The Lord's Delay
A Word on Prophecy
Verse " But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."---Matthew 24:48-51
When Jesus ascended to heaven, a promise was made that He would return and get us. ( Acts 1:9-11, John 14:3,)
When He returns, we who are saved will go to meet Him in the clouds. (1 Thess 4:17)
This is the rapture, which will occur when He returns. We do not know the time of His coming.( Matthew 24:36)
But, that has not stopped people from trying to figure it out.
One
such view is the pre-tribulation rapture. This idea holds the belief
that Jesus will return in secret, before anything bad happens and
snatch away all the believers. But then He will come again, at His real return, And get another group of believers called the "Tribulation Saints" who happen to get saved without the Holy Spirit...
So, basically pre-tribbers believe in two second comings and two raptures. And that people are saved by obeying the Law without the Holy Spirit. Which scripture plainly rejects.
They
believe the church will be taken out, because the Holy Spirit is
allegedly taken out so we go with Him. They see the Holy Spirit as the
Restrainer. So the restrainer must be removed and this removal happens at rapture because the Holy Spirit is in the Church.. (2 Thess. 2:1-12)
They believe that the Antichrist and all the destruction cannot come till the Holy Spirit and Christians are removed.
Ok?
Basically, this is like date setting without actually setting a date.
Believers await His coming. But pre-tribbers expect it to occur before certain events.
So, when we look at this verse above in Matthew, we see that certain believers will say "my Lord hath delayed His coming."
If you read the whole verse in context. Matthew 24:29-51. You will see the words AFTER THE TRIBULATION. Then, you will see a description of what seems to be the rapture. Then, Jesus takes a step back in time before the rapture description and warns about servants saying "my Lord hath delayed His coming."
It seems that these believers have witnessed something that makes them think Jesus has delayed His coming.
Only
people who have date set, or believe in a pre-trib rapture would say
this. All other believers are patiently waiting and expecting
tribulation and persecution.
So what happens? The Four Horsemen. They bring terrible destruction and the beginnings of what happens later.
Because of them and human behavior, things get worse and worse. Wars, crime, economic collapse, famine, disease, disasters and death because of these things.
Then, comes persecution. we see this in Revelation. (Rev. 6:1-11)
Believers probably get blamed for the destruction brought by the Four Horsemen and are persecuted.
Then many pre-trib.believers who say"my Lord hath delayed His coming" will join in with the persecution. They beat the men servants and maid servants, because they were never saved. They bought into a false belief and a works based doctrine.
They cannot abide in Christ, to endure persecution. They have no oil (faith..). So, they attack and betray true believers.
Now
we must clarify something. The church is full of unsaved people. They
are believers in God, just like the demons of Hell believe, and tremble.
But, they have never truly confessed Jesus as their Lord. They have not
given themselves to Him and trust Him alone for salvation. They trust
in works and self righteousness. But, they never knew Him. Yes, it splits hairs, but it is very important.
So, why do I call them believers?
Because they believe in A type of Christ, and go on to form the Apostate Church. An apostate, believes, but rejects. Like the demons of hell. The demons of hell know God is real. But, they are in rebellion. They refuse to confess Him as Lord. People who have spent their entire faith on escaping the tribulation will not be able to stand against what's coming. They will be devastated that Jesus has not come to get them out. When they see friends being killed, and people losing jobs, and see the wars and famines, and the Anti-Christ rising up. They will think they were wrong, and were deceived. Many will fall away. This is the great falling away. (2 Thess 2:3) Falling away always occurs with persecution. They were never saved. But, they believed. See? You can be a believer in wrong things.
The
Apostate Church will call itself Christian. They will believe in God
and follow rules. But, they will not truly believe that Jesus is God who
saved them. This same thing can be seen in the Chinese church today. The government sanctioned church sees Jesus as a good moral teacher. The underground church confesses him as Lord and is persecuted.
Remember "Anti-" in "Anti-Christ" Does not mean against Christ. It means "Instead of" Christ. So the Apostate Church will be "Christian". But, they will worship the Anti-Christ. The Instead of Christ.
The false brethren who create the Apostate Church will call the true believers extremists and join in persecuting them. The world is already being prepared to go against "extremists".
The real believers will be persecuted and beat down and things will get so bad that even the elect will wonder, and almost fall away into deception.
Then,
when the real church is at its weakest. The Anti-Christ will become
public. Because the restrainer (The Holy Spirit in the Church) will have been effectively removed or made of no
account, through persecution. As it says in Revelation and Daniel "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them." (Revelation 13:7, Dan 7:25)
Do not be deceived by the doctrines
that set times and dates on the Lord's return. Put your total faith in
Him. He will come when God sends Him, not when we think He should come. Just turn to Him and build a relationship and trust in Him. You'll need it.
Our faith will grow and the chaff will be removed. Confess Jesus as your Lord, and do not trust in Pre-Tribulation Raptures. Trust in Him to see us through, as he sees fit. Just like He protected the Israelites in Goshen during the plagues of Exodus.
Now, understand that I have many friends who are pre-tribbers. I love them. I think they are saved. But, it is a dangerous place to put all your eggs in the basket of pre-tribulation doctrine. When the time comes, there will probably be a terrible temptation and spiritual attack of the devil to get people to fear and turn from Christ and say "My Lord delays His coming." Their mind will be darkened. Fear will take over.
The Bible says we are not afforded unto wrath. But, do not be deceived. God's wrath is poured out in ONE day. Not over seven years. Also, Gods wrath is the Lake of Fire. His wrath is eternal. He doesn't just kill the body, He kills the soul forever in hell.
Real Believers are not facing the Lake of Fire. Only Rebels. Only the devil, his angels, and human slaves who have rejected Christ. Understand, that those who "fall away", were never saved. They never knew Him, no matter how many good works they did at church. No matter how nice they are. They never trusted Him alone for salvation.
You cannot lose your salvation. Once you know him. You are known of Him. He has you. Forever.
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