“”For if we have been
planted together in
the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the
likeness of His
resurrection,”
Romans
6:5
INTRODUCTION
I am
not
writing this study as a dogmatic certainity, for I do
not claim to know
the “day or the hour” when the Lord is coming to resurrect
and rapture His
church and believing people.I am only
setting forth “a possibility” that may have been overlooked
or ignored by all
of us who are eagerly awaiting the coming of our Lord, to
take us “home” to
glory.Understood?
LITERAL OR FIGURATIVE?
Ever
since I began
seriouslystudying
God’s Word 68 years
ago, I have always taken the Word of God at face value for
what it actually and
literally says.Most
false teachings,
doctrines, and theories are because some in the churches and
the ranks of
Christianity refuse
to take the Word of
God as literal truth.Some
do want to
“interpret” and change the Word to make it fit their theory
or opinion.Such
is a complete disregard for the Lord’s
plainly stated commandment in Revelation 22;18-19.
However,
after
studying God’s Word all these years, I am well
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aware that there are certain
statements in the Bible which
were
not meant to be taken
literally.How
do we tell the difference?This is why the Lord Jesus Himself said that
the Holy Spirit within the true believer, will “ guide you into all truth,” John 16:13.If any
reader has not been truly saved; “born of the Spirit,”
John 3:3-7, there
is no way they will ever be able to correctly understand the great truths of
God’s Word.
But
yes, there are
some statements in the Bible which were not meant to be
taken literally.For
example, Proverbs 23:2 obviously does
not mean that a man is to take a knife and literally
cut his throat when he
eats at the table of a ruler or rich man.Even this
Scripture conveys a
literal truth, but it is not to commit suicide when eating
with a ruler or rich
man.This is
one of the few places in
God’s Word where what is stated is figurative.Clear enough?
DATE SETTING
There
is no
question that true believers living today are eager for the
Lord Jesus to come
for us.And
that eagerness has been
displayed for manyyears,
as one date
after another has been put forth as “the date” the Lord is
coming.Not one
of these dogmatic dates, stretching
back many years, has yet been correct.But the “signs” the Lord told His people to watch
for, have come, and
are still coming, indicating that the Lord’s return is
drawing nearer with
every passing day.
Back
in 2017, as
the constellations in the heavens began moving
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into the positions prophesied
in Revelation 12, “date
setting”
reached a feverish
pitch.But the
Lord didn’t come!There
have been many “dates” since then, that
certainly looked like “possible” dates for the Lord’s
return, but He hasn’t,
and God’s people are still looking for and anticipating His
coming.So WHEN
is the Lord coming to resurrect and
rapture His church and believing people?
I
do not know,
and I make no claims of knowing.We
believers look at “possible” dates, but those dates come to
pass, and the Lord
still hasn’t come.
THE DAYS OF NOAH
The
Lord Himself
plainly stated that He would return during a time just like
it was in “the days
of Noah,” Luke 17:25-27.This statement is first set forth in Matthew 24:37-38.So here are
“signs” to watch for and compare
to “the days of
Noah.”
In
the days
before the flood, Noah was given a 120 year warning that God
was going to
destroy mankind from off the face of the earth with a flood,
Genesis 6:3. This
120 years is an important time marker for
believers living today.
In
1897 the
regathering of God’s chosen people; the Jews,began when
Theodor Herzl convened
the First Jewish Congress in Basle, Switzerland.Then five years
later in 1901 there was a
great outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Asuza revival. I
am personally
convinced that the 120 year warning, as it was in the days
of Noah, was given
to mankind living today in 1901.If so,(I don’t consider
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myself infallible) then the
120th year would be
this year; 2021.
But
here we are, nearly at the end of this year, and our Lord
has not come for
us.So is it
possible that we are
missing something as we seek the time of our Lord’s return?
Again,
I do not
know!But
I do love to study the
Scriptures, and by God’s grace, I am considering every
“possibility” I can find
set forth in the Word of God.In my
search, I have read and reread, and have repeatedly
meditated upon this
inspired statement found in Romans 6:5.
If
this
statment is taken at face value for what it actually
and literally
says,then we
believers have another five
months to wait, witness, watch for, and pray for the
coming of our
Lord.Why?
Because
the Lord
Jesus Christ was crucified on Passover; Abib 14, and was
resurrected three days
later, as the Jewish Sabbath Day was ending.This would have been at the exact end of Abib 17and the beginning
of Abib 18.Whoa!Wow!
These
were the
exact days that ancient Israel came up out of the Red Sea.It was on the
morning of Abib 18 that Israel
stood on the eastern bank of the Red Sea, victorious over
their Egyptian
enemies.Is
this then the time our Lord
is going to give His church and believing people victory
over this wicked
world?If so,
when would this be on our
Gregorian calendar?
It
would be five
months from now.Passover
this next
Spring comes on April 16th.Three days and nights later, in the “likeness”
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of the Lord’s resurrection,
would be April 19th.This latter date
is
on a Tuesday, the
third
day of the week, and the very day of the week when the
Jews claim
their Messiah will come.If the Lord
should come on that date, then we believers will indeed be
resurrected and
raptured “also in the
likeness of His
resurrection, Romans 6:5.
Is
this all just
“coincidence?”I
don’t know!I
am not dogmatically claiming that the
resurrection and rapture will occur this way, or at this
time.I am
merely setting forth another
“possibility” for the Lord’s church and people to consider.