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| Beam Me Up Scotty! (5) Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The Kingdom of heaven is like a man who sewed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sewed tears among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and sprouted a crop, then the tears also appeared. So the servents of the ownder came and said to him, 'sir, did you not sew good seed in your field?' He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servents said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?' But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tears you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, 'First gather together the tears and bind them together in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.' (Mathew 13:24-30 KJ Ver.) Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And his disciples came to him saying, 'Explain to us the parable of the tears of the field.' He answered and said to them: 'He sews the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tears are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sewed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tears are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and those that practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnance of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth' (Mathew 13:36-42 KJ Ver.) These verses reveal to us that the Christians and non-christians are to live together until the end (Judgement) when God's people shall be uprooted. Also, the angels spoken of here in prophetic context, are to act as the reapers of the crop, just as the angels in the tribulation will be set to the task of gathering away the Christians. Because you have kept My command to perservere, I also will keep you from the hour of testing which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. (Revelation 3:10 KJ Ver.) The promise is NOT that "I will keep you from the hour of testing" which would require the Greek preposition apo. Instead, Christ uses the preposition ek, which means "out of the midst of". Apo would mean that believers could expect deliverance before the hour of testing; ek means that they can expect deliverance DURING the hour of testing. The Greek word for "keep" (tereo) is also used here. Tereo means "to guard or protect in the presence of danger". For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be. And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake, whom He chose, He shortened the days. (Mark 13:20-21 KJ Ver.) We know that the tribulation will not be shortened - that would make other prophecies concerning its length incorrect. The tribulation is shortened for God's elect only! This is the rapture and "God's elect" (a term used several times in the bible) usually refers to the whole church of God both living and dead in Christ. The rapture shown is shown here to be followed by immediate destruction that no one could survive. Jump to Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Previous___________________Main Directory___________________Next |