E) The Israel-Church goes through the Great Tribulation lasting 1,260 days, which is the Woman that fled into the wilderness after bringing forth the Man-child and God will feed Her there supernaturally during those days, (Rev. 12:6,14) and that not only physically, but also spiritually. The Remnant from Israel will be hard at work in this task!
Therefore, any doctrines declaring that the Church in Her entirety will be raptured before the Tribulation of seven years are FALSE! All preachers that preach this doctrine should pause and consider this truth of the Scripture in their own heart, mind and conscience and should not continue in this sweet deception which is so comfortable to our flesh.
The Israel-Church will go through the Judgments and Burning of the Tribulation and Her believers shall be either burnt by the FIRE (Jn. 15:6// Is. 33:12) or hurt by the FIRE (Rev. 2:11) or saved by the FIRE (1Cor. 3:15) or cleansed, purged and refined by the Spirit of Burning. (Is. 4:4// Dan. 12: 1,10) The Judgment of FIRE and Burning shall be used by God to bring Israel-Church to repentance and obedience to His Word. (Rev. 2:5,16,21; 3:3,19) It is also the expression of His Love and Grace for all the carnal, ignorant and unwilling believers so that they would not be condemned with the world! (1Cor. 11:32)
F) And then, 1,260 days after the “abomination of the desolation” was set up and before the seven vials of the wrath of God are poured upon the earth, (Rev. 11:18; 16:1-17), the last trump shall sound and all believers (His people) from the Israel-Church worthy of the Kingdom shall be delivered-raptured to the air. This vast body of believers is composed of the dead ones which shall be resurrected first; then all those living on the earth shall be changed in their bodies and raptured. The Lord will descend from Heaven to the air and there they shall meet Him. (Dan. 12:1// 1Cor. 15: 51-53// 1Thes. 4:16,17) THESE ALL ARE HOLY AND BLESSED AND WORTHY OF THE FIRST RESURRECTION. (Rev. 20:6)
All the other believers which were not worthy of God, not worthy of His Kingdom, did not walk with God, did not sow to the Spirit, but to their flesh, did not do the Will of God, (1Thes. 2:12// 2Thes. 1:5// Phil. 3:18,19// Mt. 7:21// Gal. 6:8, etc.) were unholy, cursed, workers of iniquity and were judged as UNWORTHY OF THE FIRST RESURRECTION, these all shall be “cast” into the outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Mt. 8:12; 22:13; 24:50,51; 25:30) This is NOT the loss of Salvation since their names are still written in the Book of Life. Nor is this the “Purgatory” taught by the Catholic teachers. They are not there to cleanse themselves from unconfessed sins, leftover sins and the like. They are there because of their persistent disobedience toward their Heavenly Father and their resistance to be changed in their nature into the Image of His Son Jesus Christ! I see and thus believe that they all will be given another chance to overcome and do the Will of their Father.
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G) The Lord constrains us at this point to see and understand that it is NOT possible for any pagan to be saved after his physical death. But it shall be possible for the born-again believers, which after their Judgment before Christ were cast into the “prison” (outer darkness), to repent of their disobedience and be changed, (1Pet. 3:19,20) purged and cleansed by the Spirit of Judgment and the Spirit of Burning. They all will have 1,000 years to overcome and be changed. This applies to all believers judged by Christ as UNWORTHY of the First Resurrection and of the Kingdom.
The condition for this First Resurrection is BLESSEDNESS AND HOLINESS (Rev. 20:6// Heb. 12:14// 2Cor. 7:1b// Eph. 4:24, etc.) which is the opposite of filthiness and iniquity which are of the flesh and cursed and draw woes. (Job 31:3; 34:21-27// Ps. 5:5; 14:2-4; 28:3-5; 36:12; 64:2-10// Pr. 21:15// Is. 5:18// Mic. 2:1// Mt. 23:28,29// Lk. 13:25-28, etc. The question of curse was already discussed earlier.)
At their Judgment by Christ, the Parable of Christ in Mt. 13:47-50 shall also come to pass. The separation of the wicked from the just shall take place where all are believers, but the just ones are those that walked and lived by faith (Hab. 2:4// Rom. 1:17// Gal. 3:11// Heb. 10:38) and not by their fleshly souls. From the numerous Scriptures shown above, it must be clear to any reader that a born-again, baptized believer may be wicked, unjust, cursed, a worker of iniquity and thus unholy and unrighteous.
The Lord desires that we would also see and understand the following important spiritual facts and truths.
(a) The scope of the First Resurrection,
(b) The battle of Overcomers with Satan,
(c) The translations of His people and believers,
(d) The Judgments of Christ.
(a) Concerning the scope of the First Resurrection, we must see and understand that it is similar to a harvest. A harvest normally begins with harvesting the firstfruits, then comes the main harvest and then it ends with a gleaning. All three parts are ONE harvest. So it is with this First Resurrection. It starts with taking the firstfruits, the Overcomers, then it continues with the main harvest of the Israel-Church (His people) when it is fully ripe (Rev. 14:14-16) and then will follow the gleaning (some of those in the outer darkness). All these three are ONE Resurrection though they do not take place at the same time. As there may be several days between taking the firstfruits and the main harvest, so there may be several years between taking the Overcomers and the main rapture of the Church.
We know that after Christ’s Resurrection, there were many saints that rose from the dead, were resurrected, and showed themselves to many in Jerusalem. (Mt. 27:52,53) It was an exceptional resurrection of some Overcomers from Israel only at that very special and blessed occasion when Our Lord was resurrected and completed the Salvation of mankind and of all that was lost. Technically speaking, this could be called the First Resurrection and the one during the Tribulation the Second Resurrection; yet, it is called the First Resurrection by the Spirit of God and we must accept His reasoning.
(b) The battle of Overcomers with Satan has been already won in their souls, where his kingdom was destroyed and “he has nothing in them”, in their existence. (Jn. 14:30) Therefore, they can do nothing more with Satan in themselves except to fight and overcome him in HIS OWN existence. That is why they are raptured before he is revealed on earth and just in time for the war in Heaven. Then and there, they overcome him in “his own existence” by the Blood of the Lamb and by their own testimony. (Rev. 12:11) As the young boy David destroyed “mighty” Goliath (1Sam. 17:50, 51), so the Man-child will destroy the “mighty” Satan.
The non-Overcomers, carnal believers will still have to overcome Satan and his kingdom in their own souls and they will have a chance to do it during the Tribulation and in the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
(c) We shall divide the translations of His People (Israel and the Church) into two time segments: BEFORE and AFTER the Resurrection of Christ.
BEFORE the Resurrection of Christ, all His people and believers (including Overcomers from the Old Testament) went to Hades, to the compartment for the righteous, which we may call “Abraham‘s bosom” and also “The First Paradise”. All pagans and unbelievers went to the compartment for the condemned which was a place of FLAME AND TORMENT. (Lk. 16:19-31)
The Lord Himself went to this “First Paradise” after His death and preached there to those spirits “in prison”. (1Pet. 3:19,20) There He was also met by the thief to whom He had promised from His Cross that the same day the thief would be with Him in Paradise. (Lk. 23:43). This Paradise was called “prison” by Peter as there was no freedom to escape anywhere. But it is also called “Paradise” as compared to the other place of flame and torment. Finally, I call it the First Paradise since there is the Second Paradise (see below). Hades is a transition place for pagans and all non-overcoming believers. All pagans will be there until the Second Resurrection, just before the Last Judgment.
AFTER the Resurrection of Christ, all Overcomers were taken out of Hades, from the “First Paradise”, and were translated (not resurrected) into the “Second Paradise” without receiving their new bodies. The Second Paradise is in the Third Heaven where the Lord is present being represented there by the Tree of Life. They were allowed to eat from the Tree of Life and fellowship with the Lord Himself. (2Cor. 12:4// Rev. 2:7)
All Overcomers, who die before the rapture of the Man-child (Rev. 12:5) are translated, caught up, to the Second Paradise to be with the Lord, which includes Apostle Paul. (Phil. 1:23,24) This Word does not apply to all believers, only to Overcomers! (Rev. 2:7) All Overcomers which will live will all be caught up to the Throne of God (Rev. 12:5) as His Bride where they will join the other Overcomers from the Second Paradise, who are also caught up to the Throne of God at that same time to begin the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. We should view also this Second Paradise as a transitional place, but it is for the Overcomers only.
All the other believers (non-overcomes), who die before the Tribulation period are translated into the “First Paradise” until the rapture of the Israel-Church at the last, seventh trump. This is their transitional place before they are judged by Christ. All pagans will remain in the place of Flame and Torment, which is their transitional place before their Last Judgment.
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To be continued next week in chapter 8 – part 10
brother Hanola
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