Doves,

Everyone out there in Christian circles are trying to figure out when the rapture will happen as it is related to the seven year tribulation period. Whether it will be pre-trib, mid-trib, post trib or whenever.

Did you ever consider that the two…. the rapture and the 7 year tribulation period are as they say…… apples and oranges? That they really aren’t directly hinged at all. As in cause and effect …..

We know from scripture or it indicates that the seven year tribulation period has to do with the Jews and really has nothing to do with Jesus’ Christian church. So then it appears that it really may be….. apples and oranges.

That’s not to say though that the two events don’t intersect at some point in time.

Is there anything then that appears to scripturally lock the two events together? Do the two events intersect where one can say OK it’s at this point where it appears these two events converge and then they head to their inevitable outcomes?

Yes, I believe there is…..there is a section of scripture where both God the Father and Jesus are together on the world stage intervening for Their respective children (so to speak) at the same time. God the Father is on the world stage intervening for the Jews who He has a covenant with and Jesus is on the world stage to intervene for His Christian church.

Where do these two events coincide? They coincide at the period of the sixth seal.

It appears from many scriptural cross references that God the Father is here on the world stage because Israel has been attacked and is losing that contest. God the Father as per Ezekiel 38 and 39 intervenes in a huge way to save Israel from total destruction from it’s demonically inspired aggressors. And it also states (in the sixth seal) that Jesus is front and center on the world stage in the same time frame. It appears that he is here to retrieve / rapture His church, His bride……and then when His bride is safe in heaven…… to also administer His wrath on a wicked world.

So with this as an overview what are the individual things that appear will happen at this convergence during the sixth seal period?

Well as I stated before Israel is under attack and is losing so God the Father and Jesus combine to do many things during this period of the sixth seal which may last for days or weeks. Here are some of them…

1) The great resurrection of the dead.

Not only does Jesus resurrect all those who have died believing in Him but also God the Father resurrects as per Ezekiel 37 the whole house of Jacob, meaning all the descendents of Jacob that have died over the centuries…..hundreds of millions of them. And as per Ezekiel 37 God the Father uses these descendents of Jacob to establish His own exceedingly great end times army. And, as per Ezekiel, this army is bodily resurrected but the breath of life is withheld from them until a later time. They were put on hold so to speak. Why so?

The bible says in Revelation 7 that before anything else could happen after God the Father and Jesus resurrected all these hundreds of millions of people that the first fruits of this harvest had to be chosen and then sealed / marked on their foreheads. So, as per Rev.7 twelve thousand people from all of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel (Jacob) totaling 144,000 people were dealt with first. These 144,000 are to be the first fruits to God and to the Lamb and to be the personal entourage for Jesus and follow Him wherever He goes. They (the 144,000) then show up in heaven. The bible says nothing about the 144,000 going back to earth to minister as false teachers would have you believe. Why would God choose and reward the best of the best only to send them back to earth’s evil end time cesspool. Nowhere that I could find does it say that He does.

2) During this sixth seal intervention it is referenced that God the Father shows His face to the enemies of Israel which is also referenced in Ezekiel 38. And in both passages a great world wide earthquake takes place. All men on the earth will shake due to the presence of God the Father. When God the Father shows His face to those who are attacking Israel / Jerusalem (as per Zechariah) their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet. Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets. And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths. Consequently…..“And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains “…….Why? …..hide us from the face of Him who sets on the throne. They witnessed the power of God the Father and wanted no part of it. I believe that Jesus’ Christian church may very well witness this event as well just before they are taken. When the so called Christian “fence sitters” see this I believe many will sincerely come to the Lord just before he takes His church to heaven.

3) At some point also during this sixth seal period…..I believe maybe 40 days after God the Father and Jesus’ great resurrection of the dead that these risen dead may wander the earth and minister to the living as was the scenario when Jesus was resurrected. Then, these dead will be combined with the living members of Christ’s church to be taken up in the clouds to meet Jesus. And then they are taken to heaven as we read just a few verses later in scripture…….a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb……..

4) And when this is complete….when Jesus has His own tucked away in the safety of the hidden place…. He, as is also stated at the ending of the sixth seal starts His wrath on the planet…….“For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

And notice how He kept or will keep His promise to keep His church from…His wrath.

5) It is my belief that something else comes out of the great resurrection of the dead that God the Father and Jesus just oversaw……..that being, the two end time witnesses. They, I believe will come out of this great resurrection and this will be the start of their 42 month ministry and the official start of the 7 year Jewish tribulation period. And as per scripture…… the official introduction on the world stage of the antichrist should also happen concurrently with the arrival of the two witnesses.

The 42 month ministry of the two witnesses will run concurrently with the first half of the seven year reign of the antichrist. The bible says that 42 months after the start of the 7 year tribulation period the antichrist will attempt to prove to the world that he is indeed the true god of the universe by killing these two witnesses that mankind was unable to harm. When he accomplishes this He will then blaspheme the true God, God’s name, His tabernacle and all those who dwell in heaven. He will outlaw / cancel all sacrifices and offerings by all religions directed to their gods and demand that these sacrifices and offerings now be directed under the penalty of death to him alone. He will erect a talking statue of himself in the newly built temple in Jerusalem and demand that it be worshiped. To prove your loyalty to him he will demand under the penalty of death for you to take a mark on your hand or forehead. Nothing will be able to be bought or sold without this mark. This is the scenario Jesus speaks of in Matthew……the abomination of desolation, the statue, the image of the beast, set up in the holy place, the new temple in Jerusalem. When the Jews see the statue and they will no doubt hear of the mark required……they are instructed to run for the hills.

There will also be other things that signal the sixth seal event as stated in Revelation 6.…….great world wide earthquake, sun became black as sackcloth of hair, the moon became like blood, the stars of heaven fell to earth, the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up and every mountain and island was moved out of it’s place.

It’s very interesting to me that in other areas of the bible the word “star” can also mean angel. So is it too far fetched to believe that at this same time during the sixth seal that…… the stars (bad angels, Satan‘s angels) of heaven fell to the earth…….and didn’t crash either, they fell softly like over ripe, late figs dropping from the tree.

This makes perfect sense to me in that Christ’s church will not or should not arrive in heaven to be confronted by Satan’s lot. It appears that as we are raptured up they may be cast down to earth.

So it appears to me that this whole sixth seal saga of resurrection, rapture, tribulation period, witnesses, antichrist, fallen angels, etc. etc. hinges on or starts with Israel being attacked. And the way our president, the Russians and others are presently helping Israel’ enemies….. Ezekiel 38, 39 could be soon in the offing.

Also let me finish the story of God the Father’s end time army that we left on hold above in the article.

As I stated above these hundreds of millions of resurrected descendents of Jacob in Ezekiel 37 that were bodily resurrected but were put in you could say suspended animation. They were resurrected but not activated. Not to be activated until the time was right. If you read Ezekiel 37, Revelation 7, Revelation 9, Joel 2 and many other areas of scripture the whole story unfolds.

Ezekiel says that the spirit of God the Father is blown into these people by “the four winds”. The four winds are overseen or supervised by four angels Rev.7. When God’s timing was right these four angels were to release the four winds to blow life back into these hundreds of millions of people. And these people would form an exceedingly great army to be used by God the Father to eradicate Israel enemies at a given point in the tribulation period. When is this given point of time? We see this in Revelation 9 at the sounding of the sixth trumpet.

These four angels that were holding back the four winds from blowing the spirit of the Father into this great multitude were released. Now the exceedingly great army spoken of in Ezekiel 37 was alive and could start its mission. It states in Revelation 9 that this army consisted of two hundred million horsemen and their mission was to kill a third of the planet. And when you read in Joel 2 and many other areas of scripture that reference this army you are lead to believe that this army is directed to kill those who would have killed the Jews if they had a chance. For the most part Muslims and the followers of Islam.

So you can decide what you want to call it when these events happen. It appears to be prior to the start of the period called Jacob’s trouble or the 7 year tribulation period……or yes…. pre-trib.

It also appears to be just prior to God the Father’s and Jesus’ wrath….so one could say it was…. pre-wrath.

And it definitely appears to happen during the timeframe of the sixth seal which is……just during the sixth seal period.

Enough for today…….you’ll have to decide for yourself on the apples and oranges. I am sure in my mind that Jesus intervenes for His church in huge ways during the sixth seal as does God the Father for the Jews….so I guess I am a sixth sealer.

Blessings…….John B