One of the misunderstandings that some people have regarding the timing of the Rapture is to attribute the opening of the 5th Seal in the book of Revelation to this seminal event where Jesus comes in the clouds for His beloved. I think part of the reason for this confusion is a failure to take the 5th Seal in context with the first four Seal judgments.

One of the most important events that occurs in the Tribulation is the revealing of Antichrist himself. I don’t know of any Bible teachers who dispute that with the opening of the 1st Seal in Revelation 6:1-3, this is when Antichrist is made known to the world:

“Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, ‘Come!’ And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.”

Extremely important in this unveiling of Antichrist is what 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8 prophesies:

“Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”

It is impossible for Antichrist to come forth in the 1st Seal UNTIL the Restrainer is removed. There is no human or worldly explanation for who or what is the Restrainer that is holding back Antichrist. This is a supernatural restraint only possible by the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who is the Restrainer and who keeps Antichrist – the lawless one – at bay until the time for him to publicly enter the world is at hand.

This in itself should be sufficient evidence for everyone to understand that the pre-Tribulation Rapture of the church must occur in order for Antichrist to walk onto the world stage and for any judgments to occur. The Restrainer – the Holy Spirit – steps aside from restraining lawlessness only after the ekklesia have been gathered to Jesus, snatched out of this world to join Him in His Father’s house.

But, no. There are those who can’t comprehend this and believe the Rapture occurs at some point after the Lamb – Jesus Christ – begins opening the seven Seals. The Traditional View is that all the Seals are opened within the formal 7-year Tribulation period that begins with Antichrist confirming a covenant agreement between Israel and another party known as the many. An Alternative View posited by Bill Salus – which I like a lot for its logistical aspects – is that based on Scripture, there’s no direct correlation that says all the judgments are contained within the official seven years beginning with the treaty. Thus, according to this perspective, some of the Seals could be opened after the Rapture but prior to that official 7-year period.

Either way, any understanding that puts the Rapture somewhere within the timing of the various judgments is problematic. Again, the Restrainer has to remove Himself before ANY judgments can begin.

There is an erroneous view that the Rapture occurs at the 5th Seal, of which Revelation 6:9-11 states:

“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.”

Now, in one sense, someone could look at this passage and figure that true believers entered this period of judgment, having endured the first four Seals of Antichrist’s revealing, War, Famine, and Death-Hades, in order to reach this point and be martyred. But consider just one fallacy about this: In the aftermath of war and famine, along comes death for many.

However, death is accompanied by Hades, or the spirit of the underworld. Those who die MUST be unbelievers in order for Sheol to scoop them up and contain their souls.

So, let’s assume that Christ-followers escape all this chaos and the sentence of going to hell associated with this Seal and are finally transported to the Throne Room via the Rapture. They have endured much in the way of suffering. In fact, the verses show that they die. Under the thinking that these Seals occur before the official seven years begins, their cry of “How long?” makes little sense. They aren’t even Raptured. In addition, aren’t those who are Raptured supposed to in some way know the timing of the Tribulation? If these are believers, they still haven’t seen the covenant agreement ratified to know when the seven years begin. It makes for a very awkward understanding – or lack thereof – which we are supposed to have by knowing Bible prophecy.

If, however, the Rapture occurs and the first four Seals are opened, and then the peace treaty is ratified, that cry by these saints begins to make sense.

Following Scripture, the Rapture occurs, the initial four Seals can take place, and within that Gap Period, NEWLY MINTED Christians who come to Christ after the Rapture die for their faith.

These become the martyrs shown at the throne of God. Because the covenant hasn’t yet been confirmed, the 7-year timeclock hasn’t begun.

When these martyrs cry out, “How long?” they truly don’t know, because they have no frame of reference to the seven years of the Tribulation. They’ve died within the Gap Period, which has an indeterminate length.

Their deaths occur prior to any milestones. Of course, they have no idea of how long it will be until the Lord avenges their blood!

Briefly, there is one other massively important factor that requires Christ’s true church to be Raptured prior to any of the judgments. Aside from the fact that there is no mention of the church following Revelation 4, the purpose of all the judgments depicted in Revelation is for two primary purposes:

1. The redemption of Israel
2. To punish the unbelieving world

Because #1 is so important, this is actually why NO true believers can enter this period of God’s wrath. This is Daniel’s 70th Week. It is for Israel to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as her Messiah.

This time is first and foremost for Israel to finally say, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!”

Not a Jew and also not a believer? Then you fall into purpose #2. You have rejected the free gift of salvation and eternal life offered by Christ.

You will be punished for that poor choice. Yet, God, in His mercy, gives second chances. If your heart hasn’t hardened so much that you curse God for the judgments, He may bring conviction upon you for the life-giving possibility of you choosing His kingdom during this period of utter horror.

Where is the necessity for today’s true Christ-followers to endure the judgments of the Tribulation? There is none. We are already washed clean by the blood of Christ. Do we have works that are necessary for us to perform in going through this terrible period? Of course not! Then why do people think that, in some manner, we have to suffer like rebellious Israel and the unbelieving world?

The time is near. Let us rejoice and give glory to God. His wrath will soon come upon the world. How marvelous it is that we who trust in Jesus won’t be here!

—

Gary Ritter website: books & blog

http://garyritter.com/

Kindle Vella story: Tribulation Rising

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B099Z462WD

 

 

Starting with Isaiah 53:2-3, “For He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as One from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” (ESV – all emphasis mine)

When we celebrated the “Easter Holiday” or “Redemption Sunday,” for a few brief hours, many gave some thought about our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. However, many people have already turned to total dedication to the things of this world, and Jesus is put on the back burner once again.

Going to Isaiah 53:4-6, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken; smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

When the prophet said “our,” “we,” or “us,” I place myself there and say “my,” “me,” and “I.” Isaiah was written starting in approximately 740 BC through 700 BC, yet he was able to give a great description of our Savior and the terrible suffering He would go through. Unlike what artists depict and the movie industry portrays, our Jesus was not a muscular or strikingly handsome person that we would expect Him to be, and definitely not what the Jewish leaders expected from a Messiah – the promised deliverer of the Jewish nation from all oppressors.

What Isaiah described, and what the Pharisees and Sadducees should have been looking for, was that before all the pomp and circumstance of the Savior coming to rescue the world from the wrath at the end of this era, He had to come as a “Lamb of God” to be sacrificed, and whose shed blood could cover every single sin this earth would ever see. That would be the perfect “Lamb,” the only “human” that ever lived a sinless life, whose blood would be worthy of covering all sins – my sins. Starting with the first Passover in Exodus 12, God allowed for lambs to be used that were as unblemished as possible. For our sins, the Lamb had to be absolutely perfect, or we would still be lost in our transgressions.

Psalm 22:1 and Matthew 27:46; “My God! My God! Why have You forsaken Me!” (paraphrased) There are those who believe that even Jesus wavered in His faith in the Father because of this statement. However, the Son was aware that at the moment all our sins were laid on Him, the Father would have to turn away for a brief instant. This hurt the Son more than all He was going through, from His arrest to His death on a cross, but He understood it completely. He did not lose faith in the Father but had a brief glimpse of what separation in hell for the lost will be like, and knew this was why He was offering a sacrifice for all who would receive and accept Him.

Right after this statement, He stated, “Tetelestai” or “It Is Finished!” This referred to the mission that Jesus came to accomplish on this earth, to begin with. He provided a pathway to the Father for all who would accept the precious gift of His cleansing shed blood. From that moment forward, all who would call on Jesus to forgive them and to be their Savior would be saved. Also, He made it known during His ministry that there would be no other way to the Father except through Him (John 14:6 and Acts 4:12).

Prior to Calvary, all who followed the will of God would have eternal life, and Jesus’ blood reached back for them as well. Before Jesus’ sacrifice, only a High Priest could enter the “Holy of Holies,” or the inner sanctuary of the tabernacle. This was once every year.

Hebrews 9:11-12; “But when Christ appeared as a High Priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is not of this creation, He entered once for all into the Holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”

The price of our pardon was a cost that none of us could ever pay. It is similar to the parable of an evil servant who owed a vast fortune to his master but could never pay it off. The master forgave that servant and wiped out his enormous debt. What the master expected was that the servant would treat others the same as he had been gifted. However, when that servant would not forgive a small debt, the master punished him severely. This is from Matthew 18:21-35. It started with Peter asking Jesus if he should forgive others up to seven times. Jesus told him up to seventy times seven.

Our Father does not count to 490 sins and then we’re bound for the lake of fire. Jesus said all our sins would be forgiven if we have Him as our Savior. If not, one sin will condemn us. Our path to forgiveness is found in 1 John 1:8-10.

For anyone to not choose Jesus as Savior, they are also rejecting our Heavenly Father and Holy Spirit (John 3:18; 1 John 5:10-12). When a believer sins (not if), God sees that we are covered by the shed blood of His Son at Calvary.

When anyone does not have the Savior, they are responsible for every sin they will ever commit, no matter how great or how small. They will receive their degree of eternal punishment at the Great White Throne of Revelation 20:11-15. There will be no forgiveness or pardon at that judgment.

There are numerous hymns about the saving grace and mercy we receive by accepting the free gift offered by Jesus. Lines such as “Jesus paid it all; all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow.” Also, “The price of my pardon was the blood of my King.” For someone who has called out for forgiveness and Salvation, these are more than just words on paper. They represent eternity with our Blessed Savior, who loves us more than we could ever imagine.

Jesus is God, as given in John 10:30. John 1:1-3 advised us He has always been a part of the Holy Trinity, and He created the heavens and the earth. He could have left us to our own resources to try and have salvation but knew this would never happen because of the perfect nature of the Father. We do not fully understand how the Trinity is made up, but one day it will be made known to us.

Jesus came of His own free will to offer Himself in our place. Needless to say, after all He had to endure for us, we should want to honor and serve Him forever.

Then comes the phrase, “but on the other hand.” For all who reject the Savior, when they take their last breath here, they forever will be in total darkness and torment. Satan and his demons (fallen angels) have no pathway to forgiveness, as they had already been in the presence of the Father and still turned against Him. The falling away of humans is taking place more and more each day. Very soon, they will find out how wrong they have been.

We are just about at the end of this age, and the next chapter will begin. That will be the 7-year tribulation, which will be the worst time this earth has ever experienced. This world will be ruled by a Satan-inspired antichrist who will demand all worship him, not anyone else. Before he can appear, all who have called out and have become a follower of Jesus will be taken off this earth to keep God’s promise to keep us from that wrath.

Today, it would be a great decision to call on Jesus to be your Savior if you haven’t already done so. Read Romans 10:9-13 for the simple steps. Tomorrow could be too late to avoid the wrath, as He could call us Home at any minute. We don’t know the exact day or hour, but all the signs are here that it will be soon.

Forever is a long time to pay for a mistake that could have been prevented. Right here, right now, call on Jesus to forgive and save you, and you will have made your “reservation” to be with Him forever.

Come, Lord Jesus!

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