Just to note (for the readers), I had made a post in one of UWC's threads (I think it was) where I made the point that
E. Irving was an
"Historicist" (
not "Pre-trib").
"Historicist" would be
along the lines of [/
similar to] what [member] GaryA espouses, if I recall correctly. Is that right, GaryA? (that "[The] Revelation" has been
unfolding over time since the first century... [
not the part about Christ and the sin nature... lol])[/Q
Yes, we've all heard the stories of those who claim that Darby, Mary and the others, who supposedly introduced the gathering of the church as taking place prior to the tribulation. All you are doing is repeating the false teachings of others!
I have never read anything by any of those people, but came to the conclusion from all related scriptures that the Lord is going to gather His church/bride prior to His wrath being pouring out which will be initiated by the first seal being opened.
Those who believe and teach that the Lord is going to keep His promise by first putting His bride through His wrath and then gathering them, are not truly believing that Jesus already experience God's wrath, satisfying it completely. Since this is the truth, then the wrath that all believers deserve has been satisfied. God's wrath no longer rests upon the believer and therefore, we cannot and will not go through the time of God's wrath. If that were to happen, then the wrath that Jesus experienced would have been for nothing.
The reason that many believe and claim that the church is going to be present on the earth during the time of God's wrath, is because they don't understand the principle of what I just explained above and they don't understand the severity and magnitude of God's coming wrath. With just the 4th seal and the 6th trumpet, over half of the earths population will have been killed within that first 3 1/2 years and that is not including the fatalities that will result from trumpets 1,2 and 3, nor the fatalities resulting from the bowl judgments. Jesus described what the condition of the world would be when He returns to the earth to end the age saying"
"there will be a time of great tribulation such as the world has not seen from the beginning of the world, until now and never to be equaled again. If those days had not be shortened, no one would be left alive.
The Lamb/Jesus, is the One who will be opening the seals, which leads into the trumpet judgments, followed by the bowl judgments. Therefore, it is Jesus who will be unleashing these plagues of wrath. And since that is the truth, then believers cannot be on the earth to experience that wrath.
Neither Darby, nor Mary MacDonald wrote the word of God and that is where we get the information, understanding God's nature, that believers in His Son are not appointed to suffer God's coming wrath which will be carried out via the seals, trumpets and bowl judgments.
Soon the Lord is going to appear in the air and with a loud command and with the voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God and is going to call up the dead and change the living, where the entire church, from beginning to end, will meet the Lord in the air. Then in fulfillment of John 14:1-3, He will take His church back to the Father's house to those places that He went to prepare for us, that where His we may be also.
My advise to you, is to stop believing and repeating the well known false teachings of men and stick with the written word of God.
To Awatuki primarily
But the times and the seasons brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you
For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh like a thief
in the night. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction
cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape
But you brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief
Ye are children of light and the children of the day we are not of the night nor of
darkness Therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober
For they that sleep sleep in the night and they that be drunken are drunken in
the night
But let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of faith
and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to
wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5: 1-9 KJV
Behold
the day of the Lord cometh cruel both
with wrath and fierce anger
to lay the land desolate and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it
For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their
light the sun shall be darkened in his going forth and the moon shall not
cause her light to shine
Isaiah 13: 9 - 10 KJV
Immediately
after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened
and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
Matthew 24: 29 KJV
As you so often mention in your posts comparing scripture with scripture is very important when it comes to bible study.
So here are some scriptures I've compared. One of your main themes is the wrath of God ie Christians wont go through
the tribulation '' because we are not subject to Gods wrath''.
If you read Paul's passage in context you find he starts by talking about the day of the Lord
He tells his readers that they are Children of light and not of darkness. We are to watch and be sober
he goes on to say that we should have faith love and the hope of salvation because if we have these things
we will not be subject to Gods wrath.
When is the day of the Lord and the wrath of God? According to Jesus its after the tribulation period because he describes
that time in the same way as Isaiah. compare the verses. Both Jesus and Isaiah talk about the sun moon and stars. Isaiah
calls it the day of the Lord and of speaks of wrath of God.
Its obvious to me and possibly anyone else that taking these verses together that the day of the Lord and the wrath of God happens
after the tribulation period and not before. So are there Christians on earth during the tribulation period? According to Revelation
John saw the following...
After this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all
nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and
before the Lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands
Revelation 7: 9 KJV
And one of the elders answered saying unto me What are these
which are arrayed in white robes and whence came they? 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 with the blood of the Lamb.
Revelation 7:14 KJV