In my last post I showed how the church has gone the same route as did Israel is creating disunity within its ranks and structure. Because of this disunity, and because of the increased persecution of Christians around the world, some look forward to the Rapture as a means of rescue. Yet, it may be that God is setting us up for something more foundational: unity with him.

There are two ideas that are currently prominent about what event should occur next according to biblical thinking. One is a Revival of Unity. This makes sense as Christ came to make unity of Israel’s disunity and the unity between himself and us. Now, Christ will make unity of the church before he receives her as his bride. Paul stated that he wanted to present Christ’s church to him in unity in the faith (Ep 4:13) and as a bride without blemish (Ep 2:27). There are things mentioned in Daniel chapter 7, Joel chapters 1 and 2, Habakkuk 2;14, Matthew 24:14, and other places that speak of things happening where things will look and become extremely bleak and almost hopeless, then the Lord steps in suddenly, power is given to his followers, and restoration of many things occur with one of these being unity between God and his church. This allows a revival, a harvest of souls, before Christ finally comes for his own, because these verses state than after these things occur, “then the end will come.”

The other event is the Rapture which we find in 1st Thessalonians 4 and in 1st Corinthians 15. This is a snatching away of those who believe in Jesus Christ so that he can then deal with Israel as a nation and deal with those who have chosen to reject him.

Both events are in Scripture. We should pray for revival and at the same time prepare for his coming. We should never put God in a box and assume he will work a certain way but be prepared to operate in the direction he leads. The order of Revival of Unity and then the Rapture makes sense as it will make a stark contrast between the outcomes before and after this event so people will know the Lord was involved in the disappearance of so man people. Also, this will allow the different beliefs in the Rapture Event to coalesce into one.

There are four different views of the timing of the Rapture: (1) before the Tribulation Period where believers are saved from God’s wrath which has been termed the seven-year Tribulation Period. What defines the timing of God’s wrath is what defines the other views regarding the timing of the Rapture; (2) mid-way during the Tribulation Period, as some believe the second half of the Tribulation Period, termed the Great Tribulation , is God’s Wrath because it is more severe than the first half of this time period; (3) three-quarters during the Tribulation Period, as some believe that the Tribulation is broken up into Man’s wrath, Satan’s Wrath, and God’s Wrath, and only the very last part is considered to be God’s Wrath from which believers will be protected, and (4) no Rapture Event at all. It is possible for these views to collapse into one.

Now if we look at the Time of the Gentiles, that is, the Church Era, it can be divided into four sections:

(1) The Early Church. This was when the Holy Spirit was first given and was allowed to work miraculously causing many to accept Christ as their Savior and they could then replicate what they had seen, heard, and experienced.

(2) The Decline of the Church. Unfortunately, this started not too long after the expansion of the Church throughout the Roman Empire. Greek, Hellenistic, and Gnostic thought processes began to infiltrate biblical interpretation and Church structure. The Church became hierarchical in structure which created an environment for those at the top of this hierarchy to crave power more than Christ. This inhibited the working of the Holy Spirit because those in influential seats of power were not allowing the Holy Spirit to lead them. Anyone who spoke out against them and their hypocrisy revealing that individuals had the power of the Holy Spirit to bring others to Christ rather than relying on the Church organization itself to achieve such a feat were suppressed by those in power, their validity attacked and made out to be heretics, and Church officials had many of these individuals put to death. Therefore, the gifts of the Holy Spirit became suppressed without people now seeking them or even knowing about them.

(3) The Reformation of the Church. This was a reawakening of the Church to many aspects of the Early Church but still with many weights and flaws of the previous hundreds of years by misguided leaders. Satan was quick to jump on this bandwagon to cause doctrinal disputes which split the church into an ever-increasing number of factions. With no one willing to listen to those trying to counter their waywardness and being unwilling to listen to correction or warning, it created more and more factions until, today, there are hundreds of various denominations which cannot get along and which bicker with each other rather than seeing how to unite under Christ.

(4) The Revival of Unity. This is a true reawakening of the Church to the Early Church beliefs and practices. Some call this the Kingdom Age, but I believe it is not so much a new thing, but a returning to something the Church once was. It is believed we will see the Holy Spirit being outpoured in significant ways that will likely jar many as we may again see signs and wonders by the Holy Spirit as a true testament to his power. As in the Early Church, this will lead many to put their faith in Jesus Christ. I can’t say with certainty this is true, but we should not limit what God can, and will, do. What he has done in the past, he can certainly do again. We live in unprecedented times, and I’m sure God will work in unprecedented ways.

The Jewish leaders during the time of Christ had to come to grips with things not going as they believed. We must do the same. By adding in this fourth part of Church history, it becomes obvious as to when God’s Wrath will start, so the three Rapture believes coalesce into one timing of the Rapture. Of course, those who do not believe in a Rapture at all would see this fourth part of Church history to move directly into Christ’s second coming. But there is still much prophecy in both the Old and New Testaments that must be fulfilled between the Rapture and Christ’s second coming.

If all of this is true, and it does seem to be supported by Scripture, how are we supposed to prepare for these events? Stay with me, and we’ll discuss this next time.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

The idea of the coming Kingdom Age is not absent from the Bible. The coming outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our time, which some are calling the Kingdom Age, will bring in an unprecedented harvest of souls for the Lord. This was revealed to Daniel (Dn 7:27) and Jesus also spoke of this as well (Mt 24:14). We know he was not talking about the end of time because Jesus then goes on to talk about what will occur after this which we have labeled the Tribulation Period (Mt 24:15-22). Jesus also told his disciples he was conferring a kingdom to them just as God the Father had conferred a kingdom to him (Lk 22:29).

This is likely the kingdom to which both John the Baptist and Jesus himself were speaking of when he first started his ministry. Reason? The Holy Spirit had not yet been given so he asked his disciples to pray for it to come because the Holy Spirit would be able to do more than he himself could do because the Holy Spirit could work within everyone at the same time (Jn 14:12).

Why would there be a coming Kingdom Age and how have so many people missed it? The former is probably easier to explain than the latter. As previously said, both the Church as well as Israel did not fulfill their original calling. This coming Kingdom Age, highlighted by one of the most unprecedented Holy Spirit outpourings in history, is the graciousness of the Lord to allow the Church to fulfill its original mandate: preach the gospel to the whole world (Mt 28:19-20) and to become a united, unblemished, bride for Jesus Christ (Ep 4:13; 5:27).

I see the Church Age divided into four steps:

1.      Early Church: This was when the Holy Spirit was first given and was allowed to work miraculously to reach many who accepted Christ as their Savior and could then go and duplicate what they had seen, heard, and had been given.

2.      Church Decline: Unfortunately, this started not too long after the expansion of the Church throughout the Roman Empire. Greek and Hellenistic thought processes began to infiltrate Biblical interpretation and the Church becoming hierarchical in structure inhibited the working of the Holy Spirit because those in influential seats of power were often not led by the Holy Spirit. Apostles and prophets were suppressed because they showed that individuals had the power of the Holy Spirit to bring others to Christ rather than relying on the Church organization itself to achieve such a feat, and the prophets would preach and reprimand those in clerical power positions which those in power would not want to occur and so would suppress the validity of such individuals.

3.      Church Reformation: This was a reawakening of the Church to many aspects of the Early Church but still with many weights and flaws of the previous hundreds of years by misguided leaders. Satan was quick to jump on this bandwagon to cause doctrinal disputes which split the church into an ever-increasing number of factions. With no belief in prophets to counter the waywardness, it seemed to create more and more factions until, today, there are hundreds of various denominations which cannot get along and which bicker with each other rather than seeing how to unite within Christ.

4.      Kingdom Age: This is a true reawakening of the Church to the Early Church beliefs and practices. So, it is not so much a new thing, but returning to something the Church once was. We will see the Holy Spirit being outpoured in significant ways that will likely jar many who are stuck in church tradition and rites. We will again see many signs and wonders with many being miraculously healed from all sorts of diseases and maladies by the Holy Spirit as a true testament to his power. As in the Early Church, this will lead many to put their faith in Jesus Christ.

This seems to be when the Church will shine for the Holy Spirit will enable believers to impact others with their lives and many will fall under the conviction of the Holy Spirit leading to a tremendous reaping of souls for the Lord. It is unclear how long this time will last, but it seems to come on the heels of much persecution but ends with a time of great glory. Therefore, the rapture event for the Church does not come to rescue believers but to take them out of the world at the peak of their performance so it can have an even greater impact on those who remain.

Doesn’t that sound wonderful? We, the church, as the bride of Christ will be received by Christ in our glory and not our humiliation. What a great God we serve!

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens