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4-25-2021 weekly message

Meditation of the week: Psalm 91:1-16

Text: John 5:24-25

Title of the Word: Resurrection of Christian body (Rapture) written in the Bible, and the times and the seasons

       Christians who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive eternal life is born again of his dead spirit by the Holy Spirit, and the living soul that was cleaved to the dead body will no longer go to hell but go to heaven.

       Man was formed in the image of God, but by sinning, the body was getting old unto death. and the spirit died without the breath of life of God, and could no longer communicate with God of Spirit.

       Understanding this, King David found  that his living soul was cleaved unto his dead body due to sin, and that unless his soul is separated from his dusty body to receive life, he will face eternal death in hell with his body forever. He prayed to God saying:

 ” My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.” (Psalm 119:25)

         When Apostle Paul wrote to the Saints in Colossae, he testified of the salvation of the soul to be separated from the mortal body through the circumcision of Christ:

” In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:.” (Col. 2:11)

         Apostle Peter also testified of the salvation that Christians receives by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ saying, ” Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:9).

          God sent his only begotten Son into the world to die to take away the sin of the world, and to be buried, and to be

 risen again on the third day to save the souls of those who believe in Him from sin to breathe the Spirit that is the breath of  life of God. God restores the image of God by allowing the dead spirit to be resurrected and the dead body of sin to be put on a new body that is immortal and incorruptible.

        Although the spirit is regenerated by the Holy Spirit and the soul receives eternal life, but the body still dies due to the sin in the DNA and is corrupted  in the grave. he first stage of salvation of Christian is salvation from sin. However, since the body of sin still has to live on the earth until the moment of physical death:  the second stage of salvation is salvation from the power of sins through the words of God and the Holy Spirit: the final stage of salvation is total separation from sins in the world in the day of Christ (rapture) through putting on immortal and incorruptible body. In other word, the final stage of salvation is to leave the sinful world..

        Jesus said that one day when he come again, the body of those who hear his voice shall be resurrected. He spoke of what will happen on the day of  rapture:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. ” (John 5:25)

        When Apostle Paul testified of the resurrection of the body of Christian in the future, he referred to it as “the redemption of the body”:

” For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

…… In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

14Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” (Romans 8:22-23, Ephesians 1:13-14).

         That’s right! Christian who has been forgiven of sins through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and  his spirit has been regenerated and his soul is saved, is living in the hope of seeing the day when Christ’s coming to  be transforming  into a glorious immortal and incorruptible body. It is the day when the body Christian is to be resurrected when Christ comes, whether  they are  in the grave or living still living. It is the day when God completes the salvation planned for six thousand years through his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and is the day of glory when restoring sinners who lost the image of God due to the devil into the image of God.

          For this reason Apostle Paul testified of it as a “mystery” of what is happening in that day, and eagerly testified that this mystery must to be known:

“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:51:53).

          Apostle Paul testified that  Jesus Christ will bring the spirits and souls of saints  who died in Christ on the day of the Rapture.  He wrote to the members of the Thessalonica church eagerly waiting for the day of  Christ for the resurrection of the body. He testified that Christ is going to have their spirit and souls to be united with their bodies:

” For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.…. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1Thess. 4:14, 16,17))

         The Bible tells us when the day of the rapture come of the times and the seasons even though no day or hour. Will it be before the great tribulation? Or will it be in the midst of the great tribulation? Or will it be at the end of the great tribulation? There are people who argue for the time of rapture. Of course, the Bible testifies that there are some people who rapture in the great tribulation or thereafter. The 144,000 Jews and  two witnesses  rapture during the Tribulation as well as those who are martyred by being beheaded  rapture in the end of  the Great Tribulation.

        But what we need to know for sure is that  Christian who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in the age of grace and born again by the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with the Great Tribulation. Holy Ghost prophesied about the Great Tribulation through the prophets Jeremiah and Daniel. Prophet Jeremiah spoke of these days as “Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7). This the final period of opportunity for the Jews to be saved in the last week that is seven years of the seventy weeks foretold by prophet Daniel(Dan 9:24-27). Therefore, the Great Tribulation period is the days when the unsaved Jews and Gentiles are given the last chance to be saved in the midst of suffering. The Bible says that these days are called the last days (Hebrews 1:1-2).

          I see many people misunderstand the “Saints” that appear during the Great Tribulation as New Testament saints that are Christians. But they are  the Jewish saints. During the Great Tribulation period, the church of God has already raptured and moved to heaven, so the word of  church does not appear anywhere. In Revelation 1-3 there is the record of the church age. However, as we enter Chapter 4, we can see from the witness of Apostle John that there will be rapture after the end of the church age:

“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

2And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

3And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald..” (Rev 4:1-3)

         Until now, we have learned from the Bible that what happens in the day of the rapture is the day when the Christian body is resurrected. Then we need to know how the Bible says when this day will come. Even if we don’t know the day and the hour, but we are talking about the times and the seasons. Through  Apostle Paul, the Holy Spirit informed the members of Thessalonica church that they are eagerly awaiting this day in the midst of persecution:

” Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

……. And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

7For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, 6-7).

     Apostasy is already almost completely over. There is no more apostasy as most of the churches have forsaken the only Savior and Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, and they have fallen apart  being united with Roman Catholics to be united with the WCC, WEA, NCCK, and even all other religions. Also, now that all the preparations for the third temple to be built are ready.  There is someone withholding it as you may know who he is, but sooner or later, if he is removed, the Antichrist will appear, and at the same time the day of the rapture will appear before us. This day will be a glorious day to redeem our bodies. Amen! Hallelujah!