Summary of Bible references on the Rapture

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the purpose of the blog is I wanted to find out what the Bible said about the rapture, I felt that the subject was not covered comprehensively.

The scope is the Bible, any and all verses that could apply to the rapture. Not so much "when" but rather, who, what, where, why and how. Also, as Peter said, I wanted to look into what the days prior to the rapture would be like, what would be happening, what the precursor would be, what events would precede it, etc. Or as Joel says, what happens "nigh to the day of the Lord" or in the seven years preceding the tribulation.

This is my only blog on Christian Chat.

I don't have an agenda other than that. I shared links to others who were teaching based on a couple of criteria. First, it had to be based on the Bible and second it had to relate in some way to the rapture, and third it had to be "unique". In other words there were many, many links that were repeating or regurgitating things I had already posted on the blog. I did not post those.

I did not have to agree with a post in order to post it, often I would post something someone else shared and point out where I differed from them in the interpretation. But I felt it was important to be honest about the subject to present various interpretations. As a result I have not tried to support or debunk any particular doctrine on the subject. I go where the Bible verses go, I try not to go beyond any verse.

I could not tell you what translation I use as there is no single translation used for every post. I stick to King James a lot, I don't think you can find a single post in here that I made that would push some doctrine that was clearly contradictory to King James version.

But again, just because something is posted in this blog, particularly a link to someone else does not mean I agree with their interpretation. It simply means it fits those three criteria I have. It has been a major theme of this blog that "I am not the arbiter of truth". I didn't start this because I had all the answers, I started it because I wanted to learn more and understood there was a lot I didn't understand.

Still out of the 17,000 posts I would guesstimate that at least 10,000 were from my own reading of the Bible. I made this blog public because I thought that there might be as many as ten other people who would also be interested in this subject. So despite posting at least a thousand posts from others who are also interested in the subject, little has been added to this blog based on discussion with others. They have done their research and I have done mine on our own.
Again, I like to know a little about who I am engaging with .. if engaging ... I grasp a little, now, about your focus ... good start. I too am an expectant of the so-called "rapture" ... it's not a good title, but it is recognized, so will deal with it as such ... Just lately, on another site, I have gleaned some information about the early "fathers" ... some of whom, did, indeed, view the so-called rapture as an awaited event. Thought this interesting, because there iw so much fluff on the internet about this subject being something that was "invented" within the last couple hundred years, by certain scriptural notables ... or by some teenager, even! Bottom line, it is scriptural, so just because the various church corporate "orgaizations" did not recognize it ... we are suppose to hold it at arms length ... I, on the other hand, hold all church "organization" at arms length, and am every so much mor happy and at peace doing so ... But I ramble ... You are "into" rapture information ... alright, I like that. But honestly, all I really know about it ... for sure ...is what Paul tells us. Anything else, I have to look at with at least some hesitation ... What say you ... ZNP ... about that stance?
 
Another purpose has arisen as I have done this blog. I was surprised that so many people found it. So when I heard something I felt needed to be shared with others, like something from Vicki Goforth Parnell I would post it in this blog. I saw this as a way to broadcast those messages far and wide. Now I don't keep this secret, anyone who asks what I work on I will let them know, but I don't push this on anyone.

When I started I thought I would exhaust the subject in a few months. Clearly that has not happened. So one of the amazing subjects that is relevant to this is why has the rapture become "the third rail" of Bible doctrines, something that pastors and preachers don't want to touch? Over the last six years I have seen amazing prophetic fulfillment:

1. The Revelation 12 sign

2. The Writing on the Wall sign

3. The two calves from Pharaoh's dream

4. Joel's prophecy of what takes place seven years prior to the tribulation

I would have thought that all Christians should have been told what was going on and yet, few know of these things. On the one hand I saw the Lord's purpose in using church congregations as a "sheep fold" and saw that what the Pastors and preachers were teaching was designed for a specific purpose of helping these believers come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. But as my exposition of Acts 2:1-40 shows (Posts 17,095-17,097) I believe they are not preaching according to the pattern demonstrated by Peter. They avoid discussing current events, prophetic fulfillment, or any of the signs and wonders. Peter didn't shy away at all. The same thing with Paul, as 1 and 2 Thessalonians demonstrate.

As a result I think many of these church congregations are like those branches that are not abiding in the vine and are drying up. I don't tell anyone to "like and subscribe" to this blog, or to go share it with their neighbor, and yet 870,000 have come to the blog on their own. Why? I think it is because like me, they want to know what is going on and what does the Bible say about what is going on.
Ummmm .... Sorry ZNP, I am a "show me" type of person .. always have been , always will be ... The book of Revelations is just a bunck of scattered dust in the wind to me ... I ignore it, totally. Why don't you? Writing on the wall ... come into my kitchen, the kids have done lots of than .. you think any of it is from God? ... Tow calves .. Yes, and the price of good hamberger and steak is shocking! Seven years prio to the tribulation ... Paul told me, indicated to me that being concernied about such times and events is sorto of a trivial matter, and not to pay much attentin to it ...

Now aren't I an xss for saying all that ... Yes, it has been said ... that of me. I agree!
But ZNP, with all of htat chaff put aside, and ignored, we do have some common points of understanding .. lets build on those?
That is, we both appreciate the scriptures ... you tend to go with the fluff, whereas I tend to go with the Pauline gold; but, you do focus on the rapture, so in that arena we do have a strong commonality of interests. Good start, don't you think!
 
Another purpose has arisen as I have done this blog. I was surprised that so many people found it. So when I heard something I felt needed to be shared with others, like something from Vicki Goforth Parnell I would post it in this blog. I saw this as a way to broadcast those messages far and wide. Now I don't keep this secret, anyone who asks what I work on I will let them know, but I don't push this on anyone.

When I started I thought I would exhaust the subject in a few months. Clearly that has not happened. So one of the amazing subjects that is relevant to this is why has the rapture become "the third rail" of Bible doctrines, something that pastors and preachers don't want to touch? Over the last six years I have seen amazing prophetic fulfillment:

1. The Revelation 12 sign

2. The Writing on the Wall sign

3. The two calves from Pharaoh's dream

4. Joel's prophecy of what takes place seven years prior to the tribulation

I would have thought that all Christians should have been told what was going on and yet, few know of these things. On the one hand I saw the Lord's purpose in using church congregations as a "sheep fold" and saw that what the Pastors and preachers were teaching was designed for a specific purpose of helping these believers come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. But as my exposition of Acts 2:1-40 shows (Posts 17,095-17,097) I believe they are not preaching according to the pattern demonstrated by Peter. They avoid discussing current events, prophetic fulfillment, or any of the signs and wonders. Peter didn't shy away at all. The same thing with Paul, as 1 and 2 Thessalonians demonstrate.

As a result I think many of these church congregations are like those branches that are not abiding in the vine and are drying up. I don't tell anyone to "like and subscribe" to this blog, or to go share it with their neighbor, and yet 870,000 have come to the blog on their own. Why? I think it is because like me, they want to know what is going on and what does the Bible say about what is going on.
ZNP ...I believe they are not preaching according to the pattern demonstrated by Peter

(Robin)
And that's the critical point ... that critical difference that I sense between you and I ... You follow Peter; I follow Paul. We really can not come together with that ... or there's good reason to think that. As far as I'm concerned, we could dump the lot of scriptures, if we just kept our focus on the ten Pauline epistles. Yah ... Christ said this and that, but wo did He say them to? On the other hand, Christ told Paul, to tell us ... all of us, not just some "chosen peoples" ... allof us, imcludimng the so-called chosen ones ... Christ told Paul, to tell all of us certain matters ... So then, why not focus on what Christ told Paul to tell us? It's a valid question ... do you have a good answer?
 
Again, I like to know a little about who I am engaging with .. if engaging ... I grasp a little, now, about your focus ... good start. I too am an expectant of the so-called "rapture" ... it's not a good title, but it is recognized, so will deal with it as such ... Just lately, on another site, I have gleaned some information about the early "fathers" ... some of whom, did, indeed, view the so-called rapture as an awaited event. Thought this interesting, because there iw so much fluff on the internet about this subject being something that was "invented" within the last couple hundred years, by certain scriptural notables ... or by some teenager, even! Bottom line, it is scriptural, so just because the various church corporate "orgaizations" did not recognize it ... we are suppose to hold it at arms length ... I, on the other hand, hold all church "organization" at arms length, and am every so much mor happy and at peace doing so ... But I ramble ... You are "into" rapture information ... alright, I like that. But honestly, all I really know about it ... for sure ...is what Paul tells us. Anything else, I have to look at with at least some hesitation ... What say you ... ZNP ... about that stance?
Elijah was raptured, taken up in the whirlwind.

Enoch was also raptured, taken up.

Samson pushing out the pillars is referenced by Paul. The numerical value of pillars equals the numerical value of the church. It indicates the church will be taken out of the way, the pillar and base of the truth, and when that happens the temple to Dagon will collapse. (Dagon is the worship of global trade -- the collapse of the world trade center was a harbinger, warning of the coming collapse of the world's economy when the Lord takes out the church as the two pillars).

On the one hand the rapture is the calling up of the believers, on the other it is judgment falling on the earth.

1. When Samson pushed out the pillars it killed all those in the temple to Dagon. That indicates that at the same time as the rapture there will be this judgment falling.

2. When Elijah was on the mountain he called down fire, immediately after that the 450 prophets of Baal were executed and the tribulation began.

3. Adonijah is a type of the Antichrist trying to usurp the anointed one, Solomon, from being crowned king. When Solomon is crowned king all those who were with the Antichrist are exposed and flee.

4. In the book of Revelation Jesus tells the church in Philadelphia that He would keep them from the hour of trial that is to come upon the whole earth.

5. Later, when the sixth seal is opened everyone on earth knows that it is the "wrath of the Lamb". Only Jesus is known as the Lamb of God. This isn't a reference to any of the pagan gods. So how do they know based on an earthquake that this is the "wrath of the lamb"? An earthquake is not unique to Jesus. The dead being raised and the rapture taking place, that is unique to Jesus, no other religion talks about that. Every time there was a resurrection from the dead there was an earthquake.

Which raises the question, why is there a rapture? When you are dedicated to the priesthood you are separated for seven days by the door of the temple. There is a temple in the heavens. When Jesus was raised from the dead He was separated for seven days. The second time he appeared to the disciples was seven days later. Jesus was made our high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. But the description of the raptured saints standing on the sea of glass is of priests being dedicated to the Lord.

The first reference to the rapture in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 1 when God separated the waters above the firmament with those on the earth. The Bible tells us that "the waters" refer to peoples and nations. Water being taken up above the firmament is part of the water cycle and without it we would not have life on Earth.
 
Ummmm .... Sorry ZNP, I am a "show me" type of person .. always have been , always will be ... The book of Revelations is just a bunck of scattered dust in the wind to me ... I ignore it, totally. Why don't you? Writing on the wall ... come into my kitchen, the kids have done lots of than .. you think any of it is from God? ... Tow calves .. Yes, and the price of good hamberger and steak is shocking! Seven years prio to the tribulation ... Paul told me, indicated to me that being concernied about such times and events is sorto of a trivial matter, and not to pay much attentin to it ...

Now aren't I an xss for saying all that ... Yes, it has been said ... that of me. I agree!
But ZNP, with all of htat chaff put aside, and ignored, we do have some common points of understanding .. lets build on those?
That is, we both appreciate the scriptures ... you tend to go with the fluff, whereas I tend to go with the Pauline gold; but, you do focus on the rapture, so in that arena we do have a strong commonality of interests. Good start, don't you think!
According to Ecclesiastes that which has been is that which shall be. God tells us the end from the beginning because it is proof that He alone is God.

In Colossians Paul told us that the feast of the Lord were a shadow of things to come. The Old Testament calls them "dress rehearsals".

John the Baptist tells us that Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Passover lamb, which takes away the sins of the world. Jesus was crucified precisely as a fulfillment of the Passover. He rose from the dead precisely as a fulfillment of the first feast of firstfruits. The seven day feast of unleavened bread is a fulfillment of the church age, beginning with the crucifixion and Shavuot was fulfilled by Jesus ascension.

Meanwhile there are three Fall feasts: the prophet Joel tells you what the fulfillment of the Feast of trumpets will be, the Day of atonement is the day of judgment, and the Feast of Tabernacles is the wedding of the lamb.

So I take these other prophecies very seriously, the fact that you are clueless about the two calves born in 2014, or the Revelation 12 sign in 2017, or the writing on the Wall sign from 2017 to 2024, or the fulfillment of the frankenstein bug in Joel, that is your choice.
 
ZNP ...I believe they are not preaching according to the pattern demonstrated by Peter

(Robin)
And that's the critical point ... that critical difference that I sense between you and I ... You follow Peter; I follow Paul. We really can not come together with that ... or there's good reason to think that. As far as I'm concerned, we could dump the lot of scriptures, if we just kept our focus on the ten Pauline epistles. Yah ... Christ said this and that, but wo did He say them to? On the other hand, Christ told Paul, to tell us ... all of us, not just some "chosen peoples" ... allof us, imcludimng the so-called chosen ones ... Christ told Paul, to tell all of us certain matters ... So then, why not focus on what Christ told Paul to tell us? It's a valid question ... do you have a good answer?
Based on the two epistles to the Thessalonians it seems quite clear that Paul also incorporated the signs, prophesies and current events pointing to the end days into his preaching just as Peter did. The book of Acts has two witnesses, Peter and Paul, just as the seven year tribulation will also have two witnesses in the first half of that time. The church age will end as it began.
 
Why are the signs and prophecies so crucial?

1. The appearance of the two calves with 7's on their foreheads on the Feast of Trumpets in 2014 gives us a very specific countdown in which the seven years of famine begins in 2026. I have shared on this extensively in this blog.

2. The Revelation 12 sign in 2017 also gives us a specific countdown to 2026 as well.

3. The writing on the wall sign from 2017 to 2024 was confirmed when Biden was removed from office and Trump won the election in 2024. That sign gives a two year countdown from 2024 to 2026.

4. The prophet Joel prophesied of the Pandemic in 2020. That was a seven year countdown from 2020 to 2026.

The odds of these four events taking place and all giving us a countdown to 2026 are truly astronomical. God tells us the end from the beginning because it is proof that He alone is God. Not only so but He tells us in the prophets that He will do nothing without telling the secret to His prophets.

The verse that "no one knows the day or hour" has a very big problem. In Revelation 3 Sardis is warned that if they don't repent and study the word as they did at the beginning they will not know the hour of the Lord's return. Therefore you cannot interpret the Lord's word that we will never know the day or hour, only that no one knew it at the time He said that. Jesus said it would be as the days of Lot and Lot was given a heads up that judgment was about to fall about 12 hours before it did. Meanwhile Abraham was given a heads up at least. a day before that and maybe a few days before that. Jesus also said it would be as the days of Noah. Noah entered the ark and the door was shut by God seven days before the flood began. So in both examples they were given a heads up a few days or at least a few hours beforehand.

When Jesus was born there was a sign in the heavens that the Magi saw and came to worship. That was their two year warning.

There is a big misunderstanding of the tribulation, most people see the Antichrist, the Beast, and the armies of them. What they don't get is this is because the disguise has been stripped off of them. The New Testament tells us that the whole world lies in the evil one. That isn't a reference to some future date but rather has been the fact for the entire church age. During the tribulation everything is collapsing around the Antichrist and Satan and the fallen angels have been cast to the Earth. They are fighting a desperate losing battle. The rapture results in the Lord Jesus as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah leading 144,000 warriors to the Earth because the Lord is not going to leave anyone as an orphan. What Revelation is really revealing is Jesus Christ and His victory.

Jesus is the greater Joseph and Joseph was able to read the dreams and visions from God and interpret them. That is how he knew the tribulation would be seven years. Joseph is saving people alive during the famine.

Mordecai and Esther are also standing against the evil Haman, revealing his evil plot and defeating him.
 
Just a thought:

The Savior only requires Baptism. Whereas the followers of Lucifer require tattoos or other markings. Like the mark of the beast (Rev. 13:15-17), etc. But the Savior's mark is not outwardly. A mark that he can see. A mark of the repentant soul (Rev. 14:1, Rev. 1:5-6).

The gangs have their little markings. But the Savior's people regard their bodies to be holy. No marks.

I knew a guy that had his fathers initials tattooed on his leg. The father tattooed him just in case the child was lost, then he could identify him. It was during war time when thousands of children were massed together.