What Do You Believe About the End: Pt 3 Endurance and the Keeping Power of God
/In the book of Revelation, the core movement chronologically is driven by the opening of the seals, the blowing of the trumpets and the pouring out of the vials. Within the moving forward of these actions, certain chapters are inserted and the action is paused while these chapters or smaller passages reveal generalized information about what is happening during the timeframe of these last days.
Chapters such as: 7, 12-14 and 17 and some other places are examples of these breaks in the action that stop the movement and momentarily and break in to explain things that are happening. Another way to see it is that a timeline is moving forward: 7 seals, 7 trumpets with 7 vials. The opening, blowing and pouring of the seals, trumpets and vials move the timeline forward and the interludes are superimposed onto the chronological movement.
Understanding this is important in order to make the next point regarding rapture timing that compares and contrasts a pre-tribulation view versus a view that has the rapture occurring somewhere after the tribulation but before the wrath of God. We will try to be more explicit in reference to the actual timing of the rapture event when we teach the seals.
But for today, we will focus on two more positions of the pre-tribulation position and counter those thoughts with scripture, so that you can be better informed of what the Bible says and that way you can rightly divide the scriptures for yourself. With added information and angles from which to consider the word of God, we can better begin to put the pieces together and begin seeing the picture of the puzzle come to life, and answer the question, “Seriously, what is He really saying in all of this?”
Two points or opinions of the pre-tribulation position:
After John is called into heaven in Revelation 4:1, the word church is never used again, so this means the rapture takes place before the seals are opened.
The phrase, “… I will also keep thee from…” in Revelation 3:10 is seen as a reference to the rapture.
Point I
In reference to position number one, John, in Revelation 4:1, is often seen by pre-tribulation teachers as being a type of the body of Christ. And when he is called into heaven in the same verse it is seen as a type of the rapture. After this occurs, the point is made that the word church is never used again throughout the book of Revelation. Therefore, it is inferred that the voice like a trumpet that calls him up is a fulfillment of 1Thessalonians 4:14-18, which contains the most concise passage that we have for a rapture.
Within this passage, in 1 Thessalonians, we have a voice of an archangel and the trump of God and the end result that the people of God who are alive on the earth will be caught up together immediately subsequent to those that are already dead in Christ. The fact that both passages contain a voice that speaks, the sound of a trumpet and people being brought into heaven results in an inference that this is a type of the rapture. Let’s consider this more closely:
1. The rapture of the church is synonymous with the resurrection of the physical bodies of the people of God. Those who are dead go first. Those who remain follow. But the significance is the physicality of resurrected body. Jesus is seen as the firstfruits of the resurrection— His body was resurrected first (Colossians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 15:20-23). He resurrected first bodily and He is the head of the church and next His church (His body) will resurrect in bodily form at the time of the rapture.
In Revelation 4:1, the passage explicitly says that John was in the spirit, not bodily brought into heaven.
2. Revelation 4:1, the Greek word translated in English as come up here is ἀναβαίνω anabaino and means to come up or ascend; whereas, the words caught up together in 1Thessalonians are translated from the word ἁρπάζω harpazo in the Greek and means to seize or carry off by force or to snatch away. Interestingly, the word rapture is not actually in the Greek New Testament. We get the word rapture from the Latin Vulgate’s translation of the word harpazo:
1 Thessalonians 4:17 Latin Vulgate
deinde nos qui vivimus qui relinquimur simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obviam Domino in aera et sic semper cum Domino erimus
rapiemur—to seize or snatch away
The reason all this was mentioned in this handout was to make a specific point that Revelation 4:1 is definitely not referring to the rapture because John was brought up in the Spirit. He was not snatched up bodily. It is not my desire to push the point that this scene in Revelation 4 cannot be used as a type, but I will say that 2 Corinthians chapter 2, specifically verse 2 meets the requirements as a type of the rapture more than this Revelation passage and this is my reasoning:
Paul says that he isn’t certain whether he was brought into the third heavens bodily or only in spirit and
The words “such an one caught up…” are translated from the Greek harpazo.
Again, the main thoughts for my message that I preach will deal with the idea that the word church is not mentioned after John is brought to heaven in the Spirit and that the word keep in Revelation 3 is not referring to the rapture.
It is true that the word church is used 7 times in the book of Revelation and it does not occur again after Revelation 3:14 where the last message for the churches is given to the church of Laodicea. And after the message to Laodicea, John is brought up into his open vision in chapter 4. There are at least two important points to make regarding the word church being absent.
1. In John’s vision, he sees the beauty of heaven and he sees the elders and the living creatures give glory to God on the throne in chapter 4. Then in chapter 5, the scene shifts and we are told that no one in heaven or on earth is worthy to open the scroll, which speaks of the 7 seals. The opening of these seals begins the end of days as we know it and allows the true reign of Christ to begin.
Then, chapter 6, in this ongoing vision, describes the opening of the scroll. Seal #1 relates to my first point: seal #1 is the rider on the white horse. The rider on the white horse in Revelation 6:1 is not to be confused with the rider on the white horse in Revelation 19. In Revelation 19, the rider is Jesus returning to earth for the Battle of Armageddon. In the first seal, the rider on the white horse is the antichrist. He is given a crown and authority to conquer. He has a bow but does not carry arrows. This is my interpretation of the bow without arrows: he carries the presence of power and the authority of war but presents himself as a man bringing peace—initially. However, the next seal opened is the red horse of war that takes peace from the earth.
I. The first point is this, it makes sense that the word church is not utilized within the rest of Revelation after Revelation 4:1, because after the antichrist is allowed by God to be revealed (2Thessalonians 2:6), the church will be persecuted and driven underground.
While the word church isn’t used any longer in these chapters, the words saints and brothers are used many times. Instead of listing every time these words are used, we will review only the instances where the context applies to saints or brothers mentioned during the tribulation and before the wrath of God:
Saints
Revelation 13:7
Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation,
Revelation 13:10 (ESV)
10 If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain.
Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
Verses 9, 10 & 11of chapter 14, explain that people who take the mark of the beast will experience the full wrath of God poured out on them and that they will experience eternal torment and then this warning is placed immediately after in verse 12.
Revelation 14:12
Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
Brothers
The context of this next verse occurs after the opening of seal 5, which is the seal that opens the timeframe of martyrdom of the saints. I personally believe that this seal correlates with the midpoint where the prince who confirmed the covenant in Daniel 9 breaks the covenant and sits himself in the temple to be worshipped as God. Now, Christians will know what is truly happening and it will result in widespread pandemonium and those that endure until the end will be saved.
Revelation 6:11 (ESV)
11 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.
For a moment, we should pause and consider the thought of endurance. In two of the verses that we referred to phraseology that connected the word saints and endurance were used to refer to the timeframe when the world would be demanded to take the mark. I want to learn endurance now and want to help anyone else who thinks that endurance is important to learn it now.
Endurance is crucial for a true servant of the Lord. If we are going to serve God, it means that we will die to the world and self and live separated to God. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life will fight and harass true believers to succumb to the pressures of serving self and the world and deny the ways of God. If we cannot endure now, how will we endure then?
Romans 5:1-3 (ESV)
Peace with God Through Faith
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
The good news is that God has gifted us with the righteousness of Jesus. He has clothed us with Him, which gives us access into grace. Empowered by grace, in the midst of trials, teaches us endurance. The biblical thought of endurance describes remaining faithful to God in the middle of the trial by learning to trust in God while being empowered by His grace.
This means learning how to trust in Him. It doesn’t mean running to something else. It doesn’t mean running to ungodly friendships or relationships. It doesn’t mean running to drugs or alcohol or Netflix escapism. It means realizing that Satan and the world are enticing us and that they want to destroy us, so by grace we reject their call and answer God’s!
Point II
Revelation 3:10 (ESV)
10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.
Proponents of the pre-tribulation position take the stance that the meaning of keeping them from the hour of trial describes the rapture. There are probably more than two problems with this thinking, but for the sake of time, let’s focus on two:
Understanding the messages to the churches contained in Revelation chapters 2 & 3 requires a layered approach.
First, a literal message is being given to the angel of each respective church. The messages are addressed to 7 churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
The word angel is a transliteration of the word ἄγγελος aggelos in the Greek. A transliteration is different than a translation. A translation carries the meaning of a word from one language into another language. Whereas, a transliteration takes the letters in one language and creates a word that looks similar in the next language but the new word does not retain the same meaning.
This happens between the Spanish and English languages alot. Here are two examples: 1. Escalera vs escalator the two words look somewhat similar; however, escalera in Spanish means stairs or ladder not escalator. In Spanish the word escalator would be escalera mecanica. 2. Embarrass vs embarazada. Embarrass in English means to be humiliated; whereas, in Spanish embarazada means to be pregnant.
The point is that the word aggelos is most often translated as angel, but there are a couple of occasions where it is translated as messenger, such as in Matthew and Mark where it refers to God sending His messenger John the Baptist (Matthew 11:10; Mark 1:2).
Most scholars believe the thought is that the message is being given to the Pastors of the churches rather than an angel. I do not disagree that in order for a physical body of believers to receive a message, it is likely that it was given to a Pastor and in turn, the Pastor gave the message to the people. However, to think that angels are not assigned over the true churches of God would be a naive spiritual thought. With this thought in mind, it makes sense to me that these churches would have had both Pastors and angels assigned to them.
With that said, I believe that it’s important to realize that the layered interpretation regarding these churches surrounds two thoughts a) There were 7 literal churches in Asia Minor to which these messages were given and b) the messages to these 7 churches, seven being the number of completion, contain a spiritual message to the body of Christ that will exist throughout the church age.
If this be the case, and I believe that it is, why would the pre-tribulation rapture teachers only focus on the word keep in Revelation 3:10 and not include in their thinking (verse 11) included in the message given to Philadelphia, “hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” Or why would they exclude the message given to the church of Smyrna (2:10), “behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”?
One last piece of information that combats their argument of Revelation 3:10 is a verse in the Lord’s prayer to the Father, just before He goes to the cross in John 17.
John 17:15
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
It’s important to realize that it is the same Greek word for keep in this John passage as in Revelation 3:10. In His prayer, Jesus explicitly asks not that they would be taken out of the world, but that while they are in the world, the Father would keep them from evil. It is the Lord’s Prayer that we would be kept from the evil that is present now and the evil that is to come.
Keep- (τηρέω tēreō) to guard from loss or injury by keeping the eye upon.
I will close this teaching by pointing out that the phrase to him that overcometh is used 7 times in the messages given to the churches. The one that overcomes receives the promises in the end.
The one who endures the trials of life now is the one who overcomes in the end. He that endures until the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13).
The Lord prayed to the Father that He would keep us. His grace is present to protect us from the injury that Satan wants to use to destroy our souls. We must learn by faith to trust in the keeping power of the Lord to get us through the trials we face now, so that we can overcome victoriously all the way to the end.