From the time of Adam, there were those men who offered up blood sacrifice and they looked forward to this one promised by God to Adam, one who came to be known as Messiah.

Jesus Himself spoke of His future coming to resurrect His own. And He aligned this coming with what Revelation 20 calls the First resurrection. Theologians have differing views (in some cases) the Rapture is just part of the First Resurrection to come. Are they correct based upon the word of God? We are going to examine the Scriptures surrounding what leads to the Rapture of those remaining at His coming. For the Rapture only effects those who are alive at that time. The Resurrection is important for it immediately precedes that Rapture, and it involves all of God’s people from all time.

Mark 13:26 “And then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN CLOUDS with great power and glory. 27 “And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of heaven.

Is this the time of Rapture? Some time prior to this revelation by Jesus, He had asked His disciples: who do you say that I am? Peter answered: “Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God.” Thus the prophecy of this Messiah’s first coming was confirmed. Jesus is the One. His own blood would provide redemption if accepted for all of mankind who would believe in His promised New Covenant. This would be confirmed with His own resurrection: upon this rock I will build My Church. Upon this Truth (Thou art the Christ) all in Him would be saved.

This New Covenant in Christ’s blood was the guarantee of the future resurrection of every man who is in Him. They would be raised up in Him just as He had Himself risen.

For just as in the one man Adam all men had died; so also in the one man Christ will all in Him be resurrected or made alive (1 Cor. -15:21). The fact that all men must be in Him to be resurrected in this first resurrection is the key to understanding prophecy. So Paul is telling us that no matter if you are Gentile or Jew and no matter what nation that you are from on this earth that you must come to eternal life in none other than in Christ (1 Cor 15:). It is that relationship with Him that will yield to you a resurrection complete with eternal life.

Being in Christ means being in His Church. Upon this rock I will build My Church. He is this Christ, this Son of God the promised Messiah coming to and through Israel. And what He purchased by His blood gives us (all men through all millennia) who are in Him this blessed hope of life at His coming. But how do Old Testament persons get to be in Him at this coming? We are told here in 1 Cor. And also in 1 Thess. 4, who will be resurrected before rapture can occur. The real question: Can resurrection occur before all men are saved and in Him? Can a resurrection to Heaven happen before this resurrection that is given it’s name in Revelation?

Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years. (NASB2020)

Its name is the first Resurrection, because there is a second resurrection of those who are not in Him. This first resurrection has a specific time in Gods plan. There is a time for everything under the sun: a time to sow and a time to reap the harvest; a time for peace and a time for war; a time to live and a time to die. This time of the resurrection is only known by God. But He has told us through Paul certain things about it.

Romans 11:15 For if their rejection [proves to be] the reconciliation of the world, what [will their] acceptance [be] but life from the dead? (NASB2020)

Who is he talking about: their rejection? This verse though it is clear in its language is apparently a confusing verse to many theologians. The context is speaking of Israel. It speaks of their rejection of their own Messiah and then of their future acceptance placing them in Him. Their soon acceptance will mean “life from the dead” for all of us, who have benefited from their rejection. For their acceptance means the very completion of this Church of which Jesus said: on this rock about which you Peter where given this blessed truth, “Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God”0n this truth Jesus said: “I will build My Church”. Peter’s statement was that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah of Israel). When he stated this Peter knew nothing of the gentiles being included in the Church, but he knew that he as a Jew would be in that Church. This Church is that Ekklesia with which Peter was very familiar. It was spoken of more times in the Jewish O.T., than it would be in the New Testament that Peter would take his part in writing.

Even so, this Church (when Jesus spoke of it) He made it to be yet future, and this causes confusion to many. Yet there is a time for everything. How would Old Testament Saints be added to The Church, which had its beginning with the shedding of the blood that made possible their New Covenant. “Today Thou shall be with me in paradise” This truth Jesus spoke from the cross to the one dying thief, a Jewish man who believed.

When Jesus entered into Paradise in the center of the earth there was not one present there, who was not awaiting His arrival and His (not resurrection of but His deliverance of all of paradise to the throne room of God (Eph. 4:8). We know that this delivery of paradise to God was made, because Paul later visits Paradise in heaven. Previous to Jesus’ coming there to paradise on that day of His death, there had been from among their midst the calling out of Moses to meet with Elijah and Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. Moses, who had been buried by God himself, would likely have returned afterward to them (to paradise) for it was the time for their deliverance unto God. It was the time for their souls to be placed in Christ. You can imagine the elation of this place wherein resided the souls awaiting their resurrection, now knowing that He the Christ the Son of the living God was here on the earth. They awaited His arrival.

They received His preaching. (1 Peter 3:18-20). But He was not there for their resurrection, but for their deliverance from Sheol, from the center of the earth. Paul had told us in 1 Cor. 15, that all men from the time of Adam who will see the first resurrection will be recipients of this coming first resurrection, because they are in Christ. “A time for everything”. Jesus was here in paradise where He would begin the building of His Church. He was there providing this New Covenant; this new heart to Israel, and to even those before Israel, going back to Adam. The Church began with the deliverance of all believers, who went before that time; otherwise Paul could not have written:

1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. (NASB2020) (emphasis mine)

Paul had revealed the time of the rapture based upon all of this that he knew. Listen:

A time for everything. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose [from the dead,] so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. 15 For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of [the] archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore, comfort one another with these words. (NASB2020) (emphasis mine)

The exact moment of the Rapture is only known by God, but the timing as to Pre; Mid; or Post is made plain in the Scripture. These Scriptures tell the truth that no Rapture can occur until every man in Christ from the time of Adam up until the very last man or woman to be thus saved is in fact (in Christ). It is only then that there can be resurrection followed by the Rapture. “The dead in Christ will rise first”. So how then does this allow God to keep His promise to us: keeping us from the wrath of God to Come? To answer that; then you must determine what is the Wrath of God.

All men including you were predestined for this Wrath if you remained apart (separated) from Christ.

Ephesians 2:3 Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the rest. (NASB2020)

So we were subject to wrath with all men predestined to hell. We were not all subject to attend the future great Tribulation in order to be subject to this wrath. All men in Christ, who before were without Christ, and were subjects of wrath have been delivered not from Great Tribulation, but from Hell. So what is the hour (a time for everything) that the church of Philadelphia was to be kept from? It will not be a week of 7 years, but an hour.

Matthew 25:13 “Be on the alert then, because you do not know the day nor the hour. (NASB2020). Matthew 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. (KJV)

What is the hour? It must occur after the first resurrection, for we are all of us (in Christ) to be kept from it. Our resurrection and catching up will not take an hour, but only a split second.

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You Will be Kept From The Hour

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