There is the deception from the enemy that we viewed last time, but let us not forget our God. He is God, and He is at work on our behalf. He is Truth, and Life. And He is Love.
Don’t ever forget Jesus returns at the sounding of the last Trumpet. His coming is a very blessed hope. We observed some of what is coming, in our last post. Here we observe it from another angle:
Revelation 6:14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the eminent people, and the commanders and the wealthy and the strong, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they *said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the sight of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (NASB2020)
Some overlook what we just read. They see this passage as the beginning of The Tribulation, and they relate The Tribulation to the pouring out of God’s wrath using the location of these verses within the book of Revelation, but ignoring what the passage is saying? In verse 14 catastrophe has struck both the heavens and the earth. In vs 17, no one person will stand before this wrath. Men recognize it as such and look for a place to hide.
No one is hiding themselves at the beginning of the Tribulation. Certainly not from Jesus. They are too haughty for that. They are too blind for that. Here they are hiding from His very presence.
In actuality as the Tribulation begins, some men will be running to Jesus. There is a whole hoard of persons saved who come out of Great Tribulation as bond-servants of Christ. For we see in the very next verses what God is doing:
Revelation 7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, holding the seal of the living God; and he called out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.” (NASB2020)
Before these verses we saw the Destruction of the heavens and the earth; let us try to see that this chapter has to describe events taking place some time before this destruction. Before we saw mountains and islands as they were removed from their place; but here before all this is our God acting on our behalf. Before this was the catastrophic ending of days when Jesus comes back in glory and in His wrath. But then immediately after when John is shown the 7 seals, which bring back Jesus, then he, John is shown the preparation for these days and for the coming Tribulation. It is the calling out and sealing of Gods own. His bond-servants. You may want to read the following to understand just what a bond-servant is from Scripture in relation to God and His Son.
We find these bond-servants mentioned in chapter 1 of Revelation and throughout the book of the Revelation as John is recording. We find them in the gospels. There are 12 times 12000 of them sealed from Israel in the Revelation. Is this number representative of a perfect bride? Twelve is said to represent perfection or completeness, so is that its meaning? I don’t know, but I do know that these bond-servants throughout the New Testament represent the servants of Christ who are in Christ. They are sealed because they are completely dedicated to Christ and there is about to be an Angelic Spiritual war to be staged soon for this earth at the very time of their sealing, for Satan is about to be a raging foe against them on this earth. Antichrist is at the time of there sealing in the wings, and is about to lay claim to God’s Temple and he will claim to replace or be God.
This Antichrist also plays his part in the purging of men claiming to be God’s people.
2 Thessalonians 2:2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit, or a message, or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 No one is to deceive you in any way! For [it will not come] unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, (NASB2020)
There is an apostasy a falling away by many who claim to know God. Some of that is underway right now in our world. Too many churches are turning to the ways of the world. But “the day of the Lord” we are told here will not come until after the Antichrist is revealed. This should be good news for us; for it gives hope for what is happening.
More good news here tells that; following this purging or falling away (the apostasy) then we should no longer be deceived – why? We just heard that after the falling away and before Antichrist is revealed that those in the Tribulation have been sealed, and they then have GOD’s power in them. Him to tell them be not deceived. This is before the day of the lord. If you can’t understand this day, then read:
https://raptureonline.blog/2025/01/08/the-dilemma-over-the-day-of-the-lord/
God is still, right now, in this “our day”seeing His Church to be experiencing deception, which we are told here that we will be alert to during the time of Antichrist’s deceptions. If you are His bond-servant and have been sealed, you have God in all this.
Do you ever wonder just how those now being killed for being a believer in Christ in other parts of our world do endure the persecution at hand? If one is a committed bond-servant of Jesus as the only Lord of their lives they are now sealed, but there is herein promised a future sealing during Tribulation (a special sealing) just for bond – servants who will be entering into Great Tribulation. A special anointing for such saints is coming. And these saints will help prepare the nation Israel for her future salvation. The Church (these bond-servants) will make Israel jealous.
One thing is almost certain. This Church of today filled with disagreement over so many things* will make no one jealous (*the greatest of which disagreement is over doctrine). So tell me would Great Tribulation change this?
Ephesians 5:26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. (NASB2020)
Paul makes clear that it is the Word (the word that must be believed) that washes us clean, with a purpose. The purpose is to present a pure Bride. If the word is the cleansing agent; then must it be agreed upon by the entire body of the redeemed? If a bride cleansed by the purity of the word is to ever be produced then it must be in agreement as to just what the word is saying. Will that be possible short of seeing the truth of Scripture actually come to pass? That in my view unfortunately only will happen when the Church body actually experiences the truth that it now debates (the) Great Tribulation, being major in this regard. For this experience will bring agreement on doctrine. Certainly they, in the midst of what they once debated, will then understand and agree upon what is happening. They know now that some had failed (falling away). They denied Christ. They who should have never done so. Doctrine is God’s truth, not ours. Is it possible that the bride presented will be washed clean by the word at the time of a post-Trib Rapture? Will this bride then include Israel?
Isaiah 54:4 “Fear not, for you will not be put to shame; And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; But you will forget the shame of your youth, And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. 5 “For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth. (NASB1995)
The question that I asked above: Will this bride then include Israel, was meant to be a serious question. There are two questions that this passage presents. Why is Israel here considered to be a widow? And who is the redeemer, which is her stated Husband to be?
Jesus is the one member of the Godhead who died, making her a widow. He paid for all man’s redemption from sin. God sacrificed His only begotten Son. He gave Him for our sins. As with Ruth and Naomi there were more who would qualify as redeemer. The Father certainly played His role in the redemptive work, but only one suffered and could be said to have died for her sin and ours. He paid the price, and in so doing actually caused Israel to be widowed. In fact chapter 53 immediately preceding these verses tells of His redemptive work including His suffering and his death. Why is this word not part of today’s popular doctrine?
Job 19:25 “Yet as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last, He will take His stand on the earth. (NASB2020)
Job here recognized for us only one person (Jesus), not in name, but He alone will stand upon this earth as man and God. He is his and thus our Redeemer. Jesus will one day again stand upon the earth.
Isaiah 59:20 “A Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those in Jacob who turn from wrongdoing,” declares the LORD. (NASB2020)
Isaiah 60:16 “You will also suck the milk of nations, And suck the breast of kings; Then you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. (NASB2020)
Acts 5:31 “He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. (NASB1995)
I know that there are those who teach that The Father was the Husband of Israel. And I know that God could only have been seen and spoken to through Christ even in O.T. Times, for to look upon Him as fully God was stated to be a death sentence. Because of that I’m willing to state my belief that God the Son was Israel’s husband, who died that she might have immeasurable numbers of children through Him, as He built His Church.
Isaiah 54:1 “Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no [child;] Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; For the sons of the desolate one [will be] more numerous Than the sons of the married woman,” says the LORD. (NASB1995)
Read also Isa. 49 beginning with verse 15, and think on these things. And as you think, believe God’s word, do not allow it to be twisted. That would be your greatest deception. Not the alien deception, but your failure to believe God.
And Then Messiah Shall Come 