Perbedaan dan Persamaan Gereja Barat dan Gereja Timur

For Those Who Insist That There Is No Rescue Or Rapture For The True Saints Of Christ, His Bride, When The Age Of Great Tribulation Begins.

Q: Why do so many saints believe that the Lord will rescue them before the wrath of God is poured out upon the world with the coming Day of the Lord?

1 Thessalonians 5:9 (NKJV)

9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Q: Who will rescue us from the coming wrath of God in the end times?

1 Thessalonians 1:10 (NKJV)

10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (NKJV)

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Q: When does the wrath of God (Day of the Lord) commence upon the Earth?

Revelation 6:12-17 (NKJV)

12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

My dear brothers and sisters, please consider the WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD'S WORD, and see for yourselves if the Lord intends for His beloved Bride to suffer the wrath and judgment of God upon the Earth, which the Scriptures reveal will commence with the 6th Seal judgment of God, ie. Rev 6:17.

It is widely believed that the Lord's Second Advent is biblically recorded for us in Revelation 19:11-21, when He will overthrow the enemies of God at the battle of Armageddon. For those of us who understand and believe that the 7 Seals, 7 Trumpets and 7 Bowls will occur in a linear chronology, based on the evidence of the specific numbering of each event, eg. first trumpet, second trumpet etc. and the use of adverbs of time sequence, eg. 'after this', 'then', we see that the Lord will rescue His Bride (1 Thess 1:10) around the time of God's wrath in the 6th Seal, because His Bride, the true saints of God, are not appointed to suffer His wrath (1 Thess 5:9).

For those who insist that there is no Rapture event, until after the entire 7 years of Great Tribulation is completed (ie. post-tribulation Rapture), my sincere question to you is this: Since we cannot disregard God's promises in Luke 21:36, 1 Thess 1:10, 4:16-17, 5:8 and Revelation. 3:10, which all point clearly to an escape from the tribulation that is coming upon the earth (due to the wrath of God), how is God going to fulfil these specific promises to His true saints (wise virgins) if He were to rescue us ONLY at the end of the Great Tribulation, when His wrath would already have been poured out completely upon the Earth (Revelation 15:1)? What other forms of God's wrath remains by the Lord's Second Coming in Revelation 19 is there to rescue us from, my brethren?

Please prayerfully seek the Holy Spirit regarding this, because the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10d).

Shalom!
Mark Chen
10 January 2016