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 decieve 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.
It is my opinion that among the worse things that can happen in the church of God is that great and learned gentlemen can come and take the bible, or portions of it, or doctrinal subjects out of it and bring their very great (and undoubted) scholarship to bear upon the interpretation of it. The bible however sublime and profound it's subject matter is a book simply written in order that simple people may understand it. I do not dismiss human intellect or educational achievement, that would be foolish, but I do say that when it comes to the reading and understanding of scripture, then even the greatest intellect must be in submission to The Holy Spirit and take second place.
The reason I say that is because in the nineteenth century some very scholarly men set themselves to formulate and clarify the doctrines in the bible concerning ESCHATOLOGY or THE LAST THINGS and because (particularly in the nineteenth century) these scholarly gentlemen were held in awe and high esteem their formulations regarding PROPHECY and DISPENSATIONS were recieved with great reverence, unchallenged even to this day.
The scripture quoted above if read simply talks about one subject and one subject only, the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering to meet Him, or THE RAPTURE to give it's most popular name. The learned gentlemen would have us to believe that the great apostle opens his mouth to adress this most vital matter and then without so much as catching his breath, changes his subject-mid sentence-to talk about an entirely different matter altogether THE LAST JUDGEMENT. The reason they do so is because they had formulated their doctrinal position with regard to dispensationalism, and so every scripture now must be made to conform to their position, no matter how rough the contortion neccessary to do so. This is ever the way of error. They had decided to their own satisfaction that in each and every instance the term THE DAY OF THE LORD or THAT DAY appeared in scripture the reference was to the last judgement. Now they must take the word APOSTACY which is the original word that translates into falling away, and they wrest from it it's prime and most usual understanding of falling away as in rebellion and they accord to it the far more secondary interpretation of "departure," this is pure sophistication.
St Paul had but one thing in mind, that the Thessalonicans, and therefore christians everywhere and in every age should not be decieved, DON'T BE FOOLED. And yet when I hear christians talking about the rapture I think they have been, for I hear them say that Christ can or may return at any moment. But the scripture quoted above if read simply gives a clear framework and sequence of events that must take place before The Lord returns. 1st must come a falling away, 2nd must come the appearance on the earth of "that man of sin" or ANTI-CHRIST and then after his reign of terror (for christians) comes Christ. If as all bible believing christians agree the time when all these things must take place is fast approaching, then the implications for the church are enormous for they will be the ones who will pass through that last persecution known in scripture as THE GREAT TRIBULATION.
After this I looked and saw a great multitude that no-one could number, from every nation and every tribe and tongue standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes and with palm branchs in their hands and crying out with a loud voice,"salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne and to the lamb!" And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying "amen! blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God forever and ever amen." Then one of the elders adressed me saying "who are these, clothed in white robes and from whence do they come?" I said to him, "sir you know." And he said to me "these are they who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.Rev:c.7.vs.9-14
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