TheDivineWatermark said:
"the church which is His body"
- Ephesians 1:20-23 WHEN (as to its existence)
--so, I'm
not saying that "the Church WHICH IS HIS BODY" will be among who is staying (at the time of "our Rapture")...
we will ALL be "going"in the Rapture event.
ZERO (of "the Church WHICH IS HIS BODY") "left behind".
TDW continued: Then,
following "our Rapture,"
many people will be coming to faith in Christ [in fact, "our Rapture" will be
a major impetus that helps Israel (
many of them) come to faith in their Messiah (Jesus Christ)--and it is
these "believing remnant of Israel" who will be the ones DOING the
"INVITING" (
of the "guests [plural]" [aka the Gentiles])
TO "the wedding
FEAST / SUPPER"
aka the promised
and prophesied EARTHLY Millennial Kingdom age, which will commence upon His
"RETURN" to the earth Rev19 (Lk12:36-37,38,40,42-44 [
and its parallel]: "when he will
RETURN FROM the wedding"...
THEN the meal [G347]")
] But...
and here's the key... these are never called "the Church WHICH IS HIS BODY" nor does "Rapture [IN THE AIR]" pertain TO THEM (though they will indeed come to faith in Christ);
TDW continued: It is a matter of WHEN a person comes to faith... 1) you and I are not "OT saints," for example; 2) those BORN DURING the MK age will not participate in "Rapture" you might agree, even if some might suggest the "unfairness" of these two sentences /ideas and demand we say the SAME THING about each of the persons involved in these two statements... (as a couple of examples)
[for the readers: "the Church WHICH IS HIS BODY" is distinct from "the church in the wilderness" of OT times, though both passages use the word "ekklesia"... as does Acts 19's use of this word 3x but which group of persons "fit" into NEITHER of those two categories]
You / Abs responded with:
Who are the 50/50 group that are left on houstops?
And the group taken?
As I've answered you before:
in the text which states, "and
THEY KNEW NOT until the flood came and
TOOK THEM all away,"
the "THEY / THEM" refers to the LOST / UNSAVED who are the only ones who "KNEW NOT UNTIL"
Noah and crew certainly DID "KNOW" ahead... Noah "prepared the ark" for YEARS prior... was "a preacher of righteousness" (who was the INSTRUMENT that Jesus, by means of the Spirit, went and "preached to the spirits of those [
now] in prison,"
who in the days of Noah disobeyed / disregarded the word of God VIA NOAH--
the POINT of Jesus' comparison with those in the future specific time-period, in His Olivet Discourse), thus
they "perished in the flood" (and who are the "THEY KNEW NOT UNTIL" ones)... but Noah was told even more specifically the closer they got to the approaching "flood judgment" to board the ark, "for in YET SEVEN DAYS...," so they boarded the ark because they WERE INFORMED and believed and did what he was told... Noah and crew were NOT the ones about whom was said, "and THEY KNEW NOT UNTIL" (thus also are not the ones about whom that sentence finishes with: "and TOOK THEM ALL AWAY"... that is, IN JUDGMENT... they "perished in the flood");
This is Jesus speaking of what will occur at the time of His Second Coming
TO THE EARTH (Rev19 / Matt24:29-31 / Isa27:[9,]12-13, etc... and the passage from which the disciples BASED the question of Him in Matthew 24:3, that is: Matt13:24,30,39,40,49-50 re: "the END [singular] of the AGE [singular]"
when the ANGELS will "REAP")... NOT "our Rapture [IN THE AIR]" time-slot, which Jesus is NOWHERE covering the Subject of, in His Olivet Discourse;
In the case of the FUTURE, to which Jesus is comparing this / these... it will be the "ANGELS / REAPERS" who will be told to "
collect ye FIRST the TARES" (so the "
TOOK them all away" unto JUDGMENT certainly "fits" the scene of His Second Coming to the earth--I've already gone over the definition of that word, SHOWING that it can be used in both to positive and to negative ends, depending on WHO is DOING the "TOOK / TAKING" and to what PURPOSE)
Who are they that are told to watch and be ready that you stay in a bed at the coming of Jesus?
You seem to be forgetting my posts about what Paul wrote, addressed to "the Church WHICH IS HIS BODY" (US):
"...
THAT whether we may WATCH *OR* whether we may SLEEP [SAME TWO Greek words used a few verses earlier in verse 6--
SAME CONTEXT and MEANING i.e. does NOT mean "sleep in death"], we should live together WITH [G4862 - UNIONed-with] Him" - 1Th5:10 [see also v.6]
No doubt you agree with
Postribbers that " the wicked are taken"
That's who the text itself states was (and thus,
will be concerning those in the "future" at the time of His Second Coming TO THE EARTH Rev19 [
NOT "our Rapture [IN THE AIR]" time-slot]).
At the time of Jesus' Second Coming TO THE EARTH (Rev19), the
"still-living SAINTS" (and YES there WILL BE those; per Dan12:12 and about 8 other "BLESSED"
passages speaking to this SAME issue!) will ENTER the MK age
in their mortal bodies capable of reproducing / bearing children (the only ones who will have that capacity--as will their children, grandchildren born in the MK age);
Scripture shows repeatedly that NO "UNSAVED / UNBELIEVERs" [still-living] persons will ENTER the MK age (tho certainly those
later BORN to them aren't "BORN automatically RIGHTEOUS"), ONLY the ones "BELIEVING" will be permitted to ENTER the MK age... and they (as "saints" / "the righteous" / "believing" persons) will ENTER the MK age in their mortal bodies (just as in Noah's day: COMPARE Dan2:35c with Gen9:1 and those with these passages such as Matt24 and Lk17... and where in Lk17's "and
DESTROYED them ALL" is
NOT what takes place at the time of "our Rapture" for those UNSAVED persons "left behind"--
No. Many of them will be coming to faith in Christ
FOLLOWING "our Rapture"... when they are IN the Trib yrs).
Again, your "Partial Rapture Theory" is incorrect, and is rooted in a mis-application of a number of passages which aren't covering the Subject of "our Rapture" (at the time Jesus spoke His Olivet Discourse, He had NOT YET spoken to them about that Subject, but ALL ABOUT His Second Coming TO THE EARTH, FOR the promised and prophesied EARTHY Millennial Kingdom age, and the specific, LIMITED time-period that will precede and LEAD UP TO that point / His "RETURN" to the earth (
compare Matt24:42-51 with its parallel Luke 12:36-37,38,39,40,42-44,45-48, where that text states, "when he will
RETURN FROM the wedding"...
THEN the MEAL [G347; used also in Matt8:11 and its parallel, speaking of the
EARTHLY MK age / "BLESSED"]);
Your CONFLATING this issue MARS the picture (regarding what actually takes place at the time of "our Rapture [IN THE AIR]").
Certainly you do not believe that, at the time of the FLOOD judgment, when "
8 souls were saved," that this was
a "50 / 50" occurrence, so that (
according to the math) it was
equally "
8 souls who perished in the flood,"...
do you?? I find that notion to be rather implausible.