Biblical Forensics©

“Deliverance before Judgment”

Part 5

Part 4 offers the believer in Jesus Christ great hope that our belief is not in vain, particularly concerning the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Hopefully what was shared in Part 4 will aid in the understanding about why so many struggle with the teaching simply because the word “Rapture” is not mentioned in Scripture. Still, we can be confident that “Deliverance comes before Judgment”. Followers of Jesus Christ have no need whatsoever to fear the Great Tribulation. As noted, critics argue that we will go through part or all of the Great Tribulation.

The “Blessed Hope” for the church is under attack from many sides, and this is easy to explain. We are living at a time when the spirit of this age wants to destroy our Christian faith. Lucifer hates the Pre-Tribulation doctrine. Why? Because it heightens a sense of urgency for this time period in which we see undeniable evidence of all the signs spoken of in Scripture pertaining to the last days. It is crystal clear that these signs are progressing and increasing worldwide as fulfillment occurs around the world. All of these magnify our need to remain standing and vigilant. They remind us to prepare, to don the full suit of armor spoken of by the Apostle Paul, to diligently persist, to be about working out our salvation. They increase our awareness of the nearness of Jesus’ Second Coming.

An analogy for the Pre-Tribulation Rapture reminds me about what occurs when two countries go to war. Few folks today recall the events that took place on December 7, 1941. President Roosevelt called Congress into session to make a formal declaration of war against Japan and the Axis powers of Germany and Italy. Before the President unleashed the full wrath of the American war machine on those nations, he first took measures to recall the U.S. ambassadors home from Japan, Germany, and Italy. This action was a strategic move revealing the President’s concern for the well-being and safety of those Americans serving in the diplomatic corps.

Before unleashing the wrath of America’s military might in a declared state of war, it is customary protocol to withdraw American civilians from harm’s way first. The wrath of America was reserved for her enemies. It was not directed toward her own people. In the same identical way, before God declares war on this godless world at the Tribulation and unleashes His unmitigated wrath, God will also call His Ambassadors home. It is similar to what Paul states, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God" -(2^nd Corinthians 5:20).

God’s wrath is not for the citizens of His heavenly kingdom (the Bride or Church – made up of both Jew and Gentile). During the Berlin crisis in the 1950’s, I was serving a three-year enlistment (deployment) in West Germany with a nuclear artillery battalion. Our mission as part of the 7^th Army command was to hold the West German border. We were tasked with the mission of holding the Fulda Gap (a geographical area through which the Russian’s armored forces invaded Germany) for 72-hours in order to insure that all civilian personnel, military dependents, and their children were evacuated to the safety of the UK or stateside. This experience was unnerving, to say the least. The troops all kept what were known as “short-timer’s” calendars. We anxiously counted off the days until we received a port-call for our departure date. Relief was not fully realized until we touched down at McGuire Air Force Base at nearby Fort Dix, NJ. Until then, we remained on high alert and at the ready!

While tribulation abounds worldwide, this analogy serves as a poignant reminder for us as we anxiously await the Rapture. Hilton Sutton once said, “When the bombs are descending, the saints will be ascending.” I have no doubt that the tension over world events will increase in frequency and become progressively worse throughout the remainder of this year. But our “short-timer” calendar is marked for departure. We are going home in Pre-Tribulation Rapture style! My friend, that is our “Blessed Hope” – Don’t doubt for one moment that the Bride (Church) is going to go through any portion or all of the Great Tribulation.

Keep in mind that Lucifer wants to sow seeds of doubt in the minds of those who have found faith in Christ. As a result, believers find themselves under constant spiritual warfare because the adversary is a sore loser. He wants to retrieve his former followers. How does he do this exactly? What is his strategy? Old temptations or vices are flashed in the minds or the hearts, or the environment of those who have dealt with addiction of one kind or another. Those once addicted are always at risk of falling off the wagon so to speak. Satan seeks to find the weakest point in an attempt to break our shield of faith -(Ephesians 6:16). Then he can lay a guilt trip on a believer making them think they are unworthy of God's grace, etc. This makes them prime game and they end up falling prey to Lucifer's schemes.

This is a war of supernatural proportions. The message of salvation and redemption is extended to all who are willing to place their trust in Jesus Christ. The Pre-Tribulation Rapture is part of that message. But, that does not keep Lucifer from using those around us to sow seeds of doubt in the minds of believers. If Lucifer can weaken your faith by sowing seeds of doubt, he has already begun to eat your lunch and kill your joy. Remember the crafty implication of his words when he spoke in the Garden to Eve, “Yea, hath God said?”

The KJV text implies a subtle, sinister question about God’s motive. The serpent's temptation began with a question. Satan still begins that way. "Yea" he says, (as if to say indeed, really?); he slyly intimates surprise and astonishment. His question attempts to imply that the love of God is flawed in some way. He cunningly suggests, "How could God keep any good thing from you if He loves you?” He wants to draw attention away from all the good things they could have and instead focus attention on the one thing they could not have. Satan still does this today. He has not changed his basic methods, and we need to learn from this. If you read the text, God even went so far as to tell them not to touch the tree.

The serpent did not have to force the woman to take the forbidden fruit. Once she gave her attention to it and spent some time contemplating it, the fruit began to look so good to her that she found herself drawn to it like a magnet. This is where the New Testament identifies the lust of the flesh. It is an out of balance craving sinful persons have for physical benefit and pleasure. This appearance of being pleasant to the eyes, leads to the lust of the eyes that focuses on visual attraction despite its destructive results, and the desire to make one wise, the third aspect being the pride of life. -(1 John 2:16).

But this event did not make them like God at all. Their eyes were opened. Instead it filled them with guilt and shame and they became painfully conscious of the fact that they were naked! This then led to the "blame game"!

We haven’t seen such an attack on the doctrine of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, since Hal Lindsey’s book, ‘The Late Great Planet Earth’. Some years back, I was a member of the original team that put the King James Bible onto computer tape in 1963-1964. It was because of that experience that I became a student of the Bible and have been for 54 years. With the invention of high-speed IBM computers, we were able to achieve something that previously took weeks and months of time to accomplish. Back then, the University of Pittsburgh’s computing center housed an IBM-showcase of 7070/7090/360/1410/1401 computer systems. We could perform search functions in minutes on computer when something like a comprehensive search once required weeks of manual labor pouring over volumes of books before answers were attainable. I came to faith and salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ as a result of that providential event and because I was part of such a fortuitious event, it led to a career change. In just a matter of a few months, I shifted my focus to ministry and enrolled full time at Waynesburg College. Shortly thereafter, I became a student pastor of three small rural Methodist churches. It was a remarkable landmark date in my journey of faith.

Shortly thereafter I was to witness firsthand another significant event. Following the Six-Day War of 1967, the Grand Orient Lodge of Freemasonry had placed an order for 60,000 tons of Bedford, Indiana limestone blocks for the future Third Temple in Israel. It was the subject of an article in the August, 1967 issue of ‘Christianity Today’, the flagship publication of Rev. Billy Graham. By late summer of 1969, my three-year-old son and I often found ourselves parked near the west end of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Pitcairn Yard to watch the trains coming and going. On Friday and Saturday mornings, we witnessed gondola cars displaying signs on the sides of each car bearing the words: “Destination: Kearney, NJ, for Export to Israel”. The open-top gondolas carried from two to six limestone blocks, each spray painted with neon orange letter/number combinations. The significance of this fact affirms that they were cut to predesigned architect’s plans. Those stones are now, without a doubt, not far from the Temple Mount today. However, no one contemplated that Israel would try to secure peace and transfer custodial care to the Jordanian government.

I’ve been a student of Bible prophecy since June 8, 1967, following the Israeli 6-Day War. That date was another benchmark for me in my walk of faith and study of the Word of God. June 7, 1967 is the definitive date of Israel’s control over the national capital of Israel and Jerusalem. Historically, it marked interest in the Biblical theme of Jubilee cycles. It offers the greatest living proof revealing that God has not abandoned Israel or the Jewish people.

None of the four academic institutions where I received my academic degrees taught Bible prophecy to their students. In fact, students were admonished not to even talk about Bible prophecy. The absence from their curriculum of such an important topic forced me to go outside my denomination, the United Methodist Church, to discover this evidence found in God’s Word. The failure of mainstream denominations to teach or offer courses on Bible prophecy is both tragic and sad. We live at the end of the end days. Few pastors are competent enough today to teach on Bible prophecy, or answer the questions their congregation has with regards to them.

As noted in an earlier segment, the term for “Rapture” is found in the Old Testament and is shown by the use of the Hebrew word “Natzal” along with its many derivatives numbering around 620X times. The Greek word “Harpazo”, which means to “take by force” is found in the New Testament. The Hebrew word for “Natsal” shown here has almost the same meaning: to “deliver by force”.

ויצל

In a coming segment, I will cover in more detail the use of the Greek word “Harpazo” and how it is used in the New Testament to describe the expression to “deliver or take by force”. Before moving to that portion of this study, we need to look at a number of Biblical passages which speak to God’s pattern of “Deliverance before Judgment”. I tried carefully not to make a mistake in my typing here. In some instances, the theme is masked as such but the Biblical text validates the subtle facts.

The following passages of the Bible are “Deliverance” passages

This list is far from complete. All told, one will find at least 110 specific passages that allude to the concept or theme of “Deliverance before Judgement”. I maintain an extensive Biblical library to support my work on Bible/Biblical Forensics©.

When the Israelites were taken into captivity, they were devastated by the loss of the three most important things to the Jewish nation:

• Their Land

• Their Temple

• Their Torah

In my lifetime, I have watched what was once taken from the Israelites in national judgment is being returned in our day. The land flourishes, and what was once thought to be arid desert now blooms with the beauty of God’s panoply of nature’s blooming. Its natural resources have brought discoveries of massive deposits of oil, and natural gas, both offshore as well as deposits in the Golan and elsewhere.

• 1947-1948 return to their Land

• 1967 return of Jerusalem

• 2017 perhaps a return of their Temple.

All of this is indicative of God's promised restoration for the nation of Israel. After the Great Tribulation, a remnant of the twelve tribes of Israel will again prosper and grow, becoming as the grains of sand in the sea. -(Genesis 22:17)

Pastor Bob