2/15/12

As Evil Reigns In The End-of-This-Age, What Should Believers Do? "Comfort One Another With These Words..."

"By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him" (Heb. 11:5). Enoch is generally considered to be an OT 'type' of the rapture of the NT church, having not seen death, and having been removed from the scene, or translated, before the judgment of the flood came upon the corrupt world in the days of Noah. Note that it was only "by faith" that Enoch was translated. He took God at His Word. Believer, do you have this 'faith to be translated'? Do you take the Lord Jesus Christ at his Word as he has promised to come for His bride? Are you ready "to meet the Lord in the air"? If so, this instruction of scripture to "comfort one another with these words" is for you:

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thes. 4:16-18
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The Rapture by Hamilton Smith 1862-1943

(Hamilton Smith was a widely respected bible expositor among the 'Plymouth Brethern' of the early 20th century

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"There is a very definite feeling amongst the people of God that the day of grace is about to close. In the words of the prophet we may say. "The day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out." For the Christian, we may add, in the words of the Apostle "The night is far spent, the day is at hand".

"Even men of the world have a vague uneasy feeling that some great crisis is approaching. What form it will take, and how to meet it they know not. Christians, however, with the Bible in their hands, Christ in the heart, and the Holy Spirit to guide, are not left in darkness. They know that Christ is coming, and that His coming is very near. We realise in some measure the deep need of this sad world, and we know that all the efforts of men to meet that need will be in vain."

"If then the coming of Christ is the great hope that is set before us for our special encouragement and comfort, in a day of ruin, we shall do well to examine Scripture, not with the vain idea of attempting to fix a date for the coming, or indulging the fleshly love of prying into the future, but with the desire of having our affections awakened towards the One who is coming."

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harpazo (har-pad'-zo) : from a derivative of 138; to seize (in various applications):--catch (away, up), pluck, pull, take (by force).

There are many 'opinions' on the subject of the 'harpazo' (Greek; 'caught up' - 1 Thes. 4:17) or what is more commonly referred to as the rapture, but as far as the question of 'what saith the scripture' there can be only one truth. Here is an excellent and concise scriptural study on the doctrine of the 'harpazo'. "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Tim. 2:15)

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