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Chapter 36: The Sabbath (7th) Year First
Resurrection
<--6 YRS. OF TRIB.-->(F*R)<--1
YR. OF WRATH-->RETURN
This viewpoint is based on the Old Testament scriptures that show how God always grants freedom and rest on a Sabbath (seventh) after six periods of work or bondage. The seventh day or year or one thousand years is always a time of rest, freedom, and release from bondage. The Old Testament also indicates that the marriage celebration of the Lamb will last for one year. This theory expects that Christians will have to endure six years of tribulation and will then be rescued by the first resurrection to escape the wrath of God that will be poured out on Earth during the entire seventh year of Antichrists reign. This opinion appears to be the only one that permits all scriptures concerning the Great Tribulation, the first resurrection, and the wrath of God, to be fulfilled without any contradictions. The saints will endure much tribulation and persecution, but they will be spared from the wrath of God. We will look at some of scriptures that indicate that this is the correct viewpoint. The Escape From The Hour Of Temptation
The church of Philadelphia has been promised by Christ that they will be spared from the "hour of temptation" that will try them that dwell upon the Earth. Revelation 3:10-12 KJV "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the Earth." To find out when the church of Philadelphia will be rescued we again have to go back to the Old Testament and find out how long the marriage supper of the Lamb will last, or, how much of our time will elapse from the time of the first resurrection until the return of Jesus Christ to Earth with his saints. Deuteronomy 24:5 KJV When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken. Deuteronomy 20:7 KJV And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? Let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. In the Old Testament God decreed that a newly married man could not be sent out to war during the first year of his marriage. God must be faithful to his own word, so therefore Christ must celebrate with his new bride for a minimum of one year before he can return and go to war and destroy the armies of the world at Armageddon. He could wait more than one year without violating his word, but in most cases God fulfills his word exactly as he has written it. While there is no danger of Christ dying in the battle and not being able to marry the wife he is engaged to, he still must fulfill this law because God has bound himself to keep his own word. This law is a spiritual precept, a mystery, which Christ himself being perfect, will keep when he marries his bride, the church and the saved of all ages. Matthew 5:17-18 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and Earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." Luke 24:44-46 He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. Jesus said that everything written about him in the law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, must be fulfilled. In order to fulfill the law concerning marriage, Christ must wait for at least one year after the first resurrection, when he marries the church, before he goes out to war with the armies of the world at Armageddon. Ephesians 5:31-32 KJV For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Paul also uses marriage as an example, and says that it is a great mystery. Human marriage symbolizes Christ’s relationship with his future bride, the church. Deuteronomy 20:5 KJV And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. God also made another law stating that a man who had built a new house was not to go to war until he had dedicated it. John 14:2-3 KJV In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. Christ is preparing a new mansion for his bride, and he will dedicate it with her before returning to the Earth to do battle. Revelation 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. "The New Jerusalem", is the name of the city that the mansions are being prepared in, and it too is compared to a bride adorned for her husband. We will celebrate the marriage supper of the Lamb with Christ in the new Jerusalem and dedicate the new dwelling places that Christ has prepared for us. There are more verses that indicate that the first resurrection will take place one year before the return of Christ to Earth. Exodus 21:2 KJV If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. We, (the saved) are at present the servants of Christ, and in the future we will become his bride. Those who are a part of the "fig tree" generation will undergo six years of hard labor for Christ, enduring the hatred of the world for bearing his name, for being called "Christians." In the seventh year we will be freed at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. Exodus 23:10-11 "For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Leviticus 25:3-4 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Throughout the scriptures God uses the number seven to initiate a time of rest and freedom after six years of labor or use. even the ground was to be given a rest in the seventh year. The Two Harvests Of Revelation
Matthew 13:36-43 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field." He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. "As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age." The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. The real harvest of the Earth is when God raises the dead and also calls up those believers who are still living into his kingdom. God's past dealings with mankind indicate that we can expect to be taken out of the world after six years of hard times, six years of persecution during the reign of Antichrist, but, we will not be touched by the wrath of God. We will be taken out of the world before his wrath is poured out Revelation 14:14-16 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one "like a son of man" with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, "Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the Earth is ripe." So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the Earth, and the Earth was harvested. The book of Revelation gives us the order of the harvest of the Earth. The harvest of the saints comes first, when both the living and the dead are called up to meet Christ in the air. The one like a son of man sitting on a cloud, is of course Christ. The harvest described above is the first resurrection. This harvest is followed by a second harvest, the gathering of the armies of the world together to be destroyed at Armageddon, like grapes being crushed in a winepress. The comparison to wine and grapes being crushed is the reason why the wrath of God is pictured as being poured out of cups or bowls. The wine symbolizes the blood that will be shed during this time period. Those who reject the free salvation offered through Christ’s blood do so at the risk of having to endure the shedding of their own blood, whether real or symbolic during the outpouring of the wrath of God. Revelation 14:17-20 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the Earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe." The angel swung his sickle on the Earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia. (180 miles) The sounding of the seventh trumpet is a time for joy for God's people, but it is the harbinger of doom for those who are left on the Earth. It is the signal for "the wrath of God" to be poured out on the world. Blood will flow from Armageddon into the Jordan river for 180 miles, and exit at the gulf of Aquaba, which empties into the appropriately named, "Red Sea." The End Times Doctrine Of The Early Church
A document known as the Didache in Greek, or "the teaching of the twelve apostles," was being circulated in the church between 60 and 150 AD, and is the oldest Christian document that we have preserved from the first century church. This document contains the rules of the early church concerning baptism, the Lord's supper, Christian living, and a section about future prophecy. The Future According To The "Teaching Of The
Twelve Apostles"
Watch over your life: do not let your lamps go out, and do not be unprepared, but be ready, for you do not know the hour when our Lord is coming. Gather together frequently, seeking the things that benefit your souls, for all the time you have believed will be of no use to you if you are not found perfect in the last time. For in the last days the False Prophets and corrupters will abound, and the sheep will be turned into wolves, and love will be turned into hate. For as lawlessness increases, they will hate and persecute and betray one another. And then the "Deceiver of the World" will appear as a son of God and will perform signs and wonders, and the Earth will be delivered into his hands, and he will commit abominations the likes of which have never happened before. Then all humankind will come to the fiery test, and many will fall away, and perish; but those who endure to the end in their faith will be saved. And then there will appear the signs of the truth: First the sign of an opening in heaven, then the sign of the sound of a trumpet, and third, the resurrection of the dead, but not all of the dead, rather as it has been said, "the Lord will come, and all his saints with him." The teaching contained in the document above appears to agree with the position that the church will have to endure the fiery test of persecution by the Antichrist before the sounding of the seventh trumpet initiates the first resurrection and delivers them from his hand. The Feast Of Atonement
After the feast of the trumpets comes the feast of atonement. For the Jews this feast represents a time of self examination and mourning. They will mourn over the fact that they rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah, and that they missed the first resurrection. It will be a time of sadness for them and for all of the people who are left alive in the world. The opportunity to repent and escape the wrath of God that will be poured out upon the Earth has slipped through their hands. Now they will have to pass through it like an offering made to the Lord by fire. Leviticus 23:27 & 29-30 "The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. Anyone who does not deny himself on that day must be cut off from his people." The words that were spoken by the prophets Jeremiah and Zechariah will be fulfilled by the Jewish nation. Jeremiah 8:20 "The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved." Zechariah 12:10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. The words of Jeremiah will echo in their ears, the harvest (the first resurrection) has past, and we were not saved. Don't let it happen to you. |