We have been told for years that ‘rapture’ has never existed in scripture, yet many would not believe. Now, here are the facts from Biblical & Linguistic (both Hebrew and Greek) scholars.
Blending into One: The Left Behind Movie, the Book of Revelation and the Rapture By Michelle Fletcher • 10/14/2014
It’s a day like any other, and then—bam!—everything changes. Millions of people disappear in an instant and all that’s left are piles of clothes, iPods and wallets. Panic and terror break out. This is the scene that viewers are faced with in the new Left Behind movie, directed by Vic Armstrong, and it’s Nicolas Cage’s job to find out what’s happened. But the viewers already know the answer: it’s the Rapture, of course! The Biblical prophecies have come true.
Or have they?
The Rapture is now commonly understood to refer to a time when believers will be snatched up to heaven by Jesus to escape the time of tribulation about to engulf the earth during the reign of the Antichrist. This chain of events has become so integral to some Christian eschatologies (end-time theories) that it’s often assumed they’re clearly explained in the Bible, especially the book of Revelation. But in fact it’s all slightly more complicated than that.
The idea of a “pre-tribulation” Rapture, where believers disappear and everyone else is left on earth to suffer, is actually a rather new one. This type of Rapture was first made popular by the work of John Nelson Darby in the late 1800s. It then spread with the release of the Scofield Reference Bible (1909), and Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins sent it viral through their best-selling Left Behind book series. However, prior to this, “rapture” had referred to the second coming of Christ in general, rather than the supernatural escape from troubles as portrayed by Left Behind.
So how did this version of the Rapture come about?
The mention of an event where believers are “taken up” into the sky in the Bible primarily comes from Paul’s First letter to the Thessalonians. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul is dealing with the fears of believers whose loved ones have died and who are afraid of what will happen when Christ returns. After telling them that the dead shall rise, Paul offers them this:
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.
1 Thessalonians 4:17
Sky yes, but no tribulation, no Antichrist.
Other passages from the Bible are seen as supporting this idea, for example, Matthew 24:40–1 and Luke 17:34–35, which speak of one person being taken and another left behind. However, these passages discuss the second coming of Christ (the Parousia), not an escape from the world. The “blink of an eye” idea is taken from is 1 Corinthians 15:51–52. But none of this is from Revelation. And none of it lays out a clear Rapture, tribulation, Antichrist plan.
The book of Revelation does not specifically mention this pre-tribulation Rapture prior to the Antichrist’s reign, either. Revelation 3:10 is the text most cited as describing it:
Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
Revelation 3:10
However, this occurs in a letter to a specific church, Philadelphia, rather than as part of the visionary material. References to this having any connection to “the Rapture” in scholarly commentaries are few and far between. And Revelation 3:10 doesn’t mention being taken up into the sky or the Antichrist.
Actually, the book of Revelation doesn’t use the term Antichrist at all. That term comes from 1 and 2 John. The beasts of Revelation are taken by many to be the Antichrist, as thought to be predicted in Daniel 7. But none of them is called Antichrist.
Other ascents to heaven by certain figures are mentioned in Revelation (John the Seer, the two witnesses, the child of the woman clothed like the sun), but these do not describe huge groups disappearing prior to the plagues, sufferings and terror which inflict the earth.
By this stage it becomes clear that the Rapture is far from an obvious and widespread concept in the Biblical text. Indeed, creating the idea of the Rapture, let alone its timeline, involves harmonizing many disparate parts of the Bible and presents the Bible as a prophetic tool. It involves reading the book of Revelation in relation to other texts, rather than reading what is contained in Revelation.
John Nelson Darby first popularized the idea of a “pre-tribulation” Rapture.
Left Behind’s Rapture, then, is more a product of how texts are read than the texts themselves. Reading the Bible as having a blueprint for the future held within it was attributed to Joachim of Fiore (1132–1202), who created a complex timeline of different ages leading to the second coming of Christ. But even he didn’t have a Rapture. Darby, Scofield, LaHaye and Jenkins were inheritors of this tradition and put it into practice to create their own Rapturous chain of events, which is now often presented as the only possible version.
However, the idea that Jesus’ sayings, Paul’s teachings, John’s Letters and John of Patmos’s Revelation, not to mention the texts of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, represent the same branch of eschatology is something few scholars would maintain. These texts were written in different locations and time periods, to different people, with different goals. A “one end-plan fits all” attitude proves more than problematic, as richly diverse ancient texts are streamlined to an ordered modern timeframe of Rapture, tribulation and Antichrist.
What’s more, the “backbone” for all of this—the book of Revelation—frustrates its readers. It offers long pauses, contradictory timeframes and undisclosed declarations, and every time the end is announced, it never actually arrives. It is more apt to describe it as spiralling around an endpoint rather than marching toward one. It is, in essence, a text that defies any framework placed onto it.
Vic Armstrong’s Left Behind movie has been lambasted by critics as over-simplistic, formulaic and lacking all intrigue, with the Rapture in the middle as the only interesting part. The reality of the Rapture in the Biblical text is somewhat different. It’s the common concept of the pre-tribulation Rapture that is an oversimplification, a blurring of the complex texts and ancient worldviews. It is a modern creation assumed to be part of the final book of the Bible. But the book of Revelation doesn’t offer its readers the Rapture. It doesn’t even offer a clear ending. Rather, it offers wonder, awe and quite often bewildering strangeness. And that is why, unlike the new movie Left Behind, it’s so very, very intriguing.1
Notes
1. For a further introduction to the book of Revelation, see Ian Boxall, Revelation: Vision and Insight: An Introduction to the Apocalypse (London: SPCK, 2002). For further information on different readings of Revelation through history, see Wes Howard-Brook and Anthony Gwyther, Unveiling Empire: Reading Revelation Then and Now (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2001).
Michelle Fletcher is currently completing her doctoral research at King’s College London on the use of the Old Testament in the book of Revelation. She is particularly interested in the relationship between the book of Revelation and film. Her publications and conference papers cover such topics as Terminator’s use of the Apocalypse, Revelation’s females, Frankenstein films and Westerns as apocalyptic spectacle.
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Charles says
Matthew 24:40-41 is not seen by most pretribulationists as a rapture text. It is rather seen as a Second Coming text. You can see the evidence for this here:http://www.
bibleexposition.net/2014/10/ do-pretribulationists-see- matthew-2437.html
And those who truly understand pretribulationism understand that the distinction between the rapture and Second Coming is an important one.October 14, 2014, 9:22 am -
colette says
Rock On!!!!!
October 14, 2014, 9:23 am -
Russell says
Early church fathers in the first century advocated a pre-tribulation rapture. The notion that it is a new phenomenon has been promoted by Dominionists for years. This position flies in the face of the doctrine of “Imminent Return of Christ”.
October 14, 2014, 9:30 am -
Wanyama says
How can I get the movie,Left behind?Am in South Sudan.Can I be able to download?
October 14, 2014, 10:04 am -
Wanyama says
These are all very important materials that need to be read by all Christians awaiting for the second coming of Christ.
October 14, 2014, 10:07 am -
Hilda says
“…the reason the Pre-Tribulation concept of the timing of the Rapture was delayed in its refinement until the 19th Century was because the Roman Catholic Church adopted St. Augustine’s amillennial viewpoint of prophecy hook-line-and-sinker around 430 AD. In his book, The City of God, Augustine spiritualized Bible prophecy and then argued that the Millennium began at the Cross and would continue until the Second Coming.
This spiritualizing approach to the interpretation of Bible prophecy proceeded to dominate theology for the next thousand years. Protestants adopted it after the Reformation and expressed it in the Postmillennial view that emerged in the mid-17th Century. Both Amillennialism and Postmillennialism are based on the assumption that Bible prophecy does not mean what it says……..
The discovery of the distinction which the Bible makes between the Rapture and the Second Coming had to await the revival of the application of literal interpretation to Bible prophecy. I say “revival” because the writings of the Church Fathers during the first 300 years of church history (100 AD to 400 AD) reveal that they interpreted prophecy for its plain sense meaning. Accordingly, they were nearly all Premillennialists. In fact, Justin Martyr (110-165 AD) went so far as to suggest that anyone with a different viewpoint was heretical.1
The revival of literal interpretation began in earnest among the Puritans in the 17th Century, and it quickly led to an understanding that the Rapture would be an event separate from and preceding the Second Coming. Puritan leader, Increase Mather (1639-1723), argued “that the saints would be caught up into the air” and thus escape the world’s final conflagration.2
………………
One of the early Church Fathers, The Shepherd of Hermas, writing in the early 2nd Century, makes an interesting observation about “the great tribulation that is coming.” He says, “If then ye prepare yourselves, and repent with all your heart and turn to the Lord, it will be possible for you to escape it, if your heart be pure and spotless, and ye spend the rest of the days of your life in serving the Lord blamelessly.”15
In medieval times evidence of pretribulational thinking can be found in the recently discovered sermon attributed to Ephraem the Syrian.16 This sermon, which was written sometime between the 4th and 6th Centuries, encourages believers to prepare themselves for meeting the Lord because “all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins.” Scholars believe this text was derived from the writings of the original Ephraem who lived from 306 to 373 AD. He was one of the leading theologians of the early Byzantine Church.17
It is very likely that there were always some forms of premillennialism and pretribulational thought throughout the Middle Ages but, if so, these viewpoints had to be expressed underground because they violated Catholic dogma. Sects like the Albigenses, Lombards, and the Waldenses were attracted to a literal interpretation of the Bible, but little is know about their detailed beliefs because the Catholic Church declared their writings to be heretical and destroyed them.October 14, 2014, 10:32 am -
jose says
Very well put together article. My concern about these types of movies is the overall misinformation about a departure. We are expected to watch for the signs of the return, Thessolonians spells out, “we will not be caught by surprise” in Matthew we are told, “when you begin to see these things” and in context all of the scriptures utilized for the fairy tale of a pre-tribulation rapture actually tells a different story. This theory is causing Christian apathy towards world events because the claim is we will not be here during this time. However, the reality is, maybe it has already began! Additionally, the movie is B rated at best and it was disappointing.
October 14, 2014, 10:49 am -
Magi says
U.F.O. Staches Us up…?
October 14, 2014, 1:59 pm -
Magi says
The Anunnaki …Arrive…
October 14, 2014, 2:00 pm -
Larry says
Everything that Jesus had to say about the rapture–John 17:15.
October 14, 2014, 8:06 pm -
Ben says
The Revelation is a writing which is apocalyptic in nature and was intended for the church in the first century which was beginning to experience government sanctioned persecution which would be escalating in nature and severity. It encourages them to take heart, and to maintain and strengthen their faith. The main theme from Revelation which is readily applicable to us is that though evil is ever active, and at times it looks like it will triumph, Christ has already assured victory; God wins!
Exactly how everything will happen is impossible to say. But, the bible seems to say with certainty that Christ will return and that we don’t know exactly when, or exactly how, but that we need to prepare ourselves for that day.October 15, 2014, 10:06 am -
Jürgen says
@Wanyama: you can wait long time for the “second comming of Christ”. Let´s wait for the first comming, as “Jesus” was never the Messiah. He never brought world peace, neither re-built the temple. Additionally he was not directly member of David clan. So wait and be patient.
October 15, 2014, 2:32 pm -
DavicC says
Thanks, Jurgen, you’ve nicely rounded out all the various possibilities with the least believed version.
October 15, 2014, 9:36 pm -
Don says
Zack Hunt and Greg Boyd have been looking at this topic recently. Their conclusion…they and many others have found the rapture is a fantasy which is not biblical with verses taken out of context and being espoused by those who refuse to actually read the history of when the book was written. At best…I would describe their agenda as that of other heretical leaders throughout history…they should know the truth…but having extremely narcissistic natures…they are more than willing to take as many down their evil path as possible and rejoice doing so.
October 16, 2014, 10:29 am -
Sergey says
WOW, almost has her doctorate, but still doesn’t know her Bible. Pre-trib rapture is all over in Bible since Enoch. And church fathers also believed in rapture. It’s when two legs of Roman Empire: Byzantine and Catholics took over, then they started fooling people not to read Bible. But when people started reading their Bibles, they did find out, that rapture is there. There are bunch of movies about Jesus and Moses also, but it doesn’t mean, that they were not real beings or it’s not true. Enoch is type of Church and Noah type of Jews and other who would believe in tribulation. And people in glorified bodies come down to Earth with Christ after tribulation. Only born again people will be left to populate the Earth again, because left alive goats will be doomed before the millennium.
October 16, 2014, 10:36 am -
Ian says
Well the Bible is clear that the righteous are never going to face the wrath of God, which is what Revelation is all about. God has always delivered the righteous out of the way of his judgement. We see it with Noah and Lot, and also in the Garden, with the promise of the coming Messiah.
October 16, 2014, 10:51 am -
Christopher says
Many are vehemently against the idea of the Rapture. Many say that the word rapture doesn’t appear in the bible but that is untrue. the word Rapture is from the Latin Vulgate Bible in 1st Thess 4:17 the phrase ‘taken up’ is raptura. Also, one must believe in the Book of Revelations isn’t about the Christian Persecution of the Early Church, it is about God pouring His wrath on an unbelieving world, the great Tribulation. God has stated that he would not persecute His Bride, the Church, so the Church can’t not go through the Great Tribulation. The church will be in heaven at the time of the Great Tribulation except for the 144,000 from the 12 tribes of Israel that believe in Jesus the Christ (Yusuha Messiah) and those that accept Christ. There will be such horror that if Christ doesn’t come back no one would survive, but when he comes back it will be as a Judge and He will not be smiling. For those Christians who think Christians get a pass on persecution there will be a great Christian persecution before the last days, and that will be Satan pouring his wrath on God’s own. In fact it has already started. Sheep or Goats?
October 16, 2014, 11:04 am -
LeRoy says
Nonsense
October 16, 2014, 11:22 am -
Kurt says
Interpreting Revelation:
The book of Revelation is of great importance in that it provides spiritual strength and insight for God’s people. It highlights God’s interest in the congregations of his people and the close and loving care that Jesus Christ exercises toward them as the Fine Shepherd. Jesus knows exactly what conditions prevail and what must be done. This is especially manifest in the first three chapters of the book.
Some persons view Revelation as being so highly symbolic that it cannot be understood, or they view it as being impractical. But Jehovah God wants his people to understand, and he caused the Bible to be written to be understood and to provide guidance for them. The key to understanding Revelation is the same as the key to understanding other parts of the Bible. The apostle Paul points to that key. After explaining that God reveals the hidden wisdom through his spirit, Paul says: “These things we also speak, not with words taught by human wisdom, but with those taught by the spirit, as we combine spiritual matters with spiritual words.” (1Co 2:8-13) If we search the Scriptures (and in some cases the customs and practices of those days), we find in them many of the things used as symbolisms in Revelation. By comparing these Scripture texts, we can often understand what the Revelation symbol means. It should be noted, however, that a term or expression may refer to or symbolize different things, according to the context in which it appears.
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200274881 October 16, 2014, 11:29 am -
Joseph says
Hilda, you made the following comment:
“In fact, Justin Martyr (110-165 AD) went so far as to suggest that anyone with a different viewpoint was heretical.”
I agree that the Early Church was primarily Premillennialist, but I do not think Justin is referring to non-premillennialists as heretics. In response to what amounted to premillennial views, he goes on to say, “I and many others are of this opinion, and [believe] that such will take place, as you assuredly are aware; but, on the other hand, I signified to you that many who belong to the pure and pious faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise.” (Dialogue with Trypho Chapter LXXX)
He does go on to say that some people who call themselves Christian are heretics, specifically those who blaspheme God and deny resurrection from the dead. One could easily come to the conclusion that he is even calling those who deny a thousand year reign heretics. However, because of what Justin says in that quote I inserted above, I think that is unlikely that he would be calling people of the “pure and pious faith, and true Christians” heretics. For those interested, here is the source document, scroll to chapter LXXX: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/ text/justinmartyr- dialoguetrypho.html October 16, 2014, 11:33 am -
Kurt says
Rapture:
Definition: The belief that faithful Christians will be bodily caught up from the earth, suddenly taken out of the world, to be united with the Lord “in the air.” The word “rapture” is understood by some persons, but not by all, to be the meaning of 1 Thessalonians 4:17. The word “rapture” does not occur in the inspired Scriptures.
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200274774 October 16, 2014, 11:38 am -
Dale says
Excellent article, Michelle
October 16, 2014, 11:40 am -
Michael says
I am not sure who has Revelation and the Bible more wrong. Yes Revelation is a difficult book (but not impossible) to discern but to claim “It doesn’t even offer a clear ending. ” and ” Reading the Bible as having a blueprint for the future held within it was attributed to Joachim of Fiore” as if Fiore invented the idea of the bible having a blueprint is profoundly in error.
Yes the rapture distinct from the second coming is off theologically but I detect a wiff of preterism in the piece – a theology which just entirely butchers Old testament prophecy
I think a final battle where the Lord defeats his enemies and the setting up of a New Jerusalem is a pretty clear ending and one that fits in with well with OT prophecies unlike the fanciful reinterpreting of it by Preterists.October 16, 2014, 11:43 am -
Jürgen says
@LeRoy says:Nonsense . That is absolutely right. Who was “John”? When did he live? Who wrote the Revelation? If you have the answer, you´ll see that all talking are pure nonsense and sick paranoic phantasies. “John” has never seen any Jesus. “His” works are strict anachronistic and even written by 3 or 4 persons, as the original texts differs in style and specially the revelation is totally different from “his” other works. Poor people believing in this horror myth.
October 16, 2014, 12:33 pm -
bill says
Although Revelation is a record of what John saw and heard revealed to Him by Jesus, it is meant to give us an understanding of what will happen one day. It is believed that verse one is when the rapture happens because:
•It says “After this …”. After what? After the seven church ages are completed (Rev. 2-3). The last church age, as compared to the church of Laodicea, pictures perfectly how the majority of churches have become today. It is after God sees the last person has gotten saved, that He ends the church ages and starts a new era; an era of His judgments!
•“… a door was opened in heaven …” A door is a means to pass from one place to another. This “door” moves the dead and living in Christ from this earth to the next “room”; the “room” where God is! In Revelation 3:20 the door was where Jesus was last standing. He gave all an opportunity to trust Him as Saviour one more time during the indifferent, Laodicean church-age. No more answered His pleas, so He opened the door of Heaven and called His own home.
•The trumpet of God was sounded just like it was foretold it would be at the time of the rapture (I Thes. 4:16).
•A voice was heard calling John to heaven as it was prophesied (I Thes. 4:16) the church would be summoned up: “… Come up hither….”
•It was prophesied that the Lord would come again when the earth became like the days of Noah (Mat. 24:37-38. Luke 17:26). Those days are certainly here. After the Lord judged the world of Noah’s time He sent a reminder of His judgment: the rainbow. In Rev. 3:3, there was a rainbow around God’s throne. The judgment of Noah’s day preserved only God’s own who were inside the ark. The upcoming rapture will also have His own safely preserved( in Heaven), while God’s judgment of the tribulation takes place on earth.
•The church is no longer mentioned in what occurs on the earth from this time on, because the church is no longer here! The tribulation is mostly about Israel, not the church!Since we are currently in the last church age, the rapture mentioned in Revelation 4:1 is the next event in God’s plan. It could be today or tomorrow. The big question is are you absolutely positively sure you will be included in the rapture? If not, now may be your last opportunity to trust Christ as Saviour and be saved!
Also, the second coming and the rapture are at completely different times. Most of the writings you referred to were mentioning what the Jews are looking for. They are looking for the 2nd coming, not the rapture. And, there are many early writers that looked forward to the rapture, it did not start in the late 1800′s like you claim.
– http://www.OpenThouMineEyes.com October 16, 2014, 12:48 pm
Tribulation versus Wrath By Maria Merola
Since that movie “Left Behind,” has come out, so many believers in Messiah are falling for the Illuminati propaganda.
Do not confuse TRIBULATION with WRATH, because they are totally different.
The word “tribulation,” in Hebrew and in Greek has to do with a woman going into labor and having great pain in order to bring forth the “one new man” (Ephesians 2:15, Revelation 12:5).
Please see the blog to fully understand:
http://doubleportioninheritance.blogspot.com/2011/05/tribulation-versus-wrath_25.html
![](https://fbexternal-a.akamaihd.net/safe_image.php?d=AQBUR8iRCSWQLth2&w=487&h=255&url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-PQILqNAmqEY%2FTd3Tewmq_VI%2FAAAAAAAAAGk%2FXT1ysEydZuk%2Fs1600%2F11463_197942660209_533905209_4224048_6369391_n.jpg&cfs=1&upscale=1)
Maria Merola Wold The Jesuit Rapture Theory
The Jesuits in the Vatican are an order of priests who are trained assassins who originated in the 1500’s for the express purpose of stomping out the “Protestant Reformation.” Their mission was to bring back all of those defectors who left the Roman Catholic Church. And so a strategy was formed whereby there were two seemingly opposing views invented by the Vatican concerning the end times.
These Two Seemingly Opposing Views are as follows:
1.) The Christian Church will be Raptured before the revealing of the Antichrist (which of course of false). And so the need to know who the Antichrist is, is unnecessary since “the elect won’t be here anyway”—another lie!
2.) There will be no Rapture at all (not even after the tribulation); and of course this is false as well!
This strategy that the Jesuits are famous for using on people is called “The Hegelian Dialectic.” What it means is that they form “two seemingly opposing views” in order to cause division in the body of Messiah. And this leads to the sheep being scattered and many people’s faith ends up ship-wrecked in the process!
See my other article entitled: “The Hegelian Dialectic.”
Pre-Trib or No-Trib? Neither One is Correct! But the Jesuits Are Forcing You to Pick One of these theories!
During the time of the Protestant Reformation which began in the late 1500’s, it became quite obvious through Bible prophecy that the seat of the Papacy was indeed the seat of the Antichrist. The “man of sin” had been “revealed,” recognized and proclaimed as the Papacy by the early Reformers. Not only the Reformers, but thousands of their followers and their kings agreed with these prophetic interpretations. Their united stand against the Papacy gave the Reformers and nations the power to break away from allegiance to the Papal system.
The Papal reaction was a “Counter Reformation.” In an attempt to divert the undermining influence of the Protestant Reformation, a two-pronged counter attack was made:
1.) Praeterism: The fulfillment of Revelation is in the past only with the fall of Pagan Rome before the Popes ever ruled Rome. This viewpoint was founded by Alcazar, a Spanish Jesuit in 1614.
2.) Futurism: The fulfillment of Revelation is only in the future with only one individual “man of sin” not from the Papacy. Around 1590, Francisco Ribera a Jesuit Catholic Priest published a 500-page book on Revelation, and he taught the “Pre-Tribulation Rapture” theory with the Tribulation period and the Antichrist in the distant future only. Robert Bellarmine, one of the most renowned Jesuit cardinals, taught that the Antichrist would be an individual Jew, (not from the Papacy).
Satan is an extremist who wants to create confusion with the “Rapture” theory being “before” the Tribulation so that when that final Pope arrives on the scene as the false Messiah, believers will not want to believe he could be the Antichrist, because their logic will tell them: “he can’t be the Antichrist, because the Rapture hasn’t happened yet.”
The truth is that both the Futurist and the Praeterist viewpoints contain some level of truth with regard to Bible prophecy, because history does repeat itself as I have illustrated. Therefore, to single out only one viewpoint over another is intended to create division within the church. We can see that the prophecies of Revelation and Daniel have both past, present and future fulfillment as I have illustrated, but the final fulfillment will be obscured by both extremes giving way to ecumenism between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. If the Papacy is not the Antichrist, then there was no point to the Reformation separation from Papacy.
The “Pre-Tribulation Rapture” theory was invented by the Roman Catholic Jesuits in order to distract believers from recognizing the seat of the Papacy as the seat of the Antichrist. If believers buy into the lie of Satan that the Antichrist will not be revealed until “after the Rapture”, then there is no need for them to understand Bible prophecy, as I have heard so many say “what difference does it make who the Antichrist is if we won’t be here when he is revealed”? That kind of logic will be just the thing which brings about the “falling away” and “strong delusion that they should believe a lie.”
Movies and books such as the “Left Behind” series have falsely led believers into believing in a “Pre-tribulation” Rapture which will make it difficult for believers to recognize the Antichrist when he comes on the scene, since they will rationalize that the rapture must take place first before “that man of sin is revealed.” Another deception being promulgated in the “Left Behind” series is that one can take the “mark of the beast” and still be saved!
The Bride Will be Caught Up After the Tribulation!
By Maria Merola אריאל
http://doubleportioninheritance.blogspot.com/2011/05/there-is-gonna-be-post-tribulation_21.html
Lately I have encountered a false teaching going around in Hebraic Roots circles that says that there is not going to be a “Rapture” or a catching away of the bride of Messiah. If the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is going to take place as it is written Revelation 19, then of course Satan wants to get the bride confused over the timing of this event. Satan is an extremist and he loves to take a biblical truth that people are learning and then he takes that “new biblical truth” and attaches another “extreme lie” to that biblical truth so that people are never balanced. He loves to swing the pendulum “too far to the left or too far to the right” in order to create confusion. But Scripture commands us over and over again “look not to the left neither to the right” (Deuteronomy 5:32, 28:14, Proverbs 4:27, Joshua 1:7; 23:6). We are commanded to stay “centered” and to keep our eyes on YaHuWShuWA who is the author and finisher of our faith! (Hebrews 12:2).
In the wake of many people coming out of the “pre-tribulation rapture” lie, there seems to be another extreme view that is being propagated by the masses. That new lie is “there is not going to be a rapture or catching away of the bride at all!”
This false teaching circulating around within the Hebrew Root’s community is throwing out the proverbial “baby with the bathwater.” People are saying that there will not be a “Rapture” or they are saying that “the righteous will be left here on earth and the wicked will be taken,” but this is not true. Please see my article entitled:
“Remember Lot’s Wife: Taken or Left?”
Now I want to make something clear. There will not be a “Pre-Tribulation Rapture” of the Bride of Messiah. But there will be a Post-Tribulation Harpazo of the bride!
See my other teaching entitled:
“Pre-Tribulation or Post-Tribulation Rapture Theory?”
Some people are saying that the idea of a “Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory” only dates back to the 1800’s through a young girl by the name Margaret McDonald. This is not true either. Leave it to the Vatican to shift the attention away from them when it comes to heresies! They are famous for making other people “the fall guy” for their tricks. The Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory actually got it’s start during the Protestant Reformation in the 1500’s under the direction of two Jesuit Catholic Priests named Alchazar & Ribera.
The History of the Jesuits
People now-a-days tend to throw around the term “Illuminati” very loosely without really knowing who or what they are. They tend to think of the Illuminati as some sort of “elusive” structure of secret societies. And indeed they have infiltrated these secret societies. But in order to keep their organization secret, they have managed to spread the deception around so that no one organization seems to be held responsible. Instead, the blame goes to the larger sub-structures which most people see as being “too large” to control.
Below you will find a chart that shows the substructure of the Illuminati which is just a Latin nick-name for the Order of Jesuit Priests in the Vatican. The word “Illuminati” in Latin simply means “the enlightened ones.”
http://www.historicist.com/daniel/seventy-weeks
The Jesuits are a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. Their proper title is the “Society of Jesus.” Originally they were called Compania de Jesus, which is Spanish for “military) company of Jesus.” They were founded (1534-39) by Ignatius of Loyola. He drafted the rules that still govern the society. The training of a Jesuit is long and rigorous. Though not often taught, they were basically founded to combat the Reformation. Jesuit leaders played a major role in Rome’s Counter-Reformation. In the 16th and 17th century, this corps labored with measured success in reconverting Protestant areas in South and West Germany, Hungary, France and Poland. They also made several aggressive attempts to reconvert England.
The Christian Church is basically unaware that the Futurist school came from this society’s scholars. Jesuit priests have been known throughout history as the most wicked political arm of the Roman Catholic church. Edmond Paris, in his scholarly work, The Secret History of the Jesuits, reveals and documents much of this information.
A Jesuit priest named Francisco Ribera (1537-1591) started to work independently. He looked deeply into the realm of Bible prophecy. The result of his work was a twisting and maligning of prophetic truth. Ribera’s futuristic interpretation of Daniel chapter nine was furthered by the work of another Jesuit, Cardinal Robert e (1542-1621). These two were swiftly followed by a third, the Jesuit Luis de Alcazar (1554-1613). These men were the best soldiers Rome had.
Ribera’s primary apparatus was the seventy weeks. He taught that Daniel’s 70th week was still in the future. He said that Elohiym had first given us 69 weeks and that at the baptism of YaHuW’shuwa (Jesus) in 27 A.D. the 69 weeks concluded. He said that YaHuWaH extended the 70th week into the future to take place at the end of the age. It was as though Elohiym put a giant rubber band on this Messianic time measure. Does this supposition sound familiar? This is exactly the scenario used by Hal Lindsey and a multitude of other current prophecy teachers.
*Commentary by Maria Merola: I believe in what many call “the gap theory” but contrary to what the futurist view teaches, I believe that the “gap” in Daniel’s 70th Week occurs not at the 69th Week but rather “in the midst of the week” or in the middle of “Daniel’s 70th Week” at the 486.5 year mark of the 490 year prophecy leaving only 3.5 years left to go—not seven years! See my other article entitled: “Jacob’s Time of Trouble & Daniel’s 70th Week”
Ribera was not alone in his efforts to war on the Protestant Reformation. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine eagerly accepted the challenge and entered into the arena. The futurist teachings of Ribera were further popularized by an Italian cardinal and the most renowned of all Jesuit controversialists. His writings claimed that Paul, Daniel and John had nothing whatsoever to say about the Papal power. The futurists’ school won general acceptance among Catholics. They were taught that Antichrist was a single individual who would not rule until the very end of time. But this effort to sidetrack the teachings that the Papacy is the Antichrist failed to hold back the advancing tide of Protestant truth—at least for a while. Bellarmine followed very closely the teachings of Ribera. However, Ribera only partially attacked the year-for-a-day principle from Ezekiel 4:6, whereas Bellarmine declared absolute war against it. The systematic theology of interpreting Divine time measures a day for a year, when the text dictates, has been almost entirely lost to the Protestant church. However, the hypocrisy of the matter is manifest continually in the futurist school. They are forced to acknowledge this principle of interpretation with the seventy weeks, but with other Divine time measures (i.e., the Book of Revelation) they reject this great principle and try to teach that they are to be interpreted as literal days! By what authority do they do this? Ribera’s, not YaHuWaH’s!
The prophecy of the Seventy Weeks is the foundation stone for Futurism and Dispensationalism. These interpretations must have their seven-year period at the end of time. Remember, this is the last week of the 490-year prophetic clock. All Futurist scenarios revolve around Ribera’s “seven-year tribulation period.”
It is systematic teaching that will usher in the return to the true historical interpretation and fulfillment of the vision. The implications of this will be self-evident and discussed in relation to the Kingdom and the restoration of truth within its walls. The proper date and decree that signaled the start of the time measure must be established. The seventy weeks began in 457 B.C., and conclude in entirety, in 30 A.D.
Alcazar wrote on the Ribera school of thought. His book was entitled, Vestigatio Arcani Sensus In Apocalypsi, published Antwerp, 1614. He launched the Praeterist (often spelled Preterist) school of apocalyptic interpretation. The Preterists consider the majority of the prophecies in the Book of Revelation to have been fulfilled in the downfall of the Jewish nation in 70 A.D. Most advocates of this system date John’s writing of the Revelation prior to 68 A.D. Nero, they claim, was the Antichrist.
*Commentary by Maria Merola: I agree that Nero Caesar was a historical Antichrist in but he was not the final “man of sin.” Scripture tells us that there have been and will be “many Antichrists” (1st John 2:18).
Mary Stewart Relphe explains in her book,“When Your Money Fails” that she had been able to find four historical Anti-Messiah, whose names add up to 666 when translated into Hebrew, Latin or Greek.
Historical Anti-Messiahs Whose Names Add up to 666
1.) Nimrod- (a descendant of Noah) His birthday was celebrated December 25th in ancient Babylon and in Rome as Saturnalia; He had babies sacrificed to Molech.
2.) King Nebuchadnezzar- erected a golden statue of himself and demanded worship; Those who refused to bow to the image were placed in a furnace.
3.) Antiochus the IV- a Greek-Syrian who defiled the 2nd Jewish Temple in 164-167 B.C. with pagan idols, also purported he was Zeus reincarnated on December 25th.
4.) Caesar Nero- had followers of Messiah tortured and eaten by lions for entertainment. He also claimed to be a reincarnation of “Sol Invictus” (the invincible sun) or Saturn the pagan sun-deity.
The Preterists find themselves in the same contradictions as the Futurists. The systematic theology of the year-day principle (Ezekiel 4:6)Bible prophecy thwarts their schemes. By what authority do Preterists say that Revelation’s divine time measures are interpreted a day for a day? Like the entirety of the futurist camp, they turn around and say that the seventy weeks are to be interpreted as years. An immense contradiction!
*Maria Merola’s Commentary: While I agree with the author of this article that both Futurism & Preterism are both wrong, I believe that prophecy has more than one “layer” of fulfillment. There is usually a literal fulfillment which would be the literal “day for a day” interpretation of the tribulation period. And there is also the “day for a year” interpretation as well. See my other article entitled: “Jacob’s Time of Trouble & Daniel’s 70th Week”
Don’t Trip Over the Word Rapture!
Many people get all tripped up over the word “rapture” just because it is not found in our English Bibles. But that word “rapturo” is a Latin word that means the very same thing as “caught up” (harpazo) in Greek.
1st Thessalonians 4:14-17:
14 For if we believe that YaHuW’shuwa died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in YaHuW’shuwa will Elohiym bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of YHWH, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of YHWH shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For YHWH himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of Elohiym: and the dead in Messiah shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet YHWH in the air: and so shall we ever be with YHWH.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
The word for “caught up” in 1st Thessalonians 4:17 is:
#726. harpazo har-pad’-zo from a derivative of 138; to seize (in various applications):–catch (away, up), pluck, pull, take (by force).
The word “rapturo” in Latin means the following: to seize, catch away, take by force, etc.
Caught up in English = Harpazo in Greek = Rapturo in Latin!
They all mean the same thing!
Taken or Left? Married or Divorced?
Some people have tried to build a case in Matthew 24:40-41 stating that the ones who are “taken” are the wicked ones, and the ones who are “left” are the righteous ones. But a careful study of the words for “taken & left” in Hebrew and in Greek all reveal Marriage Covenant language!
There are many examples in scripture that use the words “taken or left” and in every single case, the ones who are “taken” are taken into the marriage! And the ones who are “left” are left out of the wedding and divorced!
In 2nd Kings 2:9, EliYaHuW (Elijah) is about to be “taken” away in a Chariot of Fire. The Hebrew word for “taken” is the Hebrew Strong’s #3947 “laqach”:to marry, take a wife, snatch, take possession of, take in marriage, receive, accept, seize, acquire, buy, select, choose.
In 2nd Kings 9:8 Ahab and the rest of the wicked were “left” behind. The Strong’s Hebrew Concordance for “left” is #5800 “azab” which means “to abandon, forsake, neglect, apostatize, to depart from, leave behind, divorce.”
In Matthew 24:40-41:
The Greek word for “left” in Matthew 24:40-41 is Strong’s #G863 aphiēmi which means “to forsake; a husband divorcing his wife.”
The Greek word for “taken” is Strong’s #G3880 paralambanō “to take unto oneself in an intimate way, to join unto oneself.”
In Deuteronomy 4:20 it says: “…. But YHWH has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.”
The Hebrew word here for “taken” is “Laqach” which means “to take in marriage, take a wife, snatch, take away, lay hold of, seize, receive, acquire, buy, bring, marry.”
But the Egyptians were “left” in the Red Sea to die.
Once again, the word for “left” in the Strong’s Hebrew Concordance is #5800 “azab” which means “to abandon, forsake, neglect, apostatize, to depart from, leave behind, divorce.”
In 2nd Kings 2-9 & Revelation 19 we see a parallel:
Captain YaHuW (Jehu), is a picture of Messiah and he came on a horse to dethrone Yeze’Ba’al (Jezebel) who represents Mystery Babylon the Great Mother of Harlots. EliYaHuW (Elijah) was “taken up” in a Chariot of Fire, but then Captain YaHuW (Jehu) was anointed as King as he was ushered in with Trumpets as he came to “avenge” the blood of the servants of YaHuWaH. But the wicked were “left behind” and perished (2nd Kings 9:8).
Once again, the word for taken means “to take in marriage” and the word for “left” in the above verses mean “to divorce or forsake.”
The Fall Feasts of YaHuWaH detail the end time events as follows:
1.) The Abomination of Desolation will be seen in the 3rd Temple (Matthew 24:15) and then the 42 months of the Anti-Messiah’s false ministry will begin, while concurrently the Two Witnesses prophecy against him globally for 3.5 years.
2.) The Thirty Days of Elul will follow a 3.5 year ministry of the Two Witnesses. There will be 30 more days of the month of Elul (1,290 days) see Daniel 12:11. At the end of the 1,290 days will begin the 7th month of Tishri (Feast of Trumpets), and this is “the last trump” (1st Corinthians 15:51-53). And this is when the 7th angel sounds as soon as the two witnesses are taken up. This all happens concurrently with the other books of Revelation leading up to Revelation 20, as the book of Revelation cannot be read sequentially.
3.) The Seven Day Wedding of Jacob & Leah will be the pattern for Messiah and his bride. There will be a 7 day literal marriage (Wedding of Jacob, Leah & Rachel–one week) and this is when we are changed into incorruption. Those 5 foolish virgins who are not ready are caught off guard by the “thief in the night” and they shall not escape (1st Thessalonians 5:2-3).
*Note: What I see, is that there is the resurrection of Leah (10 Northern Tribes of Israel assimilated with Gentiles) and there is a 7 day wedding. Then on Yom Kippur, YaHuW’shuwa comes back and gets Rachel also. Remember in the prophetic pattern, Laban (symbolic of the Father), said to Jacob, “finish the week with Leah, and I will give you Rachel also.” Jacob was married to Rachel (2 southern tribes, Benjamin & Judah, Jews) at the end of the “week” after 7 days with Leah. And so on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is when the house of Judah (Jews) discover if their names are written in the book of life, they also call this “face to face.” This will be the same day that Rachel (Jews) see him face to face and they will look upon him whom they pierced and they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son (Zechariah 12:10).
Rachel will also be married to YaHuW’shuwa (the remnant of Jews who did not take the mark of the Beast). And they also will be changed into incorruption at this point. The Two Witnesses are a special group of people who thought that they were Gentiles (Ephraim) and they discover their Hebraic Roots, so they join the Jews (Judah), and this is when the Two sticks (Ephraim & Judah) become one stick in the Lord’s hand (Ezekiel 37:16-17) and this is the same “one new man” the Apostle Paul spoke about in Ephesians 2:12-15.
They also are taken at the 7th trumpet (as the 7th angel sounds) in Revelation 11:15. This group goes with redeemed Leah (Gentiles who become one new man with born again Jews). Then 7 days later, the remnant of Rachel who did not take the mark, are also redeemed on Yom Kippur and changed. Then the two groups (Leah & Rachel) Gentile & Jew go into the marriage together to celebrate the drinking of the wine of the covenant on Feast of Tabernacles.
4.) The Ten Days of Awe are 10 days between the Feast of Trumpets & the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and so there are 3 of those days where the bride is given a 3 day notice that the groom is on the way. She hears the shouts from a 3 days journey in the distance and she knows that some time in those 3 days, he will be there to catch her away.
5.) The Bowls of Wrath will be poured out during the ten days of awe. While the bride is getting married in the Bridal Chamber (chuppah) in the heavenlies, the children of wrath are having bowls of wrath being poured out on them and they still won’t repent (Revelation 14-20). This all happens during the 10 days of awe.
6.) The Day of Atonement & Vengeance will take place after the 10 days of awe (3 day shouts and 7 day marriage). The bride will comes back on white horses with the groom (Revelation 19). This day is known as “face to face” when the bride removes the veil and she sees him face to face. YaHuW’shuwa takes vengeance on her enemies and avenges the blood of the saints on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). This is the day of wrath for the wicked.
7.) There are 5 days between the Day of Atonement & The Feast of Tabernacles, and this is where the saints are judged for their works. The righteous will receive rewards as to whether his works were of “wood, hay or stubble” (1st Corinthians 3:12).
8.) The Feast of Tabernacles is the wedding celebration where the groom drinks the cup of the covenant with his bride and consummates the marriage on the Feast of Tabernacles.
Revelation 20:4-6 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of YaHuW’shuwa, and for the word of Elohiym, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hand; and they lived and reigned with Messiah a thousand years. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of Elohiym and of Messiah, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
The “second resurrection” will take place after the 1,000 year millennial reign of Messiah as the wicked are raised so that they can be judged at the “white throne Judgment seat of Messiah”:
Verse 5: “…But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.”
Satan will then be released from the bottomless pit after the one thousand years are expired, and he will be given permission to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth. Satan will then attempt one last time to destroy the saints on earth, but YaHuWaH will send fire from heaven to devour Satan, the Anti-Messiah and the false prophet:
Revelation 20:7-10 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 Elohiym 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.
The Ancient Hebrew Wedding Custom: How does it picture Messiah YaHuW’shuwa & His Bride?
http://www.laydownlife.net/yedidah/AncientJewishWeddingCeremony.htm
YaHuWchanon (John) 14:2-3: In My Father’s house are many rooms. I go to prepare a place for you. And, if I go to prepare and place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
MattithYaHuW (Matthew) 24:36,44: But of the day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only therefore, be also ready: for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of man comes.
MattithYaHuW (Matthew) 25:10-13: “…the Bridegroom came: and they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage and the door was shut”.
Revelation 7:7-8: “Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints”.
YaHuWchanon (John) 3:29, John the baptizer, referring to himself as the “friend of the Bridegroom” and to YaHuW’shuwa, the Bridegroom: “He that has the Bride is the Bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatest because of the Bridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, therefore is fulfilled.”
MattithYaHuW (Matthew) 22:8-14: This is a story of the gathering of the guests. They must be invited, and must have on a “wedding garment”. The wedding garment is linen—the “righteousness of the set-apart, “saved”.
The Word of Elohiym is basically the story of a wedding, from start to finish. It is a love story of a loving Father, seeking the perfect Bride for His Son, YaHuW’shuwa–a Bride who is totally devoted, pure of heart, in love only to Him, submitted and perfect in His sight. Such a picture of this is found in Genesis 24:1-67–Abraham sending out his servant to find the perfect Bride for Isaac.
In the basic structure of the Ancient Jewish Wedding Ceremony, you will see the Father, and the Bridegroom YaHuW’shuwa, the “servant”, the Ruach of YaHuWaH, the Bride, the attendant of the Bride (pictured by Moses), and the attendant of the Groom (pictured by Elijah), and the guests.
In most weddings, there are 3 groups of people: 1) the guests, forming the largest group, 2) the attendants of the Bride and the Groom, usually a small group, and 3) the Bride and her Bridegroom. All are content and happy within their situation. But, only the Bride gets to go home with the Bridegroom and live in His House forever. She has an intimacy with Him that no one else has! And, so there is a new earth, which will be created for the “saved” guests. There are the attendants–the “King’s of the earth”–who are “saved” and who represent the guests before the Father and the Bridegroom. And, there is the Bride, who stays with her Husband in the Father’s House. (Revelation 21:22-22:5, 14)
This is also mentioned in Revelation 3:7-13: –the letter to the church at Philadelphia, which represents the Bridal remnant in the last days. She does not go onto the new earth, but stays in the presence of the Father and the Son. She is marked, because 1) she is submissive and yielded to her Bridegroom, guarding and obeying the terms of His marriage Covenant, the Torah, 2) because she loves Him with a perfect love, 3) because she follows her Bridegroom (the Lamb) wherever He goes, and 4) because she has made herself ready–purified herself and separated herself totally unto Him. She belongs to Him, and her relationship with Him is intimate. He knows her, and she knows Him, and their fellowship is sweet.
THE CORONATION
1.) Ha Melech – the King! Another name for Yom Teruah, which is the day of His coming–at the Feast of Trumpets, is “Coronation Day”. This Feast usually occurs during the Roman month of September. On this day the Bridegroom comes for His Bride, and at their wedding day, He is crowed the King, and she is crowned the Queen. Thus marriage day is the day of Coronation.
2.) YaHuW’shuwa will come for His Bride on Yom Teruah–Tishre 1 on the Hebrew calendar. The essential message of this Feast is the reaffirmation of the Kingship of Elohiym.
3.) Messiah will be crowned on Yom Teruah and given the heathen for His inheritance, as well as receiving His Kingdom. Daniel 7:13-14 and Psalm 2:6
4.) Jewish Scripture used for this day: Genesis 49:10 and Zechariah 9:9
5.) Revelation 19:11-16: He comes with the sound of the trumpet and much fan-fare and ceremony. He comes as the trumpet sounds loudly, with His angels, in the wrath of the Father, to destroy His enemies and the enemies of His Bride. He comes as a victorious King to deliver His Bride from the evil one.
6.) He becomes the King of Kings over all the kingdoms of this world: Revelation 11:15-19; 19:16; Daniel 7:9, 13-14, 27; Revelation 1:7.
7.) On the wedding day, the Bridegroom and the Bride are called King and Queen – and reference is made to Psalm 45.
THE WEDDING
1.) Either the father arranges the wedding as Samson’s father did, or…
2.) The father sends an agent in his place, as Abraham sent Eleazer, or…
3.) The young man comes by himself to the girl’s father to arrange the marriage between the two of them.
If the young man goes to the house of the girl, he initially must carry these three things:
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a) A large sum of money (or many expensive items) to pay the price for the Bride
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b) A betrothal contract with his promises to the Bride written on it
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c) A skin of wine
*Note: In John 5:8: “For there are three that bear witness in earth: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.” In prophetic typology, the wine represents the Ruach ha’Kodesh (Holy Spirit), the water represents the Word—the marriage contract or Covenant–the Torah given at Sinai–and the blood represents the price paid for our salvation.
Acts 20:28, Paul speaking to Pastors: “Take heed to yourselves,…to feed the assembly of Elohim, which He has purchased with His own blood.” Ephesians 1:14 tells us that the Ruach’s presence with us is the “down-payment of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession…” His Bride was the purchased possession, and He is coming to fully redeem her unto Himself. I Corinthians 6:20; I Corinthians 7:23: “For you are bought with a price.”
4.) If the Father approves of the marriage, the girl is called in and they all drink the wine together. In the drinking of the wine, she commits herself to the young man. Jeremiah 31:31 “I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah”. Matthew 26:27-28: “And He took the cup (the 3rd cup of the Seder—the cup of Redemption) and gave thanks, and gave it to them saying `Drink you all of it: for this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins’”. Thus, He renewed His Covenant in his own blood, with His remnant Bride–who would be taken from among the whole believing House of Israel.
5.) At this point, the two are considered husband and wife. Their union can only be dissolved by divorce, but their state is still called “betrothal”, as with Mary and Joseph.
6.) After the wine is drunk, the young man says the words of John 14:2-3. He will go away and prepare a room for them–adding on a room to his father’s house. He promises that when the room is finished, he would come back for her, and she would forever be with him. She belongs to him now, for she has been “bought with a price’, and this purchase has been witnessed and confirmed.
7.) The young man goes to prepare a chador (chamber) in his father’s house, sometimes called a “chuppah” (honeymoon bed).
8.) The girl must now spend her time learning how to be a wife and mother, and to learn how to please her husband. He may be gone for as long as 2 years or more.
9.) The young man, if asked when the day of his wedding will be, often gets rid of nosey inquirers by saying: “No man knows the day or the hour, only my father knows.” (Matthew 24:36/Mark 13:32) Thus he puts the responsibility of dealing with nosey friends and family off on his father. It is a personal thing with him, and he only talks about the timing of his coming for His Bride with his father. He may communicate with his Bride, in secret–perhaps by messenger (represented by the Ruach ha Kodesh–the go-between between the Bride of Messiah and YaHuW’shuwa. But, also, the term “no man knows the day or the hour” is a catch-phrase for the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) for it is always over 2 days around the earth. Three trumpets are blown during that 2-day time period. And, everyone waits for “the last trump,” when according to Ancient Hebrew Wedding Tradition, the gates of heaven open and the righteous ascend to heaven, while the fate of the wicked is sealed.
10.) The groom designates two close friends to assist him and to assist the bride during the ceremony. They are called “witnesses”. The two witnesses of Revelation 11 also have this aspect to them. Also, during the ceremony the contract containing the groom’s promises are then turned over to the parents of the bride.
11.) He comes for his bride with great fanfare, trumpets, his servants and friends and family. It is a joyful day when he comes to receive his bride for the wedding ceremony. There is music and dancing and rejoicing (John 2).
12.) On their wedding day they are called the King and Queen. On this day, tradition says that they stand without spot or blemish as they are united. For two years or more (for us, 2000 years approximately since our Bridegroom went back to His Father’s house) the servant, represented for us by the Ruach ha Kodesh, works to prepare the Bride to perfection for her marriage to the perfect Bridegroom, YaHuW’shuwa.
1st Corinthians 1:4-9: I thank Elohiym always concerning you that you are not lacking in any gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Master YaHuW’shuwa Messiah.
1st Thessalonians 5:23: And the Elohiym of peace Himself set you completely apart, and your entire spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Master YaHuW’shuwa Messiah.
Ephesians 5:25-27: “Messiah also did love the assembly and gave Himself for it…in order to present it to Himself a splendid assembly, not having spot or wrinkle,…but that it might be set-apart and blameless”.
The Bride has purified herself, and made herself set-apart unto Him alone!!
The words of the wedding ceremony are from Psalms 45, and Isaiah 61:10-62:5–“…as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall Elohiym rejoice over you.”
13.) Once the ceremony is over, the two go into the bridal chamber (chuppah) for 7 days. Portions of the Song of Solomon, read during Passover, gives the details of the intimacy between Messiah and His Bride.
14.) The seven days in the chamber correspond to the seven days between the end of the Feast of Trumpets, and the Day of Atonement, when the High Priest takes the blood before the altar of YaHuWaH, and the sins of the nation of Israel are forgiven. (On the Day of Atonement Messiah will judge all the nations that came against Jerusalem, and separate out the sheep and goat nations, as well as pronouncing the whole House of Jacob/Israel–all 12 tribes–to be saved, redeemed, and restored. Joel 3:1-12; Matthew 25:31-46; Romans 11:26-27; Isaiah 59:20-21; 60:11-22; Jeremiah 31 and 33; Ezekiel 36:24-38; 37, and etc. etc.)
15.) At the end of the 7 days, the groom’s “friend” (or Elijah–John the baptizer came in the spirit of Elijah, and represented Messiah, and called himself the “friend of the Bridegroom” in John 3:29), or “witness”, waits at the chamber door. The guests have arrived and are waiting for the door to be opened, and the wedding banquet to begin. When the groom is ready, he knocks from the inside of the door of the chamber, indicating that they are ready to make their public appearance before everyone. The friend opens the door, and the guests cheer.
16.) In Revelation 11, the two witnesses have been in the earth witnessing and preparing for 3 ½ years. At the voice of the Bridegroom calling them up, Messiah YaHuW’shuwa comes out of heaven with a trumpet blast, accompanied by the set-apart ones who have died, to gather His whole Bride for the wedding, and the 7 days in the chuppah. The door of heaven opens and He proceeds out. The “bride has made herself ready.” He picks up His Bride who is alive and waiting for Him on the earth. Then after His glorious entrance into Jerusalem, they proceed to the wedding feast. Some believe that the wedding feast will occur at Mt. Sinai, since that is where the terms of the marriage Covenant were given to the Bride. Look at the wording of Revelation 19:8 and 11. The parable of the wise virgins, of Matthew 25:1-11, shows us that only the prepared Bride gets to go into the chuppah with Him. The guests are shut out.
17.) John the baptizer saw himself as the groom’s “friend”–John 3:28-30. Jewish tradition says that Elijah attends the groom–John was called “Elijah” even by the “Groom”–YaHuW’shuwa. (Matthew 11:13-14) Elijah’s message is one of preparation for the coming Messiah. He stands and waits for the Groom’s knock. Matthew 17:3 shows the glorified, radiant Messiah standing with Moses and Elijah.
18.) The Bride’s attendant according to Jewish tradition is Moses. His function is to escort the Bride to the Bridegroom, as Moses escorted the children of Israel to Sinai to be wed to Elohiym there. In Revelation 11:3-7, the two witnesses to come have the characteristics of Elijah and Moses.
19.) After the marriage the Bride goes to live with her Bridegroom as the Queen of the Almighty Elohiym and King of Israel. She remains with Him, by His side, for eternity. When Father comes, and brings His city down (Revelation 20-22), the Bride is found still with her Husband (Revelation 22:3-5).
Posted by DoublePortionInheritance at 7:33 PM
Continuing the Discussion
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Left Behind? Rapture? | Theoglos linked to this post on October 16, 2014
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