Thessalonians part 77

These scriptures apply to the very last days, evidenced by those which indicate the presence of "the beast", and the end-time plagues (Revelation 6:9-11; 13:7; 16:4-6; 20:4). When Saul was persecuting the church, and Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus, Jesus said, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" (Acts 9:4), because Christ Jesus considered the persecution of the Church, His resurrection Body, to be against Him. As He was and now is within those who become His, the all that He gave His life for in John 10:14-24 and 2Corinthians 5:14-15. In the same way we can explain the scripture, "Behold He comes with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and those also who pierced Him:" (Revelation 1:7). Those who pierced Him could not refer to His first incarnation, because those people are dead, and will not rise until the end of the millennium (Revelation 20:5), but rather it refers to those people who will still be alive on the earth when Jesus returns, who are crucifing the Church, His present day Body and seek to put it to death again. This evidence all shows that the Church will NOT be raptured either before, or during the tribulation, but will go through great tribulation during the last days, and we need to be prepared for it.


Note 3: Jesus had a special message to each of the churches of the last days, that they must be overcomers:

(Revelation 2:7) "To him who overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."(Revelation 2:11) "He who overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death."(Revelation 2:17) "To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows saving he who receives it."(Revelation 2:26-28) "And he who overcomes, and keeps My works to the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of My Father.And I will give him the morning star."(Revelation 3:5) "He who overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels."(Revelation 3:12) "Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My new name."(Revelation 3:21) "To him who overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne."


All of these promises are made to "Him who overcomes", but how do they overcome? Jesus said, "even as I also overcame," (Revelation 3:21), so how did Jesus overcome? He overcame the world by resisting the demons temptations (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13), and said that He had (in John 16:33 overcome the world), but to overcome the devil completely He had to overcome the devil's greatest challenge, "all that a man has he will give for his life." (Job 2:4). This He did by submitting Himself to death on the cross, and allowing Himself to be crucified (Hebrews 2:14), and this is what He expects His Church to do also. A pre-tribulation rapture is not how to overcome, it is by being faithful to death (Revelation 2:10). White raiment was also to be given to overcomers (Revelation 3:5), and we see this being done to those who had been persecuted to death under the fifth seal: (Revelation 6:9-11) "I saw under the altar the souls of those who were slain for the word of God, ... And white robes were given to every one of them," ~Keep in mind that this a teaching shared with me by Lawrence Sloma.


Specifically in the last days, Jesus promised tribulation to the Gentile church at Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-10), showing that tribulation would come on Gentile believers as well as Jews. This is confirmed by the persecutions under the fifth seal (Revelation 6:9-11), where believers are killed for the word of God, even before tribulation starts on the Jews as a nation (Revelation 7:1-3). Further proof, and very conclusive, is the evidence of "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and people, and tongues, ... who came out of great tribulation," (Revelation 7:9, 14), which was how they obtained their white robes. This was seen, "After this" (Revelation 7:9); referring to the sealing of the 144,000 Israelites (Revelation 7:1-8), so the evidence is therefore overwhelming, that Gentiles as well as Jews will go through great tribulation, and it refutes the false teaching about a pre-tribulation rapture. ~From here on our teaching is shared with me by
Lawrence Sloma.