“Before the Storm Breaks!”
(1 Thessalonians 4:16–18) declares; “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:
17 Then 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. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (John 14:1–3) says; “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
Jesus didn’t promise wrath for those that are Christ; He promised rescue! He’s not sending a storm before He saves the ship! The Bridegroom doesn’t beat the bride before the wedding! (Titus 2:13) describes this amazing event as the “Blessed Hope” not the blasted hope! We’re not waiting for the Antichrist; we’re waiting for Jesus Christ!
The purpose of the rapture is to remove the Church before judgment falls on the world, according to
(1 Thessalonians 1:10; 5:9) which clearly states; “God hath not appointed us to wrath.” ...The wrath of God begins in the (Revelation 6) judgments. But in (Revelation 4:1), John; a type of the Church is caught up: “Come up hither!” The trumpet in (Revelation 4:1) is a calling up, not a judgment blast!
God has a divine habit: Before judgment; comes rescue! as in the following Examples: (Genesis 5–7); Enoch was taken before the flood came. (Genesis 19:22); Lot was removed before Sodom burned; (Exodus 12); Israel was covered by the blood before death struck Egypt. God doesn’t change — His nature is mercy before judgment!
In (Daniel 9:24–27); The “Seventy Weeks” are for Israel, not the Church. The Church is a mystery revealed in the New Testament, according to (Ephesians 3:3–6)... When the Church age closes with the Rapture, God resumes His prophetic timetable with Israel, which is the Great Tribulation period. The Church goes up before God’s stopwatch for Israel starts ticking again!
(2 Thessalonians 2:6–8) says; “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:”
The Holy Spirit indwelling the Church is what restrains the rise of the Antichrist! When the Church is caught up, the restraint is removed, and the lawless one is revealed. That’s proof the Rapture happens before the Tribulation begins. Oh; Glory to God, Church!
(1 Thessalonians 4:18) says; “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” ... Listen, y'all; if believers had to go through the Tribulation, this would be no comfort at all; it’d be a warning!
But Paul says, “Comfort one another.” Why? Because the King is coming for us, not against us!
(Matthew 24:42) says; “Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”; (Luke 21:36) says; "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”... The trumpet could sound at any moment! Don’t be caught sleeping when you should be soaring! Glory to God!