Firstly why does Mr. Stearman react negatively to the
rapture being referred to as an escape when Jesus
Himself referred to it this way?
Luke 21:
35. For as a snare shall it come on all
them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
36. Watch ye therefore, and pray always,
that ye may be accounted worthy to escape
all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand
before the Son of man.
I sure want to escape!
But that aside, he then uses 1 Corinthians 15 to
suggest that all the church will go at once when the
rapture happens. This is the very scripture that tells
us that not all go at the same time because it
says that all will go in their own order or rank
according to the firstfruit type in the Old Testament.
There were three firstfruit offerings not just one as
though Christ was the complete fulfillment of that when
He rose and ascended. He was the first part as well as
those who came out of the graves after His resurrection
and ascended with Him. They were the first handful of
ripened grain or firstfruit of the harvest. The next
firstfruit offering is the first two loaves of bread
from that harvest and this will be the rapture that we
are waiting for. But there is yet one more firstfruit
offering that must come at the end and that is the
gleanings in the field that were at the corners of the
field and that grain which fell back to earth when the
reapers were reaping. The reapers were not to
harvest the corners at all nor pick up those that fell
back down to earth but leave them to the stranger and
poor as gleanings. This is what Paul was referring to in
saying that we will all be saved but each in his own
order or "togma" (rank as in marching in a
parade) in the Greek.
1 Corinthians 15:
20. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and
become the firstfruits of them that slept.
21. For since by man came death, by man came
also the resurrection of the dead.
22. For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive.
23. But every man in his own order: Christ
the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his
coming.
24. Then cometh the end, when he shall have
delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when
he shall have put down all rule and all authority and
power.
Here is where it gets confusing because
when Paul says "then cometh the end" he is not talking
about the end of the age which is what Stearman
suggested, (although Paul does mention that
parenthetically because the end of the age is when this
will occur) but his subject is these firstfruit
offerings and the order that they are harvested in. So
"then cometh the end" is the end or last firstfruit
offering in a series of firstfruit offerings. The
picture Paul is using is that of a military style parade
in which each rank "togma" is strictly asigned. The
first rank was Jesus but included that handful of
believers whom He raised to ascend with Him when He
ascended and gave gifts unto men. The second tagma or
rank in the parade is the two loaves firstfruit which
will be our rapture when it happens but there is still
one rank left, so "then cometh the end" refers to the
end of the parade or the last rank in the parade, not
the end of the age, that is not his subject. The
gleanings in the field which are the tribulation saints
who will come out of the tribulation are saved also,
but in their order just as the other two firstfruit
ranks were in theirs.
The reason this is so important now is because anyone
who is reading this right now (assuming the rapture has
not yet occurred when you are reading this) if you
currently are in the rank of "gleaning" you may still
upgrade to that of "loaf of bread" status which is "they
that are Christ's at His coming". If you are not
Christ's at His coming but have remained at the corners
of the field or have fallen back to the earth when the
reapers were reaping (I didn't write the example or use
it to describe these events so don't get mad at me for
pointing out that this is simply what Paul is referring
to here) then you can still become one of Christ's but
do it right now. It is so much better to be one of
Christ's at His coming than to wait and be a gleaning
that must go into the tribulation. Gleanings are
numbered to the strangers and poor as in Laodicean
- I never knew you types. He didn't say I never met
you but I never knew you because you didn't spend any of
your time getting to know me. These types may even be in
the ministry because Jesus said that they will
immediately begin to appeal to Him by listing all the
good works they have performed and so they thought
they would be raptured but He answers back that He
doesn't know them. It's not what you do it's does He
know you because you have made Him top priority in you
getting to know Him whom to know is life eternal not
whom to have met. Lot's of people met Jesus when He was
on earth but they did not follow Him or make Him
priority. He is a person not a historical figure but is
here now wanting to spend time with you. Will you let
Him? Do I let Him in my life every day? Will you submit
to His will for your life or do you want to deny that
any such is even necessary? You said the sinner's
prayer, that is enough? Obviously for the thief on the
cross it was enough. I believe the thief on the cross
was most likely in that first togma group that Jesus
raised with Him and took to heaven. Paul is teaching
that the resurrection/rapture will happen just as
outlined in the Old Testament example of how a field was
to be harvested using the firstfruit pattern because
that is how we will be harvested into heaven.
Gary Stearman does accurately point out that once the
church is removed then God goes back to dealing with
Israel. But anyone who was not fully in the two loaves
rapture will lose their status of being in the church
and then God will deal with everyone as He did before
the church was here which Jesus refers to as removing
your candlestick out of his place:
Revelation 2:
5. Remember therefore from whence thou
art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else
I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy
candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Many have argued that the church cannot be
divided. That one part cannot be raptured
without another part. That whatever happens to one part
happens to all the parts. Can you then explain why Jesus
would divide the whole church up into 7 parts and speak
to them as different groups with different issues and
different rewards for overcoming those issues and
different consequences for not overcoming different
challenges? There is the church history thing, I know
but even in our day these differences are still here. I
can tell you that someone who grew up in a Catholic
upbringing will have a different arena of approach to
Jesus than someone like me who grew up Protestant.
Someone living in a country where persecution is a
reality such as in a Muslim country will have a
different life and way of getting to Jesus than we
who grow up in the US.
As the letter said that Mr. Stearman read, I to wish
it were true that everyone who has ever said the
sinner's prayer would be for sure raptured but I do not
see this in scripture but a stern warning to us to make
our calling (nomination) and election sure for many are
called (nominated, or enter the race) but few are chosen
(win the prize).
If this view is wrong and we all get raptured at once
you can tweak my halo when we get there and snap it
against my head if you want to and I'll admit I was
wrong but if this view is correct and you have not made
yourself one of Christ's at His coming, at least you
should know what went wrong.