By Beginning and End
March 21, 2012
This is the Second Article in the Beginning and End Rapture Series
This article will look at several Biblical foreshadows of the Rapture in Bible prophecy that show that God always removes His people from harm when He is preparing to supernaturally punish the unbelieving heathen world. In Part 1 of the Rapture Series, we examined the Day of The Lord, the Biblical prophecy event that starts the end times (if you have not read it, we strongly recommend it here). The Day of The Lord (also known as the Great Tribulation) is the outpouring out God’s wrath on the unbelieving world in a series of supernatural judgments in the final seven years before Armageddon and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The Rapture, the supernatural removal of faithful believers in Jesus Christ from the Earth, occurs just as the Day of The Lord is about to begin. The Church – all true, born again believers in Jesus Christ, will be “caught up” in the air and rescued just before the wrath of God comes. By looking at Old Testament types and shadows, God’s method of saving His people before judgment becomes apparent and foreshadows timing of the Rapture of the church in the prophetic timeline.
1. NOAH’S ARK AND THE FLOOD – A PREVIEW OF THE RAPTURE
But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that [Noah] entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew 24: 37-39)
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. (2 Peter 2:4-9)
The account of Noah and the flood is a foreshadow of the Rapture of the church. Jesus Christ said the world will be living just like the “days of Noah” when discussing the end times and the final years before His Second Coming. During the days before the flood, the world was carrying on with normal activities and falling into rampant sin, accelerated by the presence of the Nephilim, angelic-human hybrids who had overrun the Earth (see our article “Nephilim – Giants in The Bible” for more information). God was so dismayed at the state of humanity and its impending loss of a chance to have a fully human Savior, that the flood judgment was set to come upon the world. The world was completely unaware of this coming judgment, but Noah and his family were aware of it (thanks to God). This is the same state of the world before the Day of The Lord /Great Tribulation. The world will be carrying on as usual, deep in sinful rebellion against God, and sudden judgment will come at the opening of the 6th Seal of Revelation.
The 6th seal plus the subsequent trumpet and vial judgments paint a frightening picture of the end times. There will be devastating global earthquakes. Waters will be poisoned. Millions upon millions will die in plagues and disasters. Evil fallen angels will return to Earth and be permitted to interact with humanity and the reign of the Antichrist will begin. Life will go from being very normal to anything but! This will all be a part of God’s judgment on unbelievers or those who claim to be Christian but were not truly born again. But the true Christians will escape these judgments via the Rapture. The account of Noah’s ark is a foreshadow of God’s pattern for protecting His faithful believers.
To continue click on the link below:
http://beginningandend.com/believers-escape-gods-wrath-biblical-foreshadows-rapture/