Rapture/Tribulation/Day of the Lord:
a correlation of events approach.
1-
The sun became black as sackcloth of hair. The
sixth seal begins with: Rev.7:12 I
looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake;
and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and
the moon became like blood.
…"and concludes with: vers. 17 "For the
great day of His wrath has come,
and who is able to stand?" This is the day of the Lord/God/Lamb.
2- Looking
for and hastening the coming of the
day of God. Peter exhorts: 2.Peter 3:11-12 ¶ "Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved,
what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking
for and hastening the coming of the
day of God, because of which the heavens will be
dissolved, being on fire, and
the elements will melt with fervent heat?" Peter speaks of the same day.
3- Why are we, the saved, suposed to look for
the coming of day of the Lord?
4- To stand before the Son of Man. Luke gives a clue: Luke 21: 36 "Watch
therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will
come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."
5- Escape what thinks which will come to
pass? Luke 21: 24- "And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away
captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the
times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. 25 "And there
will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with
perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;” Verse 24 is passed, so Luke is
referring to escape of what happens from verse 25 onwards: “signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the
stars” like the sixth seal.
6- Now you go to Rev. 7:9 and “After these things I looked, and behold, a
great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and
tongues, standing before the
throne and before the Lamb,
clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,” This happens
immediately before seal six in chapter 6 because: Rev. 7: 3 “saying,
"Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we
have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." That “till”
includes the presentation of the great multitude before the throne, too.” Now
Luke exhorts exactly for this to be accomplished: Luke21:36 “to stand before the Son of Man”
Here, then, you have the correlation of Luke 21:36 and Rev.7:9, as well
as 2. Peter 3:12
7- Now, according to Matt. 24: 29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will
fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” According to
Rev 6:12 and 17 the day of the Lord begins with “the sun will be darkened”. Then, from this passage, it is clear that the tribulation is something different from
the day of the Lord, and is prior to it.
8- Putting it all together: We will be spared
from the day of the Lord. Apparently, the rapture will be on the day the day of
the Lord starts, exactly like at Noah's and Lot's time. That gives sense
to Peters exhortation: “looking for and hastening the coming of
the day of God”. On the other side, then, sorry, we will not
be speared from the great tribulation, but from the day of the Lord, the
temptation that will come over the whole world.
9- It looks like Matt. 24: 27 refers to the rapture "For as the lightning comes from the
east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Because it is before the beginning of the day of the Lord (Sun… darkened) in
vers 29. and because only vers. 30, three verses latter, definitely refers to
his second coming: "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven,
and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of
Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
Nov. 28th
2006, Waldemar Janzen