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When you say that the rapture of the saints would come after the seventh
angel sounds his trumpet, are you not contradicting what the Lord said,
that no one knows the day and hour of the rapture, not even the Lord Himself?
Not at all! What our Lord has told us is
not the exact day and hour of the saints' rapture, but the background
and signs leading up to this remarkable event. Only then can the saints
who love the Lord prepare their faith, and only then can they participate
in the rapture by fighting against the Antichrist and embrace their martyrdom
when the time comes.
Through His revelation, God showed the Apostle John, who was exiled to
the Island of Patmos at the time, everything that would come to pass in
the end times of this world. Like this, when God plans and fulfills all
His works, He makes sure to let his servants know.
Of all the Word of God, the Book of Revelation in particular is written
with many metaphorical expressions. Because of this, only the servants
of God who are saved from all their sins by believing in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit and thus have the Holy Spirit dwelling in their
hearts can solve these metaphors and explain them to people. To the servants
of God and His saints, the Word of Revelation reveals in detail everything
about the plagues of the seven trumpets, the appearance of the Antichrist,
the martyrdom of the saints, their resurrection and rapture, the Millennial
Kingdom of Christ, and the New Heaven and Earth.
The rapture of the saints is intimately related to their martyrdom. Revelation
11:10-12 tells us about the death of the two prophets, and their resurrection
and rapture in three and a half days. These two witnesses are martyred
by the Antichrist and then resurrected in three and a half days from their
death. What we can find out from this account is that when the Antichrist
emerges on this earth and makes people worship the Beast by receiving
his mark on their right hands or foreheads, the saints would fight against
the Antichrist and be martyred with their faith, but with the return of
the Lord that follows shortly, they would also participate in the first
resurrection and be raptured.
The Apostle Paul also spoke of rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: "For
the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice
of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will
rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall
always be with the Lord." The Apostle Paul, in other words, also told
us that the time of rapture would come after the martyrdom of the saints
and when the seventh angel sounds his trumpet."
When the Antichrist's reign of this world begins, when he tries to force
us to receive his mark, and when he demands to be worshipped as God, we
the saints must all realize that the time of our martyrdom is at hand,
and we must also believe that shortly after our martyrdom would come our
resurrection and rapture. We do not know exactly on what month and day
this would happen. But what is clear to us is that the rapture of the
saints would come when the seventh angel sounds his trumpet. All the saints
must prepare to receive the Lord's Day by believing in this truth.
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