For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
When will the Revelation times (also known as the tribulation) begin? We do not know. No one knows except God. The starting point will be a dramatic, fantastic, troubling, and great day.
The Rapture of the Church – coming soon!!!
All who believe in Jesus as their savior will be called up to meet Jesus in the clouds.
1 Thess 4:13-18
13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
1 Corinthians 15: 51-52
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
Twinkling of an eye. Changed. It does not matter how people died, were buried, cremated, killed in war, fires, explosions, or were buried at sea. No matter. You will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. We who remain will be transformed into our heavenly bodies and meet Jesus in the sky.
This will be a great and violent day. Millions of people are gone. Instantly. The world may already be going through a significant event of weather, earthquakes, war, and losing millions may not be the top story.
What is keeping the Rapture and Revelation events on hold?
2 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
The rapture is the key to starting Revelation events.
5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed,
The power of the Biblical Church all across the world will be raptured up to meet Christ. The power of the Church, full of the Holy Spirit, keeps lawlessness at bay in our world. The prayers, church services, missions, and powerful preaching are keeping lawlessness in check. But when the church is taken away (raptured), the power of holiness is gone, and lawlessness will take over. This is when the Revelation time (tribulation) will begin.
Lawlessness and rebellion will increase, and the lawless one who will become a leader in the Revelation times will be revealed. This disappearance of millions will cause much confusion, and this lawless man will be ready to come to power during this confusion. This man will become the Antichrist. We will learn more about the Antichrist in a few weeks.
Are you ready to meet Jesus?
Do you have Him in your heart? You can pray right now and ask Jesus to come into your heart and you commit to follow Him. Attend a church that preaches the Bible and believes in prayer and repentance. Then you will be ready for the great day when the trumpet sounds!
Revelation Study
I plan to teach one of the letters to a church, then move on to reading about the tribulation times. The following lesson will then return to the following letter to a church, and so on.
Revelation is all about Jesus. Many people will be saved during the tribulation, but it will be much more difficult. There will be a lot of judgment from God and deception from Satan.
Light-N-side 