AS WE ARE DRAWING SO CLOSE TO HIS COMING, I FEEL LEAD TO SHARE AGAIN TO ENCOURAGE THE SAINTS TO LIVE CLOSE TO OUR REDEEMER AND ANTICIPATE HIS SHOUT ANY DAY NOW!

WHEN WILL THE BORN-AGAIN BELIEVERS BE CAUGHT UP? PT 8 -

TOTAL LACK OF EVIDENCE TO PROVE THE BORN-AGAIN BELIEVERS (CHURCH) IS ON EARTH DURING THE TRIBULATION

Many are emphatic that Born-Again Believers (the Church) will go through the Tribulation because the book of Revelation speaks of saints on the earth during the 7 years. A Post-tribulation-ist says, “that proves the church is in the Tribulation.”

But it doesn’t! We affirm that there are saints on earth during the seven years, but we emphatically deny that they are members of the congregation (church). They are, in fact, a body called Tribulation Saints - people who will come to Yahshua Messiah (Christ) and be saved in the first half of the Tribulation. (Revelation 16:9 11 suggests that no-one repents in the second half.)

Post-tribulationists often reject the teaching that Israel, the church, and the Tribulation saints are different bodies. They claim, like A-millennialists, that the church is “spiritual Israel.” But we reply, “NO! Spiritual Israel is the believing part of the nation of Israel.”

It is true that we believers are called the children of Abraham. We are his seed by faith, not by physical descent - unless we are Hebrews. Remember, even Abraham was not a part of “spiritual Israel!” He died even before Israel was established.

The church is part of the Household of YAHWEH Elohim (God), even as spiritual Israel is, but that does not make us Israelites. (My brother and I belong to one household, but that does not mean that my brother and I are one body, does it?)

Some who maintain that the church is not a new body, but is a continuation of the spiritual Israel, like to cite “the church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38). But this is a shallow argument. The word ‘church’ (ekklesia in Greek) simply means ‘assembly.’

There was indeed an “assembly in the wilderness,” but there's no way it can be called “the church, the Bride of the Lamb.” Messiah’s church was still future. In Matthew 16:18, Yahshua said, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against her. [Hebraic Roots Bible, Literal Translation]

Upon this rock I will build My assembly (congregation/church).” This new Body was begun at Pentecost.

Ephesians 2:12-16 shows that the congregation/church is a new body - a body composed of both Jews and Gentiles. It was previously a mystery, but it is now revealed - a new body, a Bride, a special companion for the Son of Elohim (God); a mystical body composed of believers from Pentecost to the Rapture; a people with a heavenly calling, who belong to a heavenly city - the New Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) - in the Father’s House.

Jewish believers from this present age share that heavenly calling with us. But Israel, as a nation, is one with an earthly inheritance - a kingdom that is to come in the renewed world. Israel is destined to be a blessing in the midst of the earth. Isaiah 19:24

The Bride of Messiah (Christ) shares in the Millennial reign, of course, but not as a nation on earth. Her place is in the palace of the King; it is the New Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) that comes down out of heaven and is positioned above the earth. Revelation 21:2,24

Some people ask, “How can people be saved if the church is taken away?”

It is YAHWEH Elohim (God) who saves, not the church! He will pour out His Spirit (Joel 2:27-32). He will also send two witnesses to prophesy in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) (Rev. 11:3-12). He will raise up and seal 144,000 Messianic Jews in that period. (Rev. 7:3-8). They will be Spirit-filled evangelists like the apostles. There will also be millions of Bibles available after the Bride has been caught up. For a short time, before the Bible-burning begins, the Scriptures will fall into the hands of those Left Behind, and people who are anxious to know what has happened, will read them, and many will believe, and be saved.

NEXT. . .The Congregation ~ Church is in Heaven during the Tribulation