Introduction To Messianic Eschatology

Moshe | 08.05.2009 | 23:00:05 | Views: 5358

The Rapture

Let's start with Math.13: 24 -30 & 37 - 43 & 47 - 50. Vs. 24 - 30 follow:

" Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn."

Math.13: 36 - 43 follow " Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Math.13:.47 - 50 follow. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."

What we have here are parables of the Lord Jesus Christ on end times. The parable of the wheat and tares is opened or explained to us by Jesus and the fish net parable is presented to us in a way that explains it as well. Any end times doctrine must line up with the teachings of the Lord Jesus to be correct. This is an absolute rule for interpreting the scriptures. These parables are the most open, easy to understand explanations of end times, so we would do well to use these teachings as our foundation for end times teachings. I will point out certain things to you contained in these parables that are direct, simple and easy to understand. They will serve to shatter the popular teachings showing them to be a different end times doctrine other than what the Lord Jesus Christ preached. This is clearly saying these people are preaching a different gospel.

Let's start with Math. 13:39. In this verse we see the Lord tells us the harvest is the end of the world. Now the word used for "world" is Strong's #165. This word can mean age or world. Now we need to determine a few things. If we take this word to mean age, we could be misled and assume that the tares, or the children of the devil, are taken out before the end of the world. So we will need to look at a few verses in other passages to help us focus more on this word #165.

Let's look at Math. 12:32:

" And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."

In this passage the Strong's #165 word is used again, which is translated world in the King James translation. So the word is the same in both passage. Jesus is saying that there are two worlds the one now, and the one to come. If you chose to translate the same word as age you'd be at a similar conclusion with two ages, the one now and the one to come. We can see this again in Lk.20:34 - 36:

" And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given to marriage: But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage; Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection."

In this passage we very graphically see this word #165 used again. Jesus clearly sets forth that there are two worlds or ages, the present one and the next one which the passage associates with the resurrection from the dead. The millennium is not the resurrection and it is not the end of death. At the end of the millennium there is a lot of death, so the millennium is not when death is ended, see Rev. 20:9.

Going back to Math. 13:39 we clearly see that Jesus is talking of this world (or this age) because it is in this world that the children of the devil dwell with the children of the kingdom. In the next world (or age), the children of the devil don't dwell with the children of the kingdom, they are in the lake of fire. So what Jesus is saying is that at the end of this world (or age), the children of the devil are taken away by the angels and put in the lake of fire.

Now in Math. 13:30 we see that the tares and the wheat grow together until the harvest . In vs. 39 we see that the harvest is the end of the world (or age). How can you have a rapture that takes all of the righteous away from the unrighteous before the end of the world (age) and still agree with the doctrine of Jesus. You can't. The tares and the wheat stay together until the end of the world (age) which does not occur before or during the tribulation. A teaching that separates the righteous, from the children of the devil before the end of the world (age) is false. The harvest occurs after the millennium at the end of the time when the devil is loosed a little season to deceive the nations yet once again. Read Rev. 20:7 - 15:

" And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and him that 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, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

Note that after the harvest we read of the judgment. Let me show you some more false teaching. Go back to Math. 13:30. Note that first the tares are gathered together to be burnt. So much for the righteous being taken out first. Watch I'll show it to you again. Go to Math. 13: 49. Note the angels sever the wicked from among the just. Again, you see the wicked being taken out first. Watch, I'll show you this yet a third time. Go to Lk.17: 24 - 37:

" For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even so shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon his housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other one shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in one field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together."

I'm going to focus on vs. 34 - 37, which is found in the last five lines of this passage. This is a depiction of the ungodly being removed from the righteous. We know this by the last vs. #37, the last line which tells us that the eagles (perhaps vultures is a better word) will be gathered supposedly to eat their bodies. Believer's bodies will be converted into immortal bodies at the resurrection (see 1Cor. 15) so it's not our bodies getting eaten by those birds. Again, please note that in vs. 30 the day when the Son of man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is revealed it will be like the day Noe went into the ark and the day Lot left Sodom. In other words, on the day when the Son of man is revealed the ungodly die. This of course does not line up with any doctrine that has Jesus sitting in the temple in Jerusalem on the earth for 1000 years. I will explain this a bit later on with the appropriate scriptures, relax it'll all come together, but forget any doctrines that have The Lord Jesus Christ on earth for 1000 years.

Ps. 110:1 " The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool."

Who sits at God's right hand, the Lord Jesus Christ. Until when? Until God makes all his enemies his footstool. When does that happen? After Rev.20:9 - 10:

"And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."

And this occurs after this 1000 year period for which the devil is bound, see Rev.20:7. Let's go to Acts 3:20 - 21:

" And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."

The Lord Jesus Christ stays in heaven until the restitution of all things. This word for restitution is Strong's #605 and it means restoration. This can only be after death the last enemy has been destroyed. 1Cor.15:26:

" The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

Let's probe into this a little bit deeper. 1Cor.15: 50 - 55:

" Now this I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

At the resurrection or rapture death is defeated and that is the last enemy. Read 1Thes.4:17:

" Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

Note we meet the Lord in the air not on this earth. This earth gets burned up when the Lord comes to meet us in the air, see 2Pet.3:10:

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."

Forget this false teaching of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ leaving the right hand of God to come to this earth along with the other saints for 1000 years and at the end of this period the devil and his workers surround Jerusalem to attack. Now of course there is a resurrection and it is on the last day, see Jn.6:39:

" And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."

When? The last day. Jn.6:40:

" And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."

When will he raise them up, on the last day. Jn.6:44:

" No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."

Again, on the last day. Jn.6:54:

" Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

On the last day. So we have covered when the resurrection occurs, on the last day.

Judgment Day

Next we'll cover the Judgment.

Math.25: 31 - 34 " When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

A few points. One group is the blessed ones on the right hand that inherit the kingdom of God. The bad ones, we read later on in verses 41 - 46 which I won't type in here to save space, go into everlasting punishment. How could this judgment possibly occur at the onset of the millennium. We know Jesus doesn't leave the right hand of his Father until the restitution of all things which occurs at the resurrection, which is on the last day. But asides from this also consider who would be left to go through the millennium if this judgment occurred at the onset of the millennium, which it doesn't. The ones on the right hand inherit the kingdom and eternal life (vs.46) and the ones on the left go to eternal punishment. Who's left. No one. This judgment, the judgment, is the only judgment and it occurs after the resurrection. The word "Millennium" is a word that does not occur in the Bible. It is used to mean the 1000 year period during which Satan is bound.

Some of you have been taught that there are multiple judgment days, which isn't true. We read in different places in the Bible of the judgment and some depictions of it are from a different view or perspective so it gets twisted by those so inclined to twist scriptures.

Acts 17:31 " Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."

Note he "appointed a day", not several different days for different judgments.

John 12:48 " He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day."

Again we read the judgment is "in the last day." Only one judgment.

2Pet.3:7 " But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."

Again, the earth is kept in store until "the day of judgment" at which time it is destroyed. There is only one judgment day. The next one is even stronger.

2Tim.4: " I charge the therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom."

Here we read that the judgment will occur at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and his kingdom. This scripture contradicts the doctrine of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus being an earthly kingdom, since we now know that there is only one judgment and it occurs on the last day which is the end of the world (age). So again we see the timing of all these end time events. Also remember 1Jn.3:2

" Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him like he is."

So when Jesus returns the believers will become like him, this is the last day. This refutes doctrines which have multiple Second Comings of the Lord. He only comes back once.

Math16:28 " Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."

We clearly see Jesus depicted as coming in his kingdom which agrees with 2Pet.3:12, 13. It is a fairly dramatic event to say the least, with things like the earth and the heavens burning up taking place, not a secret slipping in and out. The coming as a thief pertains to The Lord returning when you may not be looking for him to return. This is also found in the parable of the virgins with their lamps found in Math. 25:1 - 13. In Math.24:23 - 27 Jesus warns us about people deceiving us regarding his return:

" Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chamber; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be."

This is a dramatic event, not a secret. So on the last day we have learned the rapture occurs and the judgment occurs and the kingdom of the Lord appears. It is also the time of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and when he appears we shall be like him. Folks don't believe loose interpretations of scripture that contradict direct statements made by The Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles. Just believe your Bible.

The Glory of God

Now, I need to explain who it is that is going to be walking through the Eastern Gate in Jerusalem and goes into the Temple at the onset of the millennium, because we know from these scriptures this isn't Jesus although many teach that it is and build their false doctrines on this false presumption. So who is it? Well why not let the scriptures speak for themselves. We'll go to Ezek. 43:1, 4:

" And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory."

Now to vs. 4:

" And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east."

All we needed to do was read and believe what we read. I'll show you more about the Glory of God in the New Testament but do remember it is the Glory of the God of Israel. Remember the God of Israel. Now the Glory of God wasn't a Mosaic concept to be forgotten about although some would like you to think so. They would also have us believe Jesus is what the scriptures is referencing, when the term the Glory of God is used but the scriptures contradict such a theory. Rom.6:4:

" Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

So we read that the Glory of the Father raised up Jesus. Doesn't sound like the scriptures treat Jesus and the Glory as the same. Let's go to Rom.9:4:

" Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;"

So now we read that the Glory belongs to the Israelites, and we're reading it in the New Testament coming from an Apostle. This is an important point that we need to get into our thinking along with all the other things mentioned in this passage that belong to the Israelites. Now let's go to Acts 7:55 which is the stoning of Stephen:

" But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God."

This is a scripture you'll do well to study. We see that in heaven Stephen saw God the Father, Jesus, and the Glory of God. When Stephen saw this he was full of the Holy Spirit so we know the Holy Spirit was on earth at the time (see John16:7) so the Glory of God is not the Holy Spirit. So we now have read of God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Glory of God and the Holy Spirit all in one passage. You see the glory of God will again be on earth and you should start to study the Glory of God. Go to Is.4:4 - 6:

" When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgement, and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and rain."

This is a passage dealing with restored Israel and those of you familiar with the Old Testament will recognize the Glory of the God of Israel performing this protective covering for Israel. Let me quote you Ex. 13:21 - 22:

" And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of the cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and by night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people."

Is.40:5 " And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

This passage speaks of a restored Israel. Is.66:18:

" For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory."

Once the God of Israel, always the God of Israel.

Israel

I have mentioned Israel several times so I think it's time we look at Israel regarding end time doctrine. Mind you this work is not going to go into this subject very deeply.

Rom.10: 12 - 13 " For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

And of course Rom.10:9 tells us how to be saved:

" That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

Rom.11:2 "God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew."

Rom.11:11 - 15 " I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the gentiles; how much more their fullness. For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the Apostle of the gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead."

Rom.11:17 - 21 " And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee."

My point for now is to strive to serve God and follow Apostolic doctrines, all of them. When we approach God this way he'll approach us at the same time. This is how we can and will provoke Israel to jealousy. Keep Israel in your prayers. Israel is a very important place concerning things relating to the Bible.

The Man of Sin

Let's return to eschatology and go to 2Thes.2:1 - 4:

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."

One point I'd like to make is that this man of sin sits in what the scriptures call the Temple of God. This I take to mean as a legitimate Temple of the Lord on the right spot in Jerusalem. This again gives us another look into what to expect. You see the teaching having Jesus on earth for 1000 years in the Temple in Jerusalem, is to set the people up for the man of sin who does sit in the Temple holding himself out to be God, but of course he is not god. The true Lord Jesus Christ is not going to be on earth for 1000 years in the Temple in Jerusalem, but the Glory of the God of Israel will be in the temple during this period of time just as he was with the Israelites in the past, read Ezek. Chapts. 43-48. Satan does not want you looking for what is ordained in the scriptures, and of course the scriptures will come to pass. An in depth study of the scriptures dealing with the restoration of Israel and life during this period of time is rather complex and involved and I feel it is beyond the scope, purpose and intent of this work. Look for such a work down the road a bit.

Let's look at Rev.20:1 - 3:

" And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season."

Satan doesn't care about what is good for the people that worship and serve him. They are people he uses to accomplish what he wants. He knows what will happen to those that serve and worship him. He deceives and tricks these people until they are so blinded they do as he wishes.

2Tim2:13 " But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."

When the people that serve Satan deceive others it allows the devil to deceive them more and eventually they become so deceived they willingly commit foolish acts for Satan. In the past people even had their children pass through the fire for satan, see Jer.32:35. They also would cut themselves as a form of worship, see 1Kings18:28. You see satan is interested in staying out of the bottomless pit for 1000 years initially, and staying out of the lake of fire. He won't prevail but it seems to me he tries in vain to delay or prevent the millennium. All of this world's systems are designed to blind people to the Gospel and keep people in sin. Read Math.8:29:

" And, behold, they cried out, saying What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?"

We see here that the demons know they have a time and it is coming. I figure they have nothing better to do than try to stop or at least slow down the process. They won't even upset God's timing by one fraction of a second. Since the millennium is strongly tied to the restoration of Israel to God (see Rom.11:25 - 28) the devil of course is very concerned about Israel and the Jewish people as the believers should also be so concerned with Israel and the Jewish people. Anyway, there is a man of sin and there is a Temple of the Lord.

There also will be the Two Witnesses. I wouldn't look for these Two Witnesses to be glorified saints taken down from heaven. The Two Witnesses die on earth see Rev.11,7,8 (reading all of Rev.11 is even better). People in heaven are not mortal, but immortal. I would expect these two witnesses to be Prophets since they give prophecy (see Rev.11:3). Since the beginning of Rev.11 makes mention of the temple I would look for these two witnesses after there is a new legitimate Temple on the Temple Mound, Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. It is very likely that these Two Witnesses are already on earth preparing and being prepared for their brief but earth changing ministry.

The Tribulation

There is of course a tribulation associated with this time preceding the Millennium. The believers living on the earth at this time should expect to be affected by this tribulation. The only way to get around this position is to insert incorrect rapture timing or to add additional raptures as some do. Satan wants the believers to be unprepared for this tribulation. He tickles the ears with phony doctrines with no hard times for the believers. Let me quote Rev.7:14 " And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." If we go back to rev.7:9 we read that there was a great multitude of such people that John saw in his vision of heaven.
Jesus tells us what will precede this tribulation. Mk.13:14 " But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains:." The place for this event is Judea, or Judah which to us is Israel. The abomination standing where it ought not is referencing Daniel 8:13,14 and Daniel 9:27. You might also read Ezek.8:3 - 5, but I'd suggest also reading Ezek. Chapts. 8,9,10,11 along with Daniel chapts. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. This material is real solid meat but if you feel you're deep in the word go for it. I'll deal with these passages in another work down the road. So, again we see the Temple preceding the tribulation. The abomination of desolation requires a legitimate Temple to defile, see Dan.8:13,14.

Some Relevant Scriptures

Rev.20:4 - The key to this is to note that this passage is taking place in heaven. We know this because it references the souls of those that had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus living and reigning with Jesus for the 1000 years. It is the souls of this people that are reigning with Jesus in heaven. Verse 5 goes on to say the rest of the dead, again making the point that this isn't an earthly depiction.

Math.24:2,3 - " And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily, I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? At the beginning of this chapter Jesus is presented with three questions: One regarding the destruction of the temple, the second is the sign of his coming and the third is the end of the world. From the way the question was presented it appears that the disciples already knew that when Jesus returned it was also going to be the end of the world as well. What the disciples were asking for was when these things were going to occur and what the sign would be regarding his coming. Bear in mind that this chapter has answers to all three questions.

Math.24:30,31 - Note first that there is mention of the sign of the Son of Man in heaven and then all the tribes of the earth mourn. This is perhaps better translated as the tribes of the land, referencing the Hebrews. Their mourning depicts the onset of the millennium, see Zech.12:10 - 14. Please note that in Zech.12:10 it says "they shall look upon me", which is better translated "unto me". I have spent a lot of time on the translation of this passage even consulting Israelis. Back to Math.24:30. We then read of Jesus saying that then the Son of Man will be seen coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and then we read of the angels gathering together his elect which is the rapture. Again this lines up with the other scriptures I've been pointing out. Jesus is covering a large part of the history of the world in about one page of text and hundreds of years can be separated by only a few words.

Walk in faith and follow Phil.4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say , Rejoice." May the rich abundant blessings of the Lord be on all those in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Summary

What has happened is that you've seen that the believers are being taught a lot of false doctrines that are wrong. Let us read what the Lord Jesus Christ has to say in Math.7: 15-19:

" Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringing forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringing forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits shall ye know them."

If we look at this we see that Jesus is talking about false prophets. He is telling us we shall know them by their fruit. False doctrine is bad fruit. Bad fruit only comes from a corrupt tree. Read on and you will read more about this. The subject matter will shift to topics that include the New Testament Church and how it is supposed to operate, Spiritual Warfare, satan and his Devices, False Believers, Demon Casting according to the New Testament, and some suggestions. After you absorb this material I seriously doubt your life will be the same.

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