Dear doves,

I am perplexed about this! If the church is taken to be with our Lord in the first rapture, then who are the firstfruits? Revelations 14:4

says that the 144,000 are the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Aren't the firstfruits taken first in the Barley harvest? If so, then the 144,000 are the first to be taken! 

It appears to me that the tribulation is getting ready to begin when the angel from the east, in Revelations 7:2, interrupts the 4 angels that were given the power to hurt the earth and the sea, 7:3.......Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

The 144,000 are people that are ALIVE during the end times and the tribulation begins after they are all sealed with the seal of the living God. (I personally think this is the baptism of the Holy Ghost and is done with oil) and they will be called sons of the oil.

Out of the 144,000, you have the 2 distinct houses of Israel represented, the Southern tribes and the Northern tribes, as stated in Revelations 7:4, 12,000 from each tribe. The Southern tribes are of the old covenant and the Northern tribes are of the new covenant. I believe these are the representations of the 2 witnesses of Revelations 11, the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

         BREAK DOWN OF THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL AND THE 2 SEPERATE KINGDOMS

Southern Kingdom          Northern Kingdom      (12,000 from each tribe)

(Represent the Jews)               (Represent 10 lost tribes)

Juda                              Reuben

Benjamin                       Gad

Levi                               A'ser

                                    Neph'tha-lim

                                    Ma-nas'ses

                                    Simeon

                                    Is'sa-char

                                    Zab'u-lon

                                    Joseph

Now, if Revelations 14:4 tells us that the 144,000 are the firstfruits, and the church being the bride of Christ, there has to be two seperate gatherings, ascensions, or (raptures) for these two different peoples. And if the 144,000 represent the 2 witnesses of Revelations  11 (as I suspect they do), then Revelations 11:12 must represent the firstfruits ascension as stated......And they heard a great voice in heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a  cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

This makes sense as the 144,000 have to be killed to reappear in revelations 14 with the Lamb on mount Sion. 

The beast also makes war against the 2 witnesses at Revelations 11:7 and kills them after a thousand two hundred and threescore days of prophesying. It does not make any sense to make war against 2 individuals such as Elijah or Enoch. And since they prophesy for 3 and a half years before they are killed by the beast and left in the streets of Jerusalem to rot for 3 and one half days, it would mean that the first ascension of these 144,000 souls has not taken place yet as mentioned in Revelations 11:8.

NOTE: I know that it might seem strange how 144,000 souls could be killed and left to rot in the streets of Jerusalem all together for 3 and one half days. The beast will round them up all over the world and have them taken there for not taking the mark or worshipping the imagine and will make an example of them, probably by beheading. This could be around the time of the abomination of desolation in the temple in Jerusalem, that is yet to be built. The people will rejoice and send gifts to one another.....Revelations 11:10.

So, if the 144,000 are the 2 witnesses, then it would make sense that they are taken in the first ascension mentioned in Revelations,  because they are the firstfruits. This is the first place in Revelations that ANY one is ascended to the heavens, so they have to be the 2 witnesses.

The second place in Revelations that a harvest, gathering, reaping, ascension, or (Rapture) happens is at Rev 14: 15. And it is done by the Son of man sitting on a cloud because the earth is ripe. This has got to be the church and the wheat harvest! Because the firstfruits have already ascended up to HEAVEN in a cloud. 

Fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, has the church been deceived? Are there only 144,000 about to be taken at the first "rapture"?

Revelations 12:9.......And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world:

I think the church needs to start preparing for the tribulation, as we are not spared from it! Mathew 24: 29.............Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

30.........And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

31.........And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

So the gathering together of the elect comes AFTER the TRIBULATION! The wheat harvest happens in Revelations 14 and the WRATH OF GOD begins in chapter 16!

You might be thinking, why? Why do we have to go through the tribulation? Could it be because the church has been keeping PAGAN days of worship? Could it be because we don't keep the commandments? Could it be because the sabbath day is not kept holy? There is a reason. Pick one, because they all apply! And YES! We are to keep the commandments in the law. 

Mathew 22: 37........Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38.......This is the first and great commandment.

39....... And the second is like unto it, Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.

40....... On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The Lambs wife is described in Revelations 21:9...........And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.

10.......And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.

YBIC

Mike P