Can you guess why believers who will be beheaded
might all be 3rd age holdovers?
In 1 Thessalonians 5:9, Paul informs us that The Lord has not appointed His bona fide saints to wrath. Yet Revelation 7:9-17 picture a huge multitude of saints who will have been beheaded during the apocalypse!
Why might The Lord allow Christians to taste His wrath, and the wrath of the anti-Christ regime in the tribulation age?? Here’s what I intuit might be the rationale, based on a clear, scriptural pattern and tactic The Lord has applied.
A. New Jewish Christians
Echoing across Old Testament history are The Lord’s pleas to errant Jews in ancient Israel and Judah, to ‘RETURN TO ME, and I will return to you!’ Most didn’t. Those who did either died naturally, or were very likely included in various remnant groups that survived His judgments. In general, in all His judgments (even in those in our day), He promises to extract/protect a remnant intended for righteousness, even though He knows, given human nature, their righteousness will not be sustainable. (Leviticus 18:25-28, 20:22, Deuteronomy 30:2, 1 Samuel 7:3, 1 Kings 8:48, 2 Chronicles 6:38, 30:6 & 9, Nehemiah 1:9, Isaiah 31:6, 44;22, 55:7, Jeremiah 3:1 & 7, 4:1, 24:7, Daniel 9, Joel 2:13, Zechariah 1:3, and Malachi 3:7.)
Jews today are the descendants of ancient Jews whom The Lord scattered across the world, just as He had iteratively warned and promised, because most (not all) refused His RETURN TO ME pleas. The Bible predicts that, during the tribulation age, a multitude of Jews will embrace Jesus as The Messiah, by faith, BEFORE they see Him in The Millennial Reign age, the 5th age of history. They might comprise most of the converts who will be won to Christ by the predicted group of anointed 144,000 Jewish witnesses during the tribulation age. That group is depicted in Revelation 7:1-8, being spiritually sealed and anointed for their tasks. These witnesses are subsequently pictured in Revelation 14:1-5 after completing their assignments. Ezekiel 8 and 9 depict a similar act of ‘group sealing’ of righteous Jews who would be protected during the pending Babylonian invasions into ancient Judah, and the destruction of Jerusalem.
I intuit the impact of these witnesses might also extend to Gentiles.
What if... it might take these Jews being exposed to both The Lord’s wrath, and that of the Christian and Jew-hating anti-Christ regime, to convince them to convert and, in faith…
TURN TO THE LORD??
Consider the likely lessons from Ezekiel 38, when, during the apocalypse, Jews, crammed into Israel, and spilling over into Jordan and Lebanon, will have no other help, no alliances to lean on! (See: Zechariah 10:10, and A People Un-walled (Series).)
B. New and Former Gentile Christians
Since before, and especially after the Covid pandemic, Christian apostasy has reportedly SPIKED to alarming rates and levels across the world! I intuit much of this might be the results of (1) weak initial faith and commitments, and also (2) pent-up frustrations from living demonstratively righteous (salty-light) lifestyles, but not seeing the ‘demonstration effects’ results on inattentive, uninterested sinners. Recall, The Lord never promised that most sinners will be attracted to Him via our righteous lifestyles! The entire Bible indicates the exact opposite!! It also cautions us to live/walk by faith, NoT by sight! I suspect not seeing any benefits from living by faith, could possibly be the seed and roots of Christian nationalism in western countries – efforts by Christians to seize the levers of governments at any/all levels, in order to legislate, even force Christian values onto non-Christians. *
Problem: That is clearly sinful disobedience of what Jesus calls His bona fide saints to do and to be!
It is the height of deception,
That some saints decide to sin,
To force sinners not to sin!
That’s an egregious illusion!
(How clever our enemy is!)
Paul twice predicted a falling away from the faith and outright apostasy toward the close of this current (3rd) age of human history. During John’s vision on the Island of Patmos, Jesus signaled His strongly negative feelings about Christian lukewarmness within the church at Laodicea. (See: Laodicean Lackadaisicalness (Series).
‘So then, because you [the church at Laodicea] are lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.’
(Revelation 3:15.
This destroys the ‘once saved, always saved’ lie!)
Since that was His reaction to lukewarmness, and because He does not change, that remains His reaction to lukewarmness, imagine His reaction to backsliding and to outright apostasy! Caveat!
What if... many of these former 3rd age Christians (1) will survive the pending transition to the next age, (the tribulation age), and thus (2) will miss The Lord’s next, age-ending resurrection and rapture event at the end of this current (3rd) age?? (See: Bible Raptures - Types and Timings (Series).)
What if..., like the Jews noted above, it might take some of these former Christian’s being exposed to His wrath, and the wrath of the anti-Christ regime, to convince them to RETURN TO HIM??! (2 Thessalonians 2:3 and 1 Timothy 4:1, Revelation 3:14-22) And what of those people who die before given this ‘opportunity’? I can only intuit they will be in the final resurrection/rapture event predicted in Revelation 20:11-15, having died in their sins. That’s why my heart weeps for weak, uncommitted Christians who demonstrate lukewarm, backslidden, apostate lifestyles during these closing years of this current age. Does yours???
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said, against His church, hell’s gates will not prevail. Could exposing errant believers to His wrath and the wrath of the anti-Christ possibly be one way how The Lord will countervail against ‘the gates of hell???
Conclusion:
The Lord has promised His sustainably faithful saints from across the ages of history, are not appointed to wrath. (1 Thessalonians 1:10 and 5:9). But what if, through disobedience, we appoint ourselves to wrath?!?! WoW!!! That’s a thought worth pondering.
Christians who believe ALL 3rd age, faithful saints will not be resurrected and raptured until the end of the great tribulation, significantly discount The Lord’s promise. I do not. Neither do I want to fall into devilish traps and end up appointing myself to wrath.
Do you???
Are you aware the major part of Revelation (chapters 4-18) address the 4th age of human history (the tribulation age), NoT this current 3rd age (the so-called church age, and the age of Grace to all)? After The Lord addresses us 3rd age believers, directly and indirectly, throughout the New Testament, and in the first 3 chapters of Revelation, we later appear, and are referenced with 4th and 6th age saints in chapters 19-22, for the Marriage Supper of The Lamb, in which we are Friends of The Groom, NOT The Bride of Christ!! After this event, we are pictured returning with The Lord, in our alien invasion of Earth, to end the apocalypse, triumph in Armageddon, and take over every level and lever of Earth governance.
Lukewarm, backslidden, apostate believers
in the closing years of this current age,
seriously risk MISSING these glorious events!
Don’t risk letting devils be proud about this!
Selah… (See: Missed Insights About Revelation (Series), and also Salvation in The Millennium (Series)]
The Lord promises to say to Israel in The Millennial Reign age:
‘For in My wrath, I struck you,
but in My favor, I have had mercy on you.’
(Isaiah 60:10)
‘I will heal their backsliding/apostasy
I will love them freely…’
(Hosea 14:4)
The parallelisms between ancient and modern Israel, on one hand, and the church, on the other hand, are both wonderfully, yet painfully evident. Since Christians are ‘grafted into’ spiritual Israel, can you envision The Lord saying the same thing to former, 3rd age Christians who will be unfaithful to Him at the time of the next, group resurrection/rapture event?? I sure can!
I recall the story of a shepherd who had an errant sheep. The wise shepherd broke one of the sheep’s hind legs, then quickly bound it up to heal. During the healing process, the sheep stuck amazingly close to the shepherd, and continued to do so long after its leg was fully healed. Like me, can you perceive how this scenario will very likely apply, especially to lukewarmers, backslidders and apostates during the closing years of this 3rd age, but who will survive the pending age transition, and will then WAKE UP after the shock of missing the next rapture event, and will RETURN TO CHRIST??
What if... the above two scenarios are the underlying strategic rationales for Jewish and Gentile Christians in the tribulation age, and especially them being beheaded by the anti-Christ’s regime during the great tribulation (the apocalypse), which will be the second half of that predicted 7-year age??
Friends, does that possibility move you to redouble your efforts, now, to help some believers in this 3rd age, to escape temptations to backslide, become reprobate, lukewarm and outright apostate? If they don’t, and they survive the pending age transition, they might experience the double wrath in the next age! If you may not be so moved, could that possibly be a signal of …….your personal lukewarmness??
I perceive lukewarmness may well be,
The first step toward full apostasy.
If you agree with my perception,
Help folks to avoid this deception.
Selah~
__________
* A CNN reporter asked a Trump MAGA supporter what he thought about Jesus’ commands to Christians. The supporter quipped, That’s no longer working. We have to try something different now!
