by Cephas Ministry Editor Rita Williams  

Very few sermons revolve around the tribulation because there is much misinterpretation. To do scripture studies takes a lot of time that we have little of. It can't be read like a newspaper column. One has to want to learn, put all prejudices aside, and allow the mind to slow down and dwell on the words written. The words put together come from the KJV Bible, my favorite Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary, the Lexical Aid and the Strong Concordance. What you might not know is that every word in the Bible has a number. If you read the AMG Hebrew Greek Study Bible like I do, you will find a bold number as well which is explained in the Lexical Aid. In translating words from Hebrew and Greek to English, often there are no English words to go to. A poor substitute is used and the meaning is lost to English speaking people. That is why when you see a number it means that we have to go a step further and look up the number in either the Lexical Aid or the Strong Concordance. More helpers in the KJV Bible are Biblical references indicated by alphabetical letters znd notes by the editor of the Bible you are using.

The reason I resort to a Scripture study is the fact that I have been confronted with error and wish to clarify the concepts by presenting what the Bible teaches. All King James Bibles have identical text. What maybe changed are the alphabetical references to lead people to different verses and then cause misunderstanding. To prevent that it is best to check the Bible you are using with an authorized KJV. I'm told that the King James version is the only Bible that is not copyrighted.

"The first three chapters of Revelation deal with the seven churches and God's opinion about their pros and cons. Then the Church disappears until Revelation 19-22. Revelation 4 to 19 is about Israel the nation. This part of the tribulation is referred to as Jacob's Trouble. Jacob is the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob's name was changed to Israel in Genesis 32:28 "And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.". The reason this period is called Jacob's Trouble is, God's judgment will come upon Jacob and his descendants. God is warning about war, plagues, hunger, economic depression and death in those verses.

Revelation 14 refers to the redemption of the twelve tribes, consisting of 144,000 and the redeemed remnant of Jacob's descendants. Revelation 19 to 22 is the culmination between the Church, the redeemed of Israel and the New Jerusalem.

Looking at the Book of Daniel, we find out that this calamity will affect the whole world. It is the reason the world is moving toward a global community that will soon have global currency. The power will move back to the Roman Empire represented by the European Union. The Antichrist will rise from the Roman Empire as someone who promises peace and the ability to fix world economies. The U.S. is being used to bring that about with wars and democratization of countries. On the Inauguration Day 2009 the U.S. will fall into antichristian Communistl hands that will bring the final touches of demise to the Christian roots it was founded on. Even though many of the founders of the U.S. were Freemasons, they were both, Christians and Masons. According to Barrack Obama's statement about the Sermon on the Mount, he stated something like this, that it is ludicrous to apply Biblical principles to the political strategies of our social fabric, see YouTube in the December 2008 newsletter.

First Event Is Prior to the Tribulation

Identifying the invisible Church, the Remnant of Jacob and Satan's attacks on both.

Denominational unbelief put Christ, the Word, outside the camp. Hebrews 6:6 states: "If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame."

Prior to the tribulation many will fall away from Christianity as it states in the following verse. "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;" (2 Thessalonians 2:3)

"And the dragon was wroth with the woman (Israel), and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation: 12:17)

[Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary has the following interpretation of this verse: 17.

wroth with--Greek, "at."

went--Greek, "went away."

the remnant of her seed - distinct in some sense from the woman herself. Satan's first effort was to root out the Christian Church, so that there should be no visible profession of Christianity. Foiled in this, he wars (Re 11:7; 13:7)

against the invisible Church, namely, "those who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus" (A, B, and C omit "Christ"). These are "the remnant," or rest of her seed, as distinguished from her seed, "the man-child" (Re 12:5), on one hand, and from mere professors on the other. The Church, in her beauty and unity (Israel at the head of Christendom, the whole forming one perfect Church),

is now not manifested, but awaiting the manifestations of the sons of God at Christ's coming. Unable to destroy Christianity and the Church as a whole, Satan directs his enmity against true Christians, the elect remnant: the others he leaves unmolested.]

In Revelation chapter 1 to chapter 3, John is told three things: "Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;" (Rev. 1:19). The small 'c' church (Rev. 3:14), are a multitude of foolish virgins.

Every evil from the first Church Age was carried over into the second Church Age until seventh Church Age when 'mainstream Christianity' apostatized in the early 1960s (2 Thessalonians 2:3) when it rejected Christ's 'harpagesometha' translated 'caught up' to meet in the clouds 'apantesin' (#1519, #529) which means to come into the presence of, to meet.

The Second Event is the Resurrection of the Dead and the Rapture

Revelation 4:1-2 describes the new birth of every member of Christ's end-time Bride. "After the close of the Laodicean Church Age (Revelation 3:22) I looked, and saw a door open in heaven: and the voice I had first heard speaking to me as clearly as the certain sound of a trumpet (Revelation 1:10), said, Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after the Church Age has ended. And immediately I was in the Spirit: and saw a throne standing in heaven, and One seated on the throne".

As you grow in grace through the understanding of God and His Word and receive correction through revelation, you are consecrating your life to Scriptural holiness. This second development in faith is called sanctification that will be lifelong. Your third step in grace by faith is the baptism with the Holy Spirit without sensation by a clear revelation of the Word for your day. As you enter the Light of the hour Peter called "the present Truth," your soul is quickened to understanding, uniting you with the Word in new birth. Thereafter you will mature in the faith from a Spirit babe into the stature of the perfect Man.

The Lord built His Body revealing His Word "here a little, and there a little." Jesus said, "Unless we are walking in the Light God is manifesting for our day, we are not and cannot come under the Blood, which is to be born-again" (1 John 1:7). "And He is only writing epistles of the present Truth" (2 Corinthians 3:2; 2 Peter 1:12).

The "harvest" in Revelation 14:15 is the general assembly of Gentile saints to be translated by Christ as His first act in assuming His kingdom, prior to His judgment on Israel (Revelation 16:17-21). The seven vials are pored on the Antichristian world, in executing which His saints shall share, as stated in previous verses, Noah and Lot were taken prior to the judgment pored out by the flood on the world and fire and brimstone on Sodom and Ghomorrah.

In regard to Noah and his family were the only survivors, the Bible states in Genesis 7:4 "For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth." Speaking of Lot and his wife who were saved from God's judgment it states in Genesis 19:22-24 "Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;"

After the Seventh Church, the Laodecian church, the redemption of the Church takes place.

Revelation 1 reveals the finished creation of God in Christ and His Bride drawn out from the golden lampstand of the seven Church Ages receiving their incorruptible bodies when translated. Chapters 2 and 3 explain how by grace through faith in the spoken Word the elect are saved. The Holy Spirit converted souls born dead in sin and trespasses, and how in the fulness of times He is gathering them together to be transformed into this one glorified Body in Christ (Ephesians 1:10; I Corinthians 15:49-54; I Thessalonians 4:16-17).

In the beginning of Revelation, the capital 'C' elect Church "disappears" as the end-time Bride is called out of the apostate world church system into the 'rapture'. Matthew 25:6 "And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him". 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17 "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." (Matthew 25:6; Revelation 10:7; 18:4) to see "the things which must be hereafter" signified in Revelation 4 to 19. That is, the revelation of the Seven Seals, the Seven Trumpets judgments, and Seven Vials, the casting out of Satan, Christ's victory over His enemy and consummation of life in Armageddon which binds Satan and his subjects until the second resurrection after the thousand year's peace.

Throughout the Book of Revelation John represents Christ's end-time Bride who will not see death. We know this because the Book was sealed to the time of the end. The angel of Revelation 1:1 who guides John as our proxy throughout the visions. Like you and I who are baptized into Christ in this holy convocation, John was caught up in the Spirit into the Day of the Lord, which will commence when the Church Age ends.

We were caught up or raptured by the great Voice like a trumpet with the certain sound of THUS SAITH THE LORD. That Voice is the "shout" of I Thessalonians 4:16 to call up the baptized into Christ. In Revelation 1:10 John's vision is described.

[Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary on Re 1:12

the voice--that is, ascertain whence the voice came; to see who was it from whom the voice proceeded. that--Greek, "of what kind it was which." The voice is that of God the Father, as at Christ's baptism and transfiguration, so here in presenting Christ as our High Priest.
spake--The oldest manuscripts, versions, and Fathers read, "was speaking."

being--"having turned."
seven . . . candlesticks--"lamp-stands" [KELLY]. The stand holding the lamp. In Ex 25:31-32, the seven are united in ONE candlestick or lamp-stand, that is, six arms and a central shaft; so Zec 4:2,11. Here the seven are separate candlesticks, typifying, as that one, the entire Church, but now no longer as the Jewish Church (represented by the one sevenfold candlestick) restricted to one outward unity and one place; the several churches are mutually independent as to external ceremonies and government (provided all things are done to edification, and schisms or needless separations are avoided), yet one in the unity of the Spirit and the Headship of Christ. The candlestick is not light, but the bearer of light, holding it forth to give light around. The light is the Lord's, not the Church's; from Him she receives it. She is to be a light-bearer to His glory. The candlestick stood in the holy place, the type of the Church on earth, as the holiest place was type of the Church in heaven. The holy place's only light was derived from the candlestick, daylight being excluded; so the Lord God is the Church's only light; hers is the light of grace, not nature. "Golden" symbolizes at once the greatest preciousness and sacredness; so that in the Zend Avesta, "golden" is synonymous with heavenly or divine.]

Turning to see the Voice He saw Christ's Bride transformed into the stature of the perfect Man. The Voice "as the sound of many waters" belonged to Christ's many-membered Bride in unison of revelation with Christ (Revelation 1:15; 22:17). In Revelation 17:1 and 15 in the time of Lucifer's totalitarian one world government Jesus calls the Judaeo-Roman Catholic church "the great whore that sits upon [or oppresses] many waters . . . [which symbolizes the] peoples, and nations, and multitudes, and tongues" she will rule in the day of the Lord after the translation of the Church.

The Third Event is God's Judgment Pored Out On Israel

Joel 3:2 "I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land."

Jesus forewarned the primitive Church in Matthew 24:22 "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." For the translation of the living Bride, the elect's sake those days will be shortened. Jesus forewarned the end-time Church: "Come out of Rome and her harlot daughters lest you partake of her sins and receive of her plagues." Rome was always God's enemy when she breaks her agreement in the midst of Daniel's Seventieth Week and kills all 144,000 Word-abiding Israelites, and her (once) Protestant daughters the apostate church referred to as the foolish virgins, those who refuse the doctrine of the trinity. (Daniel 7:21-25; 8:24; 12:1-7; Revelation 6:11; 12:17; 13:7, 15-18; 14:12-20).

In Zechariah 14:2 it is found: "For I will gather all nations (the U.N.) against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity (the Roadmap), and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Zechariah 12:9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Israel has been ruled by a non-Semitic people since Nebuchadnezzar's conquest. (Daniel 9:27; Luke 21:25; Revelation 11:24; Revelation 11:2, 8). Jews are not Israelites. Under the heading "A Brief History of the Terms for Jew" in the 1980 Jewish Almanac (p. 3) we read: "Strictly speaking it is incorrect to call an Ancient Israelite a 'Jew' or to call a contemporary Jew an Israelite or a Hebrew." They are neither.

The Fourth Event is the Redemption of The 144,000 (12,000 each of Jacob's twelve tribes).

In contrast to the beast, the false prophet, and the apostate Church (Revelation: 13:1-18) and introductory to the announcement of judgments about to descend on them and the world (Revelation: 14:8-11, anticipatory of Revelation:18:2-6), the redeemed are "the divine kernel of humanity, the positive fruits of the history of the world."

The fourteenth through sixteenth chapters describe the preparations for the Messianic judgment. As the fourteenth chapter begins with the 144,000 of Israel (compare Revelation 7:4 - 8, no longer exposed to trial as then, but now triumphant), so the fifteenth chapter begins with those who have overcome from among the Gentiles (compare Re 15:1 - 5; 7:9 - 17); the two classes of elect forming together the whole company of transfigured saints who shall reign with Christ.

"And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads." (Revelation. 14:1)

The Fifth Event is The Second Coming of Christ Jesus

The Fifth Event is addressed in Revelation:14:1-5 "And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God."

The Sixth Event Is The Redemption of the Remnant Escaped From The House Of Jacob

To understand what the word 'REMNANT' refers to the following Scripture verses will bring enlightenment. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness." (Isaiah 10:20-22)

"And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this." (Isaiah 37:31, 32)

"The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction." (Jeremiah. 15:11)

"And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase." (Jeremiah: 23:3)

"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. " (Joel 2:32) This remnant is described in the Lexical Aid as #8300. "The Hebrew word for remnant in this case is "sarid": the masculine noun comes from 8277, it refers to a survivor who escaped from a great slaughter."

"Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:" (Romans 9:27 re: Isa 10:22,23) The Concordance # assigned to this remnant is #2640.

"Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." (Ro 11:5)

In the last half of the Tribulation it is revealed: "And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven." (Revelation: 11:13)

In asking the question: "Who are the remnant?" we find: that according to the [Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary: the remnant-- it consist of the Israelite inhabitants not slain. Their conversion forms a blessed contrast to Re 16:9; and above, Re 9:20-21. These repenting (Zec 12:10-14; 13:1), become in the flesh the loyal subjects of Christ reigning over the earth with His transfigured saints and gave glory to the God of heaven.]

How can that be since God blinded Israel?

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." (Eze 36:26)

This remnant are not the 144,000. "And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel." (Re. 7:4)

[Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary states: Of all the tribes-- literally, "out of every tribe"; not 144,000 of each tribe, but the aggregate of the twelve thousand from every tribe. Children -- Greek, "sons of Israel." Re 3:12; 21:12, are no objection, as ALFORD thinks, to the literal Israel being meant; for, in consummated glory, still the Church will be that "built on the foundation of the (Twelve) apostles (Israelites), Jesus Christ (an Israelite) being the chief corner-stone." Gentile believers shall have the name of Jerusalem written on them, in that they shall share the citizenship antitypical to that of the literal Jerusalem.]

In The Seventh Event the Remnant of Jacob is Slain

The Bible refers to several remnants. This is where the Concordance becomes very important. Each Hebrew and/or Greek word written in the original language has a number assigned to it so the meaning of the word can be described in the Concordance. The word "remnant" in this case has an opposite meaning that needs to be explored.

The number assigned to this remnant that is slain is #3062, the Greek word is "aovrrol loipoy" in English: "remaining ones, residue". This word is not referring to the remnant described in with this word: "kataliemma" #2641. The remnant #3062 }were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh." (Revelation:19:21)
The remnant #2641of Israelites do not require a mediator as they are predestinated to receive the fullness of the Word and were therefore fully redeemed in Christ on Calvary.

Conclusion

These are the voices of the multitudes of witnesses, who by the Holy Spirit all through the Ages have testified of Christ and preached His Gospel. It will be the voice of every man rising in judgment against the sinner who would not take warning. The voices of the seven messengers will be heard loud and clear. Those faithful preachers who preached the saving power of Jesus, who preached water baptism in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who preached the infilling and power of the Holy Ghost, who stood with the Word more than they stood with their own lives; all of them were the voice of Jesus Christ by the Holy Ghost down through the Ages. John 17:20, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on Me through their word".

In Revelation 1 and Daniel 7:10 we see Him in thousands of persons whose mind and voice and character are in the likeness of the Son of Man, "All speaking the same thing, perfectly joined together without divisions in the same mind and in the same judgment." (1 Corinthians 1:10).

"They are clothed to the foot in white linen, clean and white, signifying the righteousnesses of the saints, fastened above the breasts with a golden girdle signifying the Gospel of Truth by which they will judge the world" (Isaiah 11:5; Ephesians 6:14). "The head and hair of this one likened to the Son of Man are snow white like wool." This is not indicative of age, for they are eternal. He is wigged as a judge, signifying the wisdom of experience which qualifies them to judge the world (Daniel 7:9; Romans 2:16; I Corinthians 6:1-3). . . "His eyes penetrated like flames of fire, (there will be no hiding place from the judgment, those eyes will search out the thoughts and intents of the heart), and His feet like fine brass as it glows in the furnace" when all the dross has been burned out, "will tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of our feet" (Malachi 4:3; Matthew 3:12).

In the days of His flesh He was in the Prophetic office Son of man. Throughout the Church Ages He was in the office of Son of God, as Mediator for the ignorance of the Church Age saints. After the Church Ages and His Mediatorial work were fulfilled He returned in the Prophetic office to break and expound the Seven Seals of Revelation, and since redemption is over and we now have the perfect interpretation of the Word, He is King of kings and Judge. John 5:22, "For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son." The kingdom will be restored to Israel " (Acts 1:6).

The menorah was placed by the southern wall of the Holy Place so that its lamps ran from the East to the West as the Gospel followed the sun. The olive tree on the right side signified the Old Testament, whilst that on the left signified the New Testament of the Bible from which the Church draws its Oil of the Holy Spirit. The two branches through which the two testamental trees feed their golden oil to the reservoir are Moses and Elijah. The Lampstand represents the Church, not an organization, but the saints of the mystic Body of Christ who are the Light-bearers of Deity in a world of Darkness. Jesus said, "You are the Light of the world. A city set on an hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand; and it gives light to all in the house. Let your Light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16; Revelation 1:20).

Zechariah 4:6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

Zerubbabel was restoring old Jerusalem, but the vision of the Lord pertained to new Jerusalem, the Church, the City of God on mount Zion in the renewed heaven and renewed earth.

God placed each of us on free moral agency like Adam and Eve in the beginning so we may to choose to obey or refuse His will with the certainty of reward or punishment. So long as we are below the age of accountability our sins are not held to our account. Beyond that time we become responsible for our deeds and what we do with God's revealed Word when it is presented to us. Should we ignore His Word the day may come when we cross the line between mercy and judgment, then our name is blotted from the Book of Life, and we are irrevocably lost.

One may be justified without being sanctified, or sanctified without being justified, or justified and sanctified but without the baptism of the Holy Ghost and ultimately lost, like Judas Iscariot. Eternal security is being born-again, sealed to the day of your physical redemption because your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life from which it can never be removed. Amen