Doves,

Why do so many Christians believe that “the gathering” spoken of in Matthew 24:31 and Mark 13:27 is the rapture gathering when it is clearly not. All the verbiage in those parts of Matthew and Mark speak to the gathering of “the elect”.

The “elect” in these passages is composed of way more than simply the dead and alive of the Christian church. It also comprises the alive Jewish remnant and the whole house of Jacob meaning all of Jacob's dead lineage from his time until the present.........hundreds of millions of them.

 

This “gathering” from all parts of heaven and earth of these three groups (the elect) takes place on a day known only by the Father. Not even Jesus and the angels know when this happens. Why??

The obvious answer is for security purposes. The security and protection of these three groups from Satan and Satan's forces.

That's why Zechariah, Matthew and Mark describe this day as special. A day created or orchestrated by the Father where He can relocate His and Jesus's elect to a place of safety and security unscathed. A place where the elect will be protected from evil forces.

Zechariah says of this special day that......

There will be no light;

The lights will diminish.

It shall be one day

Which is known to the Lord (Father)

Neither day nor night.

But at evening time it shall happen

That it will be light.

 

When the Father's timing is chosen and has come we will know because as per Matthew and Mark the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, the heavens. The Son of Man (Jesus) will then manifest Himself on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He will send His angels on this special day at the great sound of a trumpet to “gather” the elect from heaven and earth.

Gather them where???

We learn in Zechariah and Isaiah that the Father just prior to this great gathering has relocated His kingdom from heaven to earth.......as per the Lords prayer......”thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven”.

He, the Father closes up shop so to speak in heaven and relocates His kingdom (as per Zechariah and Isaiah) to an area of land that traverses east and west from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River and also north and south for hundreds of square miles including half of the city of Jerusalem. Isaiah 25 describes how He reconstructs / terra-forms this land mass to fit His needs. That's why scripture warns the Jews to flee to the mountains when they see the demonic statue (abomination that leads to destruction) erected in Jerusalem. It's at that point where the Father has had enough and acts to intervene for Israel and also create His new earthly enclosure / kingdom /ark like structure. Any person within the boundaries of this new enclosure will be killed when this land is instantly transformed to meet the needs of the Father. That's why He instructed the Jews to flee to the mountains so they are not caught up and killed in the transformation process.

 

Scripture reveals that after the Father transforms this land the elect (all three groups) are brought there to occupy it as a refuge, a place of safety where Satanic forces and bad actors are not allowed.....think about those who tried to sneak into the marriage ceremony in Matthew 22 but were bound and cast into the outer darkness. The security of and within this enclosure will be like that.

Isaiah 25 indicates this new land mass also has a protective roof and the whole enclosure is guarded by Michael and his legions of angels. Daniel 12

 

We learn in Ezekiel 37 and Revelation 9 that the hundreds of millions of resurrected Jews who compile the whole house of Jacob will be staged at the extreme western end of this new enclosure at the Euphrates River where they will await the breath of life and the Spirit of the Father to be blown into them restoring them. They await there at the Euphrates their mission from the Father which is to be His end times army (Joel 2:11) and kill one third of the world's (then) population. I say “then” because it appears from the book of Ester that the America's, both continents will have been destroyed by then as per Ester and Revelation 8 where we see one third of the land masses destroyed.....North and South America being that third.

We also see in Jeremiah that The Father establishes His earthly throne there with His army in the western extremes of this new enclosure.

 

The Christian church both dead and alive are brought to this enclosure. Jesus will as per 1 Thessalonians 4 descend from heaven (the clouds above this enclosure) and shout to the dead in Christ to rise as He did with Lazarus. They will rise and be awake as Lazarus was after Jesus beckoned him from the dead. Then both the alive and dead in Christ will bath in the new river which the Father just created which emanates from Jerusalem as per Zechariah 14:8. This river contains “living waters' (Zechariah 14:8) and “wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3). Why???

Because it emanates from the spot in Jerusalem where Jesus shed not only His blood but also His Spirit at His crucifixion.

 

Once Jesus' church baths in these waters and imbibes / is immersed in Jesus' blood and Spirit which are contained in this river they will be ready / qualified to be transformed from mortal to immortal when the time is right.

 

Then the Father throws a huge party for His son's bride (the church) as is depicted in Matthew 22 and Revelation 19 and is also depicted in the Book of Joshua. This huge party is the........ marriage supper of the Lamb. Even the menu of this supper is described and disclosed in Isaiah 25:6.

 

At some point soon after this celebration (the marriage supper of the Lamb) has been completed Jesus will hearken to His church who are inside this new enclosure.....His Father's new house....... to rise and meet Him in the clouds above.

This is the rapture of the church which takes place after “the elect” have been “gathered” there.

Matthew says that this gathering will be like in the days of Noah. Pretty much normal things going and then on “a special day” we are gathered like Noah and the animals were and taken to an ark of safety as Noah was. In this case that ark of safety is the Father's new hundreds of square miles big..... enclosure / ark.

 

The alive Jewish remnant that are also gathered as part of the “elect” and taken to this enclosure will act as witnesses to all the proceedings that transpire within the enclosure as their ancestors did at the rising / rebirth of Lazarus and the wedding ceremony as was depicted in Matthew.

Also because these living Jewish remnant peoples rejected Jesus when He came the first time they will have to re-establish with the Father within this enclosure the original covenant ceremonies and duties as was in the time of Moses.

 

Again....the gathering and the rapture are completely separate events.

 

All of the occupants of the earth including those of us who have already accepted Jesus as our Savior will be here to witness the ministry of the two witnesses. All will have the same opportunity, the same playing field, to accept or reject the gospel of the kingdom which will be preached to the whole world by the Father's two witnesses.

The angels that are to be dispatched at the gathering will know who accepted or rejected this salvation message and those peoples will be gathered and brought to the Father's new barn (so to speak)....His new refuge / enclosure......His new earthly kingdom / headquarters.

 

And for those who believe that somehow the church gets “golden escape tickets” where we are prematurely snatched out of here before all of the above transpires....well I believe they will be sadly mistaken.

I was one who believed that way until six months ago when God showed me the true end times scenario.

 

We will be gathered to the Father's new enclosure / ark / refuge / barn near the end of the 3.5 year ministry of the two witnesses. There we will as Jesus mandated in John 3...... be “born again”. Born again in the “livings waters of the new river that the Father created which emanates from Jerusalem and contains the blood and the Spirit of Jesus which will both be necessary for the church to be changed from mortal to immortal and to depart with Jesus up and out of the Father's new earthly kingdom enclosure. After rising Jesus will take us to His safe place for the remainder of the 7 years then we will return with Him as is described in Revelation 19.

 

Ezekiel 37:14 portrays how the Spirit of the Father is blown into the whole house of Jacob / Israel after they are resurrected in the end times......they become His covenant people with His Spirit in them.

 

And in like manor Jesus' Spirit will be absorbed by His church in / from the living waters of the new river emanating from Jerusalem. We will then be His covenant people with His personal Spirit in us as immortals........how exciting is that!!!!

 

Blessings Doves........John B