The End is Coming – Part II

Many a false doctrine is floating about in the churches on the second coming of Jesus Messiah. Some believe it has already happened…? Some believe Jesus will come before the Great Tribulation, Dispensationalists and Rapture theory – pre-trib believers. There are those who believe Jesus will come during the tribulation, mid-trib rapture, and then there are those who know what the Scriptures show clearly; Jesus will not come until after the tribulation of those days. Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 clearly define when Jesus will be coming, with the very words of Jesus Messiah Himself. Yet not only Jesus, whom we should completely trust in, states His coming is after the tribulation. Peter and Paul also taught this, I will show this later.

I have nothing to prove here. What I am doing is showing truth, not proving it; it’s already been proven because Jesus spoke the words Himself. The “why” for this blog is because I, as many others, want everyone to know truth and the very fact this is a salvational issue which many will say it is not. They will say things such as, “It doesn’t matter, it’s not a salvational issue and as long as we know Jesus is coming does it really matter?” Yes it does, and I will show why it matters as well.

First let’s take a look at what Jesus says about His second coming.

     1. Matthew 24:29-20, “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: 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.”

In Chapter 24 of the gospel of Matthew we see Jesus talking about the end times. He shows us the signs we should be looking for; “…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…” Those who are keeping watch will know the signs of the coming of Jesus Messiah. It will not be so much a surprise for those of us who know the signs and keep watch. Who then will it be a surprise for? Those who don’t know the signs, or aren’t keeping watch, these will not be ready at the Second Coming of Jesus Messiah; I will cover this a little more later.

     2. Mark 13:24-26, “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”

Here we have Mark’s version of the exact same teachings of Jesus Messiah, “…the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in haven shall be shaken.” Sound familiar? Almost word for word from the gospel of Matthew. Again, signs we should and will know which usher in the second coming of Jesus Messiah.

     3. Luke 21:25-27, “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

Luke of course has a little different wording. We know Luke wasn’t actually there and his gospel is a collection from eye witnesses of Jesus' ministry.  Yet in his gospel, the wording has the same meaning as Matthew and Mark, leaving no room for any other interpretation, God's is not contradictory or confusing.

After reading these 3 chapters in 3 separate gospels, one can only come to one conclusion; the time setting in which Jesus is speaking is after the great tribulation. “Immediately after the tribulation…”, “…after that tribulation…”, “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon and in the stars; … and then shall they see the Son of man coming…” Matthew, Mark, Luke.

Now let’s take a look at what Paul says;

II Thessalonians 2:8-10
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 EVEN HIM, WHOSE COMING IS AFTER THE WORKING OF SATAN WITH ALL POWER AND SIGNS AND LYING WONDERS,
10 AND WITH ALL DECEIVABLENESS OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS IN THEM THAT PERISH; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

If we take a look at the book of Revelation we see the Antichrist will be able to do great signs and wonders, even call down fire from the very heavens. Paul states here Jesus will come after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. Revelation 13:12-14, “And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.” Paul caught a glimpse of the end days and shared it with us, stating Jesus will not come until after the Antichrist. This would obviously point to the fact we, or the elect, will still be here when the Antichrist is here.

What did Peter say about this?

Acts 2:17-20
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
20 THE SUN SHALL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS, AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE GREAT AND NOTABLE DAY OF THE LORD COME: 

Again, the signs, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come:” These are the signs which Jesus taught would come before He came. These signs are after the tribulation. Interestingly Luke records all that which will happen before the signs which herald Jesus’ coming:

Luke 21:7-23
7 And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?
8 And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.
9 But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
10 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake.
13 And it shall turn to you for a testimony.
14 Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:
15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
16 And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.
18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
19 In your patience possess ye your souls.
20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.

Many will tell you God would never let us go through such a horrible tribulation, or we are not appointed to God’s wrath. This is not God’s wrath, the tribulation is Satan’s last stand, his wrath, because he knows soon his end shall come. How be it we have suffered tribulation since day one, yet people do not recognize this? All but one apostle was killed, Peter crucified upside-down. Steven was stoned to death for preaching the gospel of Jesus Messiah. Christians were hunted and killed by the Jews, Paul being one of the chief Pharisees who actually did this before his conversion. How blind are people to the facts? Luke plainly show Jesus saying we will go through this tribulation, time of war, famines, pestilences. We will be taken and persecuted and put into prisons because of our faith in Jesus Messiah. Our own families will betray us and have us put to death. This is us people, the elect, the Acts 2:38 blood bought saints will be here; there is no doubt, through the great tribulation.

I am not going to reinvent the wheel here and I don’t feel the need to rewrite what has already been written. I have linked Bro David’s site previously, contained therein is much more information on the “rapture”, so again I implore you to go and look at Bro David Harp’s writings; http://thetruenameofjesus.com/. As well I am sure many of you have questions the likes of, “what about this verse and that verse”, here is a question and answer page written by Pastor K. Kirkland of Valdez Apostolic Church; http://www.endtime-truth.com/articles9.html#24. Very enlightening and answers most if not all of your questions about the “rapture – pre-trib” proof verses.

Lastly, I stated earlier I would show this to be a salvational issue, and it is. The Antichrist, in as much as those who are waiting for Jesus to come before the Great Tribulation, and all those who don’t believe in truth, will see the Antichrist come with great signs and wonders, again even calling down fire from heaven itself, calling himself the “Christ”. II Thessalonians 2:8-10, “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” If you don’t understand the words of Jesus, Peter, Paul and John…will the Antichrist fool you?

Be encouraged.

To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Minister of the New Convenant