TODAY'S
BIG QUESTION,
IS THERE A
GAP BETWEEN THE FIRST RAPTURE
AND THE
TRIBULATION ?
By
Marilyn Agee, posted 6-25-07
To me,
it not only seems possible, it seems probable. Why? to wake up the secular
Israelis. God used the Jews to reach the world. Why wouldn't he use the world
to reach the Jews?
Many Israelites today are not religious, because
they can't see God working in the world today. They move to
Israel
, claim the land
that God has given them, build their own houses, yet seem unconcerned about
building the
Temple
of
God
. In Ex. 25:8, God said of the
Tabernacle, "let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them." The
significance of the
Temple
! is the same, but do these people
care? Has the Temple Mount Faithful even been able to lay the cornerstone? Do
they even know where it should be laid? Does the new Sanhedrin have any real
power as a ruling body? Has the possession of the red heifer even caused a
public outcry to build the
Temple
? Not that I have heard.
Israel
is in need of a
motivater like Cyrus to say "to
Jerusalem
, Thou shalt be built; and to the
temple, Thy foundation shall be laid" (Isa. 44:28).
What kind of
catalyst would it take to get the secular Israelis to want the temple rebuilt
right away? How about concrete evidence that God is working in the world
today--the disappearance of Christians in the Pre-Trib Rapture? I can't think
of anything better to wake them up, and I can't imagine them being ready to
build the
Temple
next
year unless something spectacular happens to reveal God's hand.
I
can't imagine there being many foolish virgins left after
Temple
construction
begins. That should signal that the end of the age is approaching, and wake
them up. Yet, when Christ, the Bridegroom, comes for his Bride, half of the
virgins are left behind (Mt. 25:1f).
There are two temples of God, one
spiritual, the other literal. II Cor. 6:16 says, "YE ARE THE
TEMPLE
OF THE LIVING
GOD; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be
their God, and they shall be my people." Eph. 2:19-22 says, "Now therefore ye
are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and
of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; IN WHOM ALL THE
BUILDING FITLY FRAMED TOGETHER GROWETH UNTO AN HOLY TEMPLE IN THE LORD: IN
WHOM YE ALSO ARE BUILDED TOGETHER FOR AN HABITATION OF GOD THROUGH THE
SPIRIT."
WHO HINDERS, AND WHEN WILL HE BE TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY?
As I see it now, only when the spiritual temple of the Holy Spirit is
in the heavenly New Jerusalem, will construction start on the literal temple
in
Jerusalem
.
The presence of the spiritual tample on Earth may be hindering the building of
the literal temple as well as hindering the revealing of the False Prophet.
II Thess. 2:1-8 in the Geneva Bible of 1587, just 70 years after
Martin Luther started the Protestant Revolution, says, "Nowe we beseech you,
brethren (i.e., believers), by the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ, and BY
OUR ASSEMBLING VNTO HIM (i.e., at the Pre-Trib Rapture), That ye be not
suddenly mooued from your minde, nor troubled neither by spirit, nor by worde,
nor by ! letter, as it were from vs, as though the day of Christ (older
manuscr ipts found later on say 'day of the Lord', i.e., the Day of God's
Wrath) were at hand. Let no man deceiue you by any meanes: for that day (Day
of God's Wrath) shall not come, except there come A DEPARTING FIRST (i.e., the
first Rapture, not the 2nd, which comes right after the Day of God's Wrath has
begun, Rev. 5:17; 7:14), and that that man of sinne (the False Prophet) be
disclosed, euen the sonne of perdition, Which is an aduersarie, and exalteth
him selfe against all that is called God, or that is worshipped: so that he
doeth sit as God IN THE TEMPLE OF GOD, shewing him selfe that he is God
(Mid-Trib). Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I tolde you these
things? And nowe ye knowe what WITHHOLDETH (the oil of theHoly Spirit in the
wise virgins) that he (the False Prophet) might be reueiled in his time
(during the Tribulation). For the mysterie of iniquitie doeth already worke:
onely HE (the Holy Spirit in the wise virgins) WHICH NOWE WITHHOLDETH, SHALL
LET (i.e! ., Old English for hinder) TILL HE BE TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY (i.e., at
the Pre-Trib Rapture). And then shall that wicked man be reueiled".
We
are hindering the appearance of the Beast and False Prophet, because of the
Holy Spirit in us. When the Rapture takes place, the hindering influence of
the Holy Spirit will be removed. Then the
Temple
can be built, and the Beast and False
Prophet revealed.
The temple is in
Jerusalem
at the beginning of the
Tribulation. Rev 11:1-3 (KJV) says, "And there was given me a reed like unto a
rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the
temple
of
God
, and the altar, and them that
worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and
measure it not; for it is gi! ven unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall
they tread under foot f orty and two months. And I will give power unto my two
witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days,
clothed in sackcloth."
It will take at least a year to build the
Temple
in
Jerusalem
. Herod prepared the materials for
the former
Temple
, then the priests built it. Josephus
Ant.
XVI. XI. 6 says that "the temple itself was built
by the priests in a year and six months".
Rev 3:10-13 says, "Because
thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of
temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon
the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man
take thy crown. HIM THAT OVERCOMETH WILL I MAKE A PILLAR IN THE TEMPLE OF MY
GOD, and he shall go no more out: and! I will write upon him the name of my
God, and the name of the city of my God, which is NEW JERUSALEM, which cometh
down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."
At
the Pre-Trib Rapture, the overcomers, the "temple of the living God", will be
pillars in the "temple of my God" in the heavenly New Jerusalem. When that is
accomplished, the literal
Temple
can be built on Earth.
If the
Tribulation starts on Pentecost, Sivan 6, 5769 (May 29, 2009), the Pre-Trib
Rapture could take place on Pentecost, Sivan 6, 5768 (June 9, 2008). The first
trumpet of God sounded on Pentecost at
Mt.
Sinai
, so the type is good.
Martin Luther tacked his 95 theses
on the church door in
Wittenberg
,
Germany
, in 5278 (1517).
GOD'S
PARALLELS SEEM TO BUILD ON THAT
5278 (1517) + 400 years = 5678
(1917/1918) - Jerusalem freed
5278 (1517) + 430 years = 5708 (1947/1948) -
Israel declared their Independence
5278 (1517) + 450 years = 5728
(1967/1968) - Six-Day-War, Sign of the End of the Age
5278 (1517) + 490
years = 5768 (2007/2008) - Pre-Trib Rapture 40 years after Sign of the End of
the Age?
Just as the Israelites went into their Promised Land after
being tried in the desert 40 years, it looks like we will go into our Promised
Land (Heaven) after being tried 40 years.