Hi, I'd like to chime on this
one.
It is my understanding that it works
like this: The entire church age is like the time of waiting for the
bridegroom's return, since even Paul expected Him in his day... We who are
currently "wide awake" as we like to think of it, are really fallen asleep when
you think of contrasting our best understanding of God's kingdom and what we
think it will be like, to what it will actually be like - (we see through a
glass darkly). So even if we were as prepared in our hearts to meet Jesus as
Apostle Paul himself would have been, when that moment begins to occur, and the
shout of the archangel and the trump of God goes off and the announcement, "Behold the
Bridegroom, Go out to meet Him!"
happens, it will be an event so profound that even the most
prepared among us will be like sleep when one awakens. That is, we will be as
one who is somewhat disoriented and confused, if only for a moment. The virgins
were not merely asleep; they were asleep from nodding off while waiting in a
strange place, not at home in their own bed. (I recently fell asleep in my car
in the parking lot of a grocery store while waiting for someone to come out and
when I suddenly woke up, I was scared for a moment and very disoriented for a
moment until I figured out where I was. I think it will be like that for all of
us initially.) It will be up to each of us in that moment to shake out the
cobwebs and properly discern that this is really IT! I
am not one who believes in an instantaneous rapture picture, where "one disappears and one's left
standing still..." (To quote Larry Norman's song). Our rapture
is never described in scripture as a sudden disappearing but
rather more like the way that both Elijah and Jesus went up. Also more like the
way that Joshua took Israel
over Jordan. Our change will be in the twinkling of
an eye but not the entire rapture, else how could the virgins even discuss it?
Or how could the dead rise first? This same
Jesus, will come back in the same manner in which He left: Slowly taken up as
they watched until a cloud received
Him out of their sight. There must be enough time during this event for the wise
and foolish virgins to carry on the conversation about the oil and the foolish
virgin’s need for more and can the wise share with the foolish etc. There is a
parallel to when Joshua took Israel into the Promised Land and he encountered
the person of Jesus as the Captain of the Lord's Host, but Joshua did not know who He was and had
to ask him, Are you for us or for our enemies? He was told to take off his
shoes because the ground on which he stood was holy etc. Joshua complied and
immediately understood who this was. This same discernment is like having the
extra oil needed in this moment to be able to accept that this in indeed Jesus
and not some Project Blue Beam deception or some UFO (another Larry Norman song)
but Jesus; and it is safe to go out and
meet Him. The fearful and unbelieving will be afraid to go out to meet
Him and will want some "enlightenment" from the wise that will not be able to
share their wisdom with them at this moment because they will need their full
attention and enlightening capabilities to come to grips with it themselves. I
need all of my oil, but you go buy for yourself more oil. Then while the foolish
are buying more oil, which is to say coming to the ability to accept that this
is in fact Jesus that they were not REALLY expecting, He will have closed the
door on them. Again, this is illustrated in Joshua’s words to Israel
just before they crossed where he said; you have not passed by this way before
etc.
Joshua
3
1. And
Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to
Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed
over.
2. And
it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the
host;
3. And
they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the
Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from
your place, and go after it.
4. Yet
there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure:
come not near unto it, that ye may
know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way
heretofore.
5. And
Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify
yourselves: for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you.
We are right here at this same
juncture and it is time to sanctify
ourselves because wonders are coming again!
As far as showing that our rapture
is not instantaneous and those who quote Jesus saying “one taken and the other
left” verses, Apostle Paul called our rapture a
mystery, which is to say that until he described it, it had not
previously been revealed. He could not say behold I show you a mystery if Jesus
had already revealed it earlier. So what was Jesus referring to about one
taken and another left? That description is of when the Son of Man is revealed Luke 17: 30 Even thus shall it
be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
He’s not revealed to the world at
our
rapture but only to those who look for Him will He appear
at our rapture.
Jesus is describing the battle of Armageddon when there will be a miraculous gathering of
people from all over the earth and the kings of the earth by the three unclean
spirits like frogs who go forth into all the earth and perform miracles to
gather people at random and it is then that one is taken and another left
because it goes on to say in Luke 17, when one is taken and another left that
they are taken to where the carcass is (as fallen in battle) and flesh-eating birds will be gathered
to feed on the carcass just as described at the battle of Armageddon. It
doesn’t take a miracle to get people to Armageddon if they are just normal
armies fighting a normal battle, as has so often been described. Those armies
will be there too of course but there is also this strange method used to get
folks there from all parts of the globe at once; some in bed at night sleeping,
some preparing breakfast and some at work, then one will be taken and another
left. And it’s come as you are – if you are dressed when they take you,
then you will be glad you kept your garment, but if you are naked when they
gather you then you will be naked when you get to Armageddon and will be
ashamed, literally not spiritualized like so often this has been interpreted –
it’s literal so put these two passages together and keep this last one in its
context and it makes sense:
Luke 17:
30.
Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is
revealed.
31. In
that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let
him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise
not return back.
32.
Remember Lot's
wife.
33.
Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall
lose his life shall preserve it.
34. I
tell you, in that night
there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall
be left.
35.
Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the
other left.
36.
Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other
left.
37.
And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them,
Wheresoever the body is,
thither will the eagles be gathered together.
Revelation
16:
13.
And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the
dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false
prophet.
14.
For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto
the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the
battle of that great day of God Almighty.
15.
Behold, I (Jesus?
NO, the unclean spirits) come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and
keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his
shame.
16.
And he gathered them
together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue
Armageddon.
Revelation
19 ( describing also when Jesus is revealed – not our
rapture when He is not yet revealed)
11. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white
horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True,
and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12.
His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and
he had a name written, that no man knew, but he
himself.
13.
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called
The Word of God.
14.
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15.
And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite
the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty
God.
16.
And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF
KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
17.
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice,
saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together
unto the supper of the great God;
18.
That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the
flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and
the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
Satan
has his own rapture, sideways to destruction. If Jesus can come as a
thief to take us to heaven, then
Satan can come as a thief to
take his victims to their deaths.
Barry Amundsen