Daily Devotional, Year 2 – JANUARY 25 (Darby & Scofield’s Pre-Trib Rapture, Part 1)

By admin On November 12th, 2014

.

Daily Devotional, Year 2 – JANUARY 25

.

Darby & Scofield’s Pre-Trib Rapture

.

Part 1

.

“I pray not

that thou shouldest take them out of the world,

but that thou shouldest

keep them from the evil.”

John 17:15

.

There is a general consensus in Christendom today: a consensus that the majority of evangelicals jealously hold fast to!

.

And what in the world could that consensus be?

.

It is a church doctrine known as the Pre-Tribulation Rapture!

.

And just what is the Pre-Tribulation Rapture?

.

The Late, Great Planet Earth cover – Wikipedia – Non-Free Media Rationale

.

THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE?

.

**The Pre-Tribulation Rapture is the erroneous belief, that prior to the coming of the long-p**romised “Time of Trouble”, God’s Elect Church will be snatched away from the earth, and be taken to Heaven, where they will live for seven years, as disembodied spirit-beings, waiting for the Tribulation to end, so that they can return to earth with Jesus to receive their bodies once again.

.

Absurd notion? Yes, indeed!

.

And so, just what is the reason that they will be snatched away from earth? Because, theologians have concluded that the Great Tribulation is for the sole purpose of God’s wrath, which God’s people will naturally miss out on.

.

Now, during this seven-year tribulation on earth, there will be many Jews who will convert to Christianity, along with many Gentiles.

.

Second Coming – Return – Resurrection Morning – Jan Luyken – Bible – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

.

THE COMING OF THE LORD

.

**Now of course, the name, “Rapture” is a theologian-given name, which has been substituted for the God-given name, “The Coming of the Lord” found in 1st Thessalonians 4:15-17.**

.

Listen… “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto THE COMING OF THE LORD shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 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.”

.

So, what several theologians of the 1800’s did (Darby & Scofield, etc….), was to bypass the biblical name, “The Coming of the Lord”, and took the verb, “caught up”, and went into an ancient Roman Catholic Latin transcript, which used the word “ripere” instead of “caught up”. And the verb, “ripere” also happens to be the Latin root for various words, including the word, “rapture”. And so then, they turned the verb, “rapture” into a proper noun, “The Rapture”. And so now, after much theologian-derived gymnastics, they finally arrived with a brand-new name, which allowed there to be two second comings of Jesus: the theologian-concocted name, “The Rapture”, and the actual true biblical name, “The Coming of the Lord”!

.

Cyrus Scofield – 1920 – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

John Nelson Darby – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

.

PARADIGM SHIFT IN CHRISTIANITY

.

The great problem is, that the very same passage (1st Thessalonians 4:15-17) has already named the event, “The Coming of the Lord” (see 1st Thessalonians 4:15). And so, this God-given name is now ignored, or has been set aside, and the theologian-given name, “The Rapture” has now supplanted the God-given name, “The Coming of the Lord”.

.

So what’s wrong with all this? Why is it important what name we use?

.

Well for one thing, prior to the time, about 115 years ago (some say 200 years ago), the general consensus was that Christ would return on “the last day” to redeem His people. And so, there was just one second Coming of Christ, not two!

.

As a matter of fact, up until about the 1970’s, the general consensus through the centuries was that Christ will only return on the Last Day, as plainly stated in John, Chapter 6 (and other places in Scripture)!

.

Sign of the Son of Man Constellation – made of the various constellations on this website

.

PARTLY CORRECT!

.

Now we shouldn’t condemn or censure those Christians who hold to the theory of two separate returns of Jesus.

.

And why should we NOT condemn or censure those who hold to the Pre-Tribulation Rapture theory?

.

Because, in a very real sense, Pre-Tribulation Rapturists are partly correct! God’s people will indeed be snatched away, prior to the Great Tribulation!

.

That’s right! We will NOT remain on earth! We will ABSOLUTELY be taken from this earth prior to the coming Tribulation! And we will DEFINITELY be there without our physical bodies!

.

MARTIN John, Great Day of His Wrath – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

.

TOGETHER IN THE HEAVENLIES!

.

Now, before we get ourselves too confused, it must be known by God’s people, exactly how we will be taken away from earth!

.

Listen… “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus…” Ephesians 2:5-7

.

Yes, this above passage from Ephesians proclaims to us the glorious truth concerning our earthly sojourn: that though our mortal body must remain here for a little while longer, yet our hearts (but not our physical bodies) will be sitting together with Christ, in the heavenlies, but only in a spiritual sense!

.

CAUGHT UP AT MOMENT OF SALVATION

.

Now many might cry out, “So what’s new about that? After all, this kind of snatching away happens at the moment of Salvation!”

.

Oh true, when a man, woman, or child becomes truly saved, he or she has now been translated up into the Heavenlies with Christ!

.

**But there are two revelations about this, that we must ponder (as this virtuous woman painting depicts her pondering God’s Word)!**

.

Braet von Überfeldt – Woman with Bible – 1866 – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

.

ON A SEA OF GLASS

.

The first truth to consider is found in the following words of hope… “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:” Romans 5:20

.

Yes, in this coming Time of Trouble, the terrible days ahead will be met by God’s abounding grace! And as never before in times past, God’s people will enjoy His abundant grace to an unprecedented degree!

.

Yes, God’s people will fulfill that amazing description found in Revelation… “And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal…And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.” Revelation 4:6 & 15:2

.

So, these two passages paint a glorious scenario of God’s faithful remnant standing before His heavenly throne, and yet standing in the midst of the fires of tribulation, while enjoying a heavenly serenity which surpasses all human understanding!

.

David Playing Harp – www.thebiblerevival.com – US public domain

.

FIERY FURNACE

.

Now, we don’t exactly know what’s in store for us in the coming days ahead! But the way that things are just now deteriorating upon the world-stage, we can only imagine that it is going to be bad! Really bad!

.

Be-that-as-it-may, God’s people will, more and more, find themselves alone with Christ in the heavenly sanctuary during this tribulation! Yes, in the midst of this hellish persecution here on earth, God’s people will become so merged with Christ in the heavenlies, that they will be unhurt by those fiery-flames-heated-7-times-hotter!

.

Fiery Furnace by Gustave Dore’ courtesy of adelaide.edu.au

.

SATAN’S MANY DISTRACTIONS!

.

But now for the second truth, which is not so wonderful!

.

Sadly, the present condition of God’s people is mostly found in the following verse from the prophet, Isaiah… “We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.” Isaiah 26:18

.

This verse just happens to be the current condition of God’s people, to a great degree! The Master Deceiver has waged a highly successful campaign against God’s people, flooding us with every conceivable distraction in the form of earthly treasures and worldly pleasures of every type!

.

And so, as a result, God’s people have greatly neglected our heart-purification, because Satan has kept us so busy with all these time-consuming, energy-sapping, worldly pursuits!

.

And just like this not-so-funny cartoon, we are living in pleasure, when we should be armoring up!

.

GOOD NEWS!

.

But amidst this very sad report, there is found some very Good News! Yes, God has graciously provided us with a little more time to repent, and to return to Him with spiritual sackcloth and weeping and mourning for our sin!

.

And if we will only turn away from this glittering tinsel-like world, and plead for God to bring us with Him into His heavenly sanctuary, we can begin to fulfill our commission to be priests together with Christ in His Most Holy Place in our hearts-in-Heaven!

.

David’s sorrow – Wikigallery – Public Domain

.

To read Part 2, click here…

“April 15 (Darby & Scofield’s Pre-Trib Rapture, Part 2: John 6)”

Second Coming – Return – Resurrection Morning – Jan Luyken – Bible – Wikipedia – US Public Domain (2)

.

TODAY’S PRAYER…

“Dear Lord, Help me enter into Thy Heavenly Sanctuary. Let me know the Way…

Woman Praying – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

.

THE END

.

TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN

Info & pics of constellations on this site from Wikipedia & International Astronomical Union (click here)

.

ARK SEEN IN HEAVEN

.

“And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.” Rev. 11:19

.

The above verse from Revelation, speaks of God’s Temple in Heaven being opened. But this great constellation, the Sagittarius Constellation is actually the constellation of the Ark of the Covenant. So these two events go hand in hand simultaneously. The Ark Constellation, as sketched into this Wikipedia star-chart, is a representation of the heavenly Ark, as God begins to open up the spiritual concepts of that true Ark to our minds.

.

Star-chart from Wikipedia (this Website has taken the liberty to sketch in this Ark Constellation)

.

TOMORROW…

“JANUARY 26 (The False Prophet: Lying Eyes!)”

ABOVE PICTURE: Satan, The False Prophet who offers a world-loving gospel

.

20 MINUTE+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY IN JEREMIAH

.

ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.

.

THIS STUDY #390 IS PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING, FORMER CEO OF FAMILY RADIO…

.

The Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.com – Public Domain

Posted in Uncategorized |

Devouring Fire.com