-rapture-is-compelling.197095/post-4491982
[quoting from that old post]
[quoting Gaebelein on 1 Peter 3 - re: "preached to the spirits in prison"]
"What, then, does the passage mean? It is very simple after all. He preached by the Spirit, or in the Spirit, that is, the same Spirit who raised Him from among the dead, the Holy Spirit of life and power, to the spirits who are now in prison. But when the preaching occurred they were not in prison. And who were they? All the wicked dead for 4,000 years? The text makes it clear that they are a special class of people. They were living in the days of Noah. It is incomprehensible how some of these teachers, misinterpreting this passage, can teach that it includes all the lost, or angels which fell, or the righteous dead. The Spirit of God preached to them, that is, the Spirit who quickened the body of Christ, the same Spirit preached to the generation of unbelievers in the days of Noah. The time of the preaching, then, did not occur between the death and resurrection of Christ, but it took place in Noah’s day. Christ was not personally, or corporeally present, just as He is not present in person in this age when the gospel is preached; His Spirit is here.
"So was He present by His Spirit in the days of Noah. It is written: “My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years” (Genesis 6:3). His Spirit was then on the earth. In long-suffering God was waiting for one hundred and twenty years while the ark was preparing. His Spirit preached then. But He needed an instrument. The instrument was Noah; in him was the Spirit of Christ and as the preacher of righteousness (2Peter 2:5) he delivered the warning message of an impending judgment to those about him, who did not heed the message, passed on in disobedience, were swept away by the deluge and are now the spirits in prison. As the Spirit of Christ was in the prophets (1Peter 1:11) testifying beforehand of the suffering of Christ and the glory that should follow, so the Spirit of Christ preached through Noah. This is the meaning of this passage, and any other is faulty and unscriptural."
--Gaebelein - https://biblehub.com/commentaries/gaebelein/1_peter/3.htm
[end quoting; bold and underline mine]
[MORE AT LINK... particularly the two paragraphs which precede this paragraph, at link... but even this much ^ suffices to the present point]
Well you say nothing needs to happen before Jesus comes to take us home and then you quote Paul who says it cannot happen unless the apostasy has happened first and the man of sin revealed.
By Hal Lindsey...
On the list of end-time events, nothing has to happen before Jesus snatches His people from the face of the earth. That means the rapture could happen many years from now, or any second now. The Bible calls it our “blessed hope.” Titus 2:13 says, “Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” [NKJV]
Notice that we are not looking for the appearing of Antichrist, but of Jesus Christ. A lot of Christians now believe that Antichrist must appear before the rapture. They base this on 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3.
“Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him, that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.” [NASB]
People often confuse “the day of the Lord” and “the rapture.” A study of the day of the Lord in both the New and Old Testaments shows that it is not a single day, but an epoch. It begins at the beginning of the seven years of tribulation (also known as “Daniel’s Seventieth Week”). It ends at the end of the millennium. But the rapture happens before the day of the Lord.
Paul taught the Thessalonian Christians about a pretribulation rapture and about the day of the Lord. Sometime after he left, a group began teaching that the day of the Lord had begun. To the Thessalonians, this meant they had missed the rapture — a notion that shook them to the core.
Paul tells them to remember what he taught them about the day of the Lord. Daniel 9:27 says that the tribulation (“Daniel’s Seventieth Week”) begins when “the prince who is to come” (Antichrist) makes a treaty with Israel. Before Antichrist can make such a significant treaty, he will obviously have to arrive on the world scene. So, before the tribulation can begin, Antichrist must have risen to a high level of power and prominence, probably as leader of the European Union or its successor.
He cannot rise to such a position now because Satan’s work on earth is being restrained. Paul went on to write, “Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he may be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.” [2 Thessalonians 2:5-8, NASB]
The restrainer is the Holy Spirit working through the Church. At the rapture, that restraint on Satan will be taken out of the way. The teaching here is clear. The day of the Lord cannot begin until the rise of Antichrist, and Antichrist cannot rise until the Church has been taken out of the way. Therefore, the rapture must take place before the tribulation.
People who believe that the Antichrist must appear before the rapture face a conundrum. Instead of looking for the appearing of Christ, they must look for the appearing of Antichrist. But as we just read in Titus 2:13, we are to be “Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
In other words, we are looking for life, not death; love, not hate; and so, we look forward with joy rather than despair.
More Information: Hal takes a closer look at the antichrist, false prophet, and what restrains them in this special Report - Click Here -