RAPTURE AT THE SECOND COMING #9:“JEWISH BELIEVERS, THE CHURCH, & THE TRIBULATION, Part 2”
In my previous post I pointed out some very important reasons why I believe that the 144,000 sealed servants of God in Revelation 7:2-8 are best understood, not as literal Israel, but as symbolic of the Church experiencing Tribulation (Rev 7:9-17). This post is a continuation of the subject covered in post #8, so if you haven’t already read that, please do so now before reading this one. Summarizing my reasons for believing that the 144,000 sealed sons of Israel symbolize the Church, I shared the following:
- The Book of Revelation, as apocalyptic literature, is filled with symbolism throughout — numbers, names, beasts, descriptions of Christ, angelic beings, and lots more.
- In Rev 5, John HEARD “Lion of the tribe of Judah”, but he SAW “a Lamb” as if it had been slain. In Rev 7, he HEARD “144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel.” But he SAW “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” The LION is also the LAMB. The “144,000 SEALED” are also the “GREAT MULTITUDE THAT NO ONE COULD NUMBER” from every tribe and nation.
- We saw a problem with interpreting literally that there would be 12,000 from “every tribe of the sons of Israel,” because not all twelve tribes are in the list; the tribe of Dan is omitted, and both Joseph and his son Manasseh are included. We also saw that the number 12 and multiples of 12 are used symbolically elsewhere in the book of Revelation.
- We saw that God accomplished what He had intended when He united the Jewish and Gentile believers together into one body in Christ (Ephesians 2:13-22 & 3:3-11). We concluded that it would be very unlikely that God would separate His servants into Jews and Gentiles again after uniting them in Christ.
Here are some additional reasons I believe that the 144,000 sealed servants of God are best understood, not as Jewish end-times believers, but as the one Body of Christ, the Church – both Jewish and Gentile believers — who have experienced the Tribulation together:
5. Let’s look more closely at what the Bible tells us in Rev 7 about the great multitude from every tribe and nation. We are told specifically in verses 14-17 that “these are THE ONES COMING OUT OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” These servants of Christ who come through the Tribulation will be sheltered in God’s presence after suffering greatly on earth. They won’t suffer hunger or thirst any longer, and “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” This is hardly a description of people who have been raptured before the Tribulation period! It makes a lot more sense to see that the “144,000 sealed servants of God” are symbolic of all Jesus followers who are sealed by God in preparation for enduring suffering, persecution, and martyrdom in the Tribulation period; however, they do not suffer God’s wrath, which is reserved for the wicked who reject Christ and hate God (see posts #6 & #7).
6. Identifying the 144,000 with all of God’s people (Jewish and Gentile believers together) is further reinforced when we see how Old Testament titles and callings on Israel are now used in the New Testament to describe the titles and callings of the Church. For example, Israel is called to be a light to the nations in Exodus 19:6, where God says, “YOU SHALL BE TO ME A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS AND A HOLY NATION.” The apostle Peter applies these titles and callings to the Church: “But YOU ARE A CHOSEN RACE, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). The Book of Revelation describes the seven churches similarly: John writes that Jesus by His blood has “made us a KINGDOM, PRIESTS to his God and Father” (Rev 1:5-6). In Rev 5:9-10, the four living creatures and the 24 elders worshiped Jesus the Lamb, singing “by your blood You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,and You have made them a KINGDOM and PRIESTS TO OUR GOD.”
(Some believe that this is a “replacement theology” that robs Israel of its identity as God’s chosen people. I don’t see it that way. God doesn’t replace Jewish believers with Gentile believers; God has graciously included Gentile believers with Jewish believers in His one Body, one People of God, the Church, comprised of both Jews and Gentiles in Christ together. I believe that God has some AMAZING plans ahead for His Jewish people as He prepares all the servants of God to impact our world and glorify His name. God also has His hand on the nation of Israel, and I know that His gifts and callings are irrevocable. I am not one who has any sympathy at all for those who mistakenly use the Gospel of Jesus Christ as an excuse to be anti-Semitic. I say to those who do that, WATCH OUT!)
7. Another reason that I believe it is the Church that goes into the Tribulation takes us back to the purpose of the Book of Revelation in the first place. The Holy Spirit inspires John to prepare the churches to “patiently endure” until the Coming of the Lord. In Rev 1:9 he writes: “I, John, YOUR BROTHER AND PARTNER IN THE TRIBULATION and the kingdom AND THE PATIENT ENDURANCE that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” In the letters to the seven churches, Jesus exhorts the churches repeatedly about patiently enduring: “I know you are ENDURING PATIENTLY” (church at Ephesus, Rev 2:3); to Smyrna, “I know YOUR TRIBULATION… BE FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH” (2:9); to Thyatira “I KNOW YOUR…PATIENT ENDURANCE” …”HOLD FAST what you have…” (2:19,25); to Philadelphia, “”You have kept my word about PATIENT ENDURANCE…HOLD FAST what you have” (3:10-11).
These are not exhortations that provide hope or expectation of a pre-Tribulation Rapture (PTR), but rather, exhortations to those experiencing hard times already, and who need to prepare to patiently endure even more difficult times ahead. This is confirmed in Rev 13:10, “Here is A CALL FOR THE ENDURANCE AND FAITH OF THE SAINTS” when the “beast” is making war against Jesus’ disciples; and again in Rev 14:12, “Here is A CALL FOR THE ENDURANCE OF THE SAINTS, THOSE WHO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD AND THEIR FAITH IN JESUS,” when Jesus’ disciples are called to endure in faithfulness to Christ, whatever the cost, rather than yielding to the extreme pressures to get the mark of the beast. In light of all the EXPLICIT passages of Scripture we have examined in this entire series, including the ones cited in post #8 and this post, one thing becomes clear: The “saints,” and the “elect,” and those who have “their faith in Jesus” cited here in the Book of Revelation refer to the Church in the Tribulation. To infer that these are Jewish believers who are in the Tribulation after the Church has been raptured just doesn’t hold water; it is speculation.
8. (Hang in there! Just one more and we’re done! 😊) Many of my PTR friends say that Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 24 about the Tribulation, the Rapture, and the Second Coming were spoken to Jewish disciples and are relevant only to end times Jews who are converted after the Rapture. Reasoning that the Church wasn’t started until after the Resurrection at Pentecost, they say that those teachings about the end times don’t apply to the Church, because the Church will be raptured prior to the Tribulation period. WHAT!?! The only way you can deduce that is to ASSUME that PTR is true, and then impose it on every passage of Scripture that seems to say otherwise. As we have seen, there is not a single Scripture that explicitly teaches a PTR, so there is no way to legitimately infer it or impose it anywhere.
This argument is refuted also by the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. Jesus commanded His followers: “Go therefore and MAKE DISCIPLES of ALL NATIONS, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THAT I HAVE COMMANDED YOU.” Jesus commanded that all future disciples of all the nations must learn to understand and obey ALL that He taught. He taught that ALL His followers, not just 144,000 end-times Jews, should be faithful through tribulation and ready for His coming, prepared to endure to the end. He didn’t say, “Teach them to observe everything EXCEPT the end times stuff.” He said “teach them ALL I have commanded you.”
NEXT POST, #10: Could it possibly be the final post in this series? Probably, but not sure yet… God bless you!