While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 1 Thessalonians 5:3
Many Dispensations: Beginning with the (Don’t Eat of this One Tree) Simple Covenant in Eden with Adam, until lastly the Covenant of Grace – Being Born Again by Jesus Shed Blood at the Cross and His Resurrection – Resulting in Christ in us, our Hope of Glory.
I have noticed that many do not take into account the several Dispensations and/or Covenants that God has instituted between Himself and man, throughout human kinds existence.
Beginning with the (Don’t Eat from the – Tree of Life or Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil) Simple Covenant in Eden with Adam; and including the Covenant with Abraham, the Covenant of the 10 Commandments through Moses, and lastly the Covenant of Grace. By recognizing Christ Jesus as Lord and receiving His Salvation. Becoming Born Again by recognizing Christ Jesus Work on the Cross – His Shed Blood, Death, Burial and Resurrection… EVERYTHING CHANGED AT THE CROSS!!!
By receiving His Salvation by Grace, by that same Resurrection Power of The Holy Spirit that Raised Christ Jesus from the dead, we can become Born Again by The Holy Spirit in our Eternal spirits – Resulting in Christ in us, our Hope of Glory – These flesh bodies our spirits now inhabit will pass away, but we will be Given “New Bodies” just like Christ Jesus Resurrection Body… Romans 8:23; Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the Redemption of our bodies.
This last Covenant or Dispensation of Salvation by Grace was Given directly to Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles in Arabia by Christ Jesus Himself. Given directly by the Risen and Now Glorified Lord – Christ Jesus Himself – Hallelujah!!!
Romans 16:25; Now to Him who is able to Strengthen you by My Gospel and by the Proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the Revelation of the Mystery Concealed for Ages Past,
It is/was a completely New Understanding of how we can relate to God and He to us. Kept secret up to that point. A Mystery even to Peter and the Eleven Disciples. They had been thinking that The Kingdom would be Ushered in during their lifetimes, until God Opened Peters eyes in a Vision recorded in Acts 10, before his meeting with Cornelius the Roman. Sometime after that the Eleven began to accept Paul’s Teaching, but it was still hard for them to fully Understand.
2 Peter 3:16; As also in all his (Paul’s) epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be Understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own Destruction.
By not breaking things down this way into the Dispensations/Covenants of God with man, the Bible becomes indecipherable. It’s like putting it all into a blender, and then picking and choosing verses to suit whatever argument that one may choose to convey. We have to learn how to Rightly Divide The Word as the Apostle Paul instructs Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15-16; 15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, Rightly Dividing The Word of Truth. 16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
So of course we don’t discard everything in Scripture before the Cross, but rather look at it as a Build-Up to the Final Revelation of Salvation, where God actually took on flesh, Shed His Divine Blood on the Cross to Purchase our Redemption, and then Experienced actual physical death, so as to Defeat death (our enemy) by the Power of His Resurrection.
The Apostle Paul shares with Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:14-17; 14 But as for you, continue in the things you have learned and firmly believed, since you know from whom you have learned them. 15 From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-Breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.
Looking at things this way, through a Dispensational Lens has Cleared a Lot of things up for me.
Particularly relative to Grace by Faith alone, for our Justification. Of course if one is Truly Born Again you would expect to also see evidence of same. I queried The Lord in my spirit for quite a while on this, and particularly also on current Christianity’s perspective on The Rapture, and this is what He gave me:
Much of what Jesus taught was before the Cross, when the Law of Moses was the present day Covenant, and the only Covenant in which God had in effect at that time. Jesus had to abide and operate within that Covenant. Of course until Pentecost, when The Holy Spirit was given, no one could have possibly understood anything beyond the Cross anyway. That’s how God works. Only Revealing what He has Willed at certain times.
As for The Rapture; if you look over my short Blog entries, you may notice that my conclusion is that it will be a Pre-Wrath Rapture. As in the Wrath of The Lamb, which begins at the 6th Seal as stated in Revelation 6:17.>>>This will be Soon, due to the Close proximity of “The Destroyer”. Of course this would make it also a Mid-Trib Rapture, but not necessarily in the Middle of same.<<<
I believe that many are confusing the Day of The Lord and The Day of Christ.
These both may coincide, with The Day of Christ / The Rapture immediately preceding The Day of The Lord / His Wrath.
Try what I have suggested; putting things into different perspective via the Dispensational lens, and see if this doesn’t change your viewpoint. My Main Concern has been from the start (10+) years ago, when I saw that the Nemesis/Nibiru System was soon coming, that Christians Wake-Up and not miss The Rapture.As in the Parable of the Ten Virgins of Matthew 25:1-13. They were all Believers signified by their Virginity, but only (5) were ready when The Bridegroom came for them. Those who were Left Behind had lost focus on The Bridegroom.When He came they had no Oil, which as you may know, is a metaphor for the Holy Spirit.
Do You Want to Understand The Bible? – Watch This Man – A Layman Instructed By The Holy Spirit… w/o any Taint from Theological Seminaries
THE DAY OF THE LORD 