The Bible says, "The day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes." 1 Thess 5:2,3. Christ affirmed, "If the goodman ...had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up." Matthew 24:43. Christians are like the goodman today, not watching, because they don't know when to watch. Christ warns, "If you don't watch, I will come to you as a thief." Revelation 3:3. This description looks at when to watch.
"Watch" is translated from the Greek word, gregoreo, meaning be awake. We can't be awake every night, but there is only one night in the year that believers were commanded to watch. It was Passover, Exodus 12:10,42. Christ understood this and asked His disciples to watch (Matt 26:38-41) but we think it was only because He knew what was coming that night.
But Christ's use of "watch" in association with His signs for "the end of the world" (Matthew 24:3) and Paul's use of watch and maintain for the following theme. Evangelical Christians who do not watch because watching is not taught in their church may be unprepared for what is coming. In short, Israel was protected at Passover by blood on the doorpost and by watching, Exodus 12:10,43. Christ died as the lamb so that we do not need to cut animals, but the command to watch on the eve of Passover was maintained.
The apostle Paul said those holy days were "a shadow of things to come," Colossian 2:16. He kept them, (Acts 20:6,16; 27:9) and urged us to effect his example, 1Cor 11:1; 5:8. Some scholars say the types that report to the second coming will be fulfilled at the time of the symbolic service. This was so last fall when the Us Senate met on Rosh Hashanah to approve a bailout and the markets crashed for 10 days till Yom Kippur. This fit the timing for the trumpets in Leviticus 23:24-27. With the first trumpet in Revelation 8:7, "all green grass was burnt up," but grass represents riches in James 1:9-11 in Kjv, "As the flower of the grass, so shall the rich man fade." So we see a timely application of Jewish feast days may occur for the end-time, just as Christ died as the Passover lamb at Passover.
Christ gave the Lord's dinner in place of Passover, so why not celebrate it then and watch in prayer with the following modification? The disciples understood their patrimony that judgments fell at Passover. They were probably thinking Passover when Christ said,You don't know the day or hour. The Greek word, eido, meant be aware, consider, understand. Christ was saying, You don't understand, and each time He said it, He gave an example of a provision in the law for Passover a month later "as in the days of Noah" when the Flood came with Passover timing, but in the 2nd month, Gen 7:4,11; Exod 12:3.
Christ also said, "The kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling to a far country" Matt 25:14. Again His example fit the provision for 2nd Passover, Num 9:10,11. "Till heaven and earth pass, not one jot will pass from the law" Matt :18:15. This includes Numbers 9:10,11.. Christ took a journey to a far country; even His return in judgment will conform to law, pointing to 2nd Passover when "summer is nigh." Matt 24:32.
This is why Paul could say, "The times and seasons...you know perfectly," 1Thess 5:1-6. Many Christians recognize Easter as a paganized holiday. What do Easter eggs and bunny rabbits have to do with Christ's resurrection? This year, instead of Easter, why not celebrate communion on the eve of 2nd Passover, Sunday evening, May 10, and remember to "watch" in prayer, reflecting on the whipping and pain Christ took for us as we watch like He said, Matthew 26:38, Revelation3:3.
Bible Prophecy - Earthquake Initiates End Times Apocalypse - comprehension Revelation Means SurvivalThe book of the apocalypse begins with John startled by "the sound of many waters," Revelation 1:15. John was called to be a prophet like Isaiah, whose description also included "the roaring of the sea...roaring like young lions." Isaiah 5:29,30 is the context for the earthquake. "The posts of the door moved...king Uzziah" (Isaiah 6:1,4) is the earthquake cited in Zechariah 14:5 ("earthquake...Uzziah").
The earthquake in Revelation 1 will separate "the things that [John] saw, and the things that are, and the things that shall be hereafter." Revelation 1:19. The earthquake is a watershed event. Revelation 1 is the past; Revelation 2,3 was present tense in John's time--"are the seven churches," and Revelation 4:1 introduces the future which is still future to us "things that must be hereafter" (after the earthquake). The earthquake in John's time was a type; our earthquake will be the antitype, when the scenes that John saw will be for real, not just prophetic.
The church at Laodicea was lukewarm with materialism. Christ wanted it hot or cold and said He would "knock." The city "was destroyed as also Colosse and Hierapolis, by an earthquake," Young's Analytical Concordance. That "knock" was an earthquake, also supported by the fact that the Hebrew word for knock, daphaq, includes a severe meaning, as used in Judges 19:22. History will repeat for us, also lukewarm with materialism.
In Revelation 4:7, the first creature by the throne is a lion. In Revelation 5:5, it is the Lion of Judah. In Revelation 6:1, when John hears thunder, it is the roar of the Lion of Judah. "The Lord also shall roar... and the heavens and earth shall shake." Joel 3:16. This earthquake initiates the seven seals beginning in Revelation 6:1, encoded as a "roar."
"Roar" (earthquake) is also seen preceding the seven thunders in Revelation 10:3. The seven trumpets are also preceded by an earthquake in Revelation 8:5,6. Paul reminds us, "the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes...But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the children of light...let us watch," 1 Thessalonians 5:2-6.
Christ says, "If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on you as a thief," Revelation 3:3. "But know this, that if the goodman...had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up," Matt 24:43. Christians are like the goodman who doesn't know when to watch. The Greek word for watch is gregoreuo and it means to stay awake as in a vigil, Matt 26:38-40.
It is beginning to look like important events are occurring on the appointed times of biblical feast days. When congress met to approve 0 billion bailout, it was October 1, the eve of the thin crescent signaling the Feast of Trumpets in Leviticus 23:24. Trumpets blew for 10 days till the Day of Atonement, a type of Judgment Day. And every day for 10 days, world markets crashed in an unprecedented way.
Another example is the pope's visit to Jerusalem. Christ's warning in Matthew 24:15 was understood by early believers as referring to Rome. When Cestius brought the Romans, Christians fled and were spared the siege by Titus a few years later. The Roman Empire fell, but the Holy Roman Empire emerged, and in a first-ever visit by a pope, John Paul went to Jerusalem in 2000. Since then, Jerusalem has been "compassed with armies" of Palestinians and others hostile to Israel, a sign that "the desolation thereof is nigh," Luke 21:20.
When Titus sieged Jerusalem, Herod's Temple burned on the 10th day of the 5th Jewish month according to Josephus, the same date Solomon's Temple burned nearly 700 years earlier, Jeremiah 52:12,13. This year the 10th day of the 5th month is August 2, and many Jews will fast and pray in honor of their history, as suggested in Zechariah 7:3-7. In sympathy with those who are in affliction, the Bible suggests our watching and praying or we could have our house broken. "If you do not watch, I will come on you as a thief." Revelation 3:3. "Could you not watch one hour?" Matthew 26:38-40.
Bible Prophecy - Earthquake Initiates End Times Apocalypse - Understanding Revelation is SurvivalMillions of Evangelical Christians incredible the possibility of being "raptured" in 1988 because Christ said, "This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." Matthew 24:34. He had been talking about the fig tree and many believe it represented Israel being replanted in the Holy Land in 1948. The Bible shows 40 years for the generation in the wilderness (Hebrews 3:9,10) so 1988 was the time(?) With the passing of an additional one 20 years, and the sale of millions of books (admittedly fictional) in the "Left Behind" series and millions who have seen movies based on the book, it's time to revisit this issue.
1. When Christ said, "One shall be taken, and the other left" (Matthew 24:39-40), Luke has more details. The disciples asked, "Where, Lord? And He said unto them, Wherever the body is, there will the eagles be gathered." (Luke 17:37).This helps us see that those who are taken are not raptured to heaven; they come to be supper for vultures, Revelation 19:17,18.
2. The rapture is contrary to God's way of dealing throughout history. History supports that "we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom." Acts 14:22. Our belief that it won't happen to us is based on a few texts that can be explained to mean something else. Everyone in history lived through trouble and died, except for Enoch and Elijah (below).
3. Christ said, "As it was in the days of Noah" (Luke 17:26). Noah wasn't raptured; he came through the storm. Enoch was raptured before Noah was even born, so his being taken to heaven had nothing to do with avoiding the Flood or tribulation.
4. Elijah was raptured, but Christ never said the end would be like Elijah for us. Elijah was raptured only after he confronted the false worship of Baal. Our confrontation will be with Antichrist when the United Nations says Everyone must be marked or implanted with a chip. But it will contain false worship. Revelation 13:17; 14:9,10 is the Bible's strongest warning.
5. "As it was in the days of Lot," Luke 17:28. Lot wasn't raptured, he was told to flee, and Christ told us to flee because of great tribulation, Matthew 24:15-21; Mark 13:14-20.
6. "Broad is the way, that leads to destruction." Matthew 7:13. Millions of unmistakably fictional rapture books like "Left Behind" suggest a broad following that does not fit well with the Bible's teaching.
7. Christ said to understand Daniel who faced a series of life and death situations; no rapture in Daniel.
8. "By their fruits ye shall know them" Matthew 7:20.One corollary of rapture teaching is a lack of Bible study in Revelation, thinking "we won't be around." But Revelation is the only book that Christ promises a blessing for reading and "keeping those things that are written therein." Revelation 1:3. Revelation uses symbols and imagery that we can decode from other parts of Scripture if we study and come to be familiar with the Bible.
9. Rather than rapturing "lukewarm...miserable" Christians (Rev 3:17), we should expect"the Lord, whom [we] seek, shall suddenly come to his temple...But who may abide the day of his coming...for he is like a refiner's fire," Malachi 3:1,2. If we are particular through trials, we will be ready to meet Christ when He comes in the sky, "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up" 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17.
10. An earthquake brought an end to that last church that was lukewarm and miserable as shown in Young's Analytical Concordance and many encyclopedias. An earthquake appears to launch the Old Testament apocalyptic "day of the Lord" in passages like Joel 2:10,11 and Zephaniah 1:7,10. We are living in a time of unprecedented calamity, and it would be well for to anticipate a "wake up" call as Paul said-" the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes." 1Thessalonians 5:2,3. Like the five blind men examining the elephant, each with a distinct report, let's keep learning and comparing what we see in Scripture. God says He won't do anyone without revealing it, Amos 3:7. But few understand the next verse. It says, "The lion has roared, who will not fear?" Christ is the Lion of Judah in Revelation 5:5 and the Bible says, "the Lord also shall roar...and the heavens and earth shall shake," Joel 3:16. A growing amount of Evangelical Christians are rethinking the pretrib rapture idea.
Bible Prophecy, End Times - Apocalypse Begins With an Earthquake, Not Rapture