Featured I Now Know Why Some Deny the Rapture of the Church of Jesus Christ

Paul is explaining the 28 years of history where God is dealing with Israel under a different operative principle of his divine dealing since the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ and he is explaining how and why God has included the gentiles, who at the time of this writing has experienced 18 years of being accepted in Christ with the exact same standing as the Jewish remnant believers, as sons of God, not as sons of Abraham. The epistles of the apostles explains the history they were living. This epistle would have made no sense unless there would have been events and purposes to explain.

Now you can oppose and reject and even deny the plain words of God if you choose to. That is your own prerogative but there is danger in doing it. I made a case from Romans 10 and 11 and I did not violate the context. It clearly showed that Israel was cut off from her national covenants because of her unbelief in her Messiah and God had united the Jews and gentile believers in Christ, having broken Israel off from the root temporarily and grafted the gentile tree in their place so the house he was building might be full. He warned the gentiles that the time will come when the gentiles will likewise be cut off for the same reason as Israel, unbelief. This will signal the fullness of the gentiles and God will after that turn his attention to Israel and all of them left alive would be saved as he had promised.

Jesus anticipated this and foretold it. Here, this was spoken in the temple in Jerusalem 2 days before the Jews killed him by crucifixion.

Mt 22:1 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings [are] killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Go to those who were not bidden;

8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

Some came without the garment of salvation, which is the righteousness of Christ:

11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

Kkk

The unconditional covenant that God initiated with Abraham and to which he swore with an oath made the scripture promise a legal document. Every thing contained in that covenant must come to pass. Those religious people who denies this is advancing the doctrines of devils.

I will quote a passage that proves this if you will accept that the epistle of the Hebrews is written to the Hebrews and the end in verse 11 is referencing the end of the 40 years probation between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the time he would return and finalize the Abrahamic covenant with these people if they believe. It was the same as the end of the generation of Jesus Christ. It was the second chance for the nation. Instead, they lost their national identity and was dispersed into the nations of the world and reckoned dead and buried nationally and as a people.


Hebrews 6:1-20
1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this will we do, if God permit.
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 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.
7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:
8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.


11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:


12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.


God swears to his covenant to Abraham
13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

If God does not establish a righteous kingdom through Abrams seed with Jesus Christ as King there is no reason to believe any of his promises. Amil’s don’t believe it.

 

They are not disagreeing with me. They reject the counsel of the scriptures. To deny the covenants of God are real covenants is to deny every promise that results from the covenant. If these people were to believe the scriptures up to Genesis 12 where the Abrahamic covenant was given and did not believe another word (which I think is true) then they have believed 10% of the Bible or less.

The reality is that God has not made a single covenant with any one outside this family line but the promise to Abraham is that through his seed he would bless the nations. That is a covenant with Abraham, not the nations. So, check this out and compare the two things I am going to produce here.

The promise of blessing to the nations;
Ge 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

The promise fulfilled in Paul's gospel charge called the gospel of God:
Ro 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated (from the other apostles) unto the gospel of God,

The gospel of God is this:

Ro 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
27 To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.

One can see that God is making good on his promise to Abraham to the nations through his seed, Jesus Christ. I encourage a reading of Ga 3 in connection with this.

If one builds a house he must lay the right foundation or otherwise the house will not stand. Jesus Christ taught this God is moving according to his covenants. The foundation for the eternal structure is laid in the Abrahamic covenant. The nations of the world are privileged to be made partakers" of the covenants that God made with this family. That is what he said.

Ro 15:14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God,
16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

25 But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints.
26 For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.
27 It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.

Ac 14:27 And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he (God the Father) had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.

To be an amil is to deny all the promises of the glorious kingdom of Christ on the earth that are given in the OT and the New in spite of the fact that God swore that all he promised Abraham in that covenant will come to pass. All must come to pass.

 

My charge in this thread is that those who deny the rapture of the church do so because they do not know what the church of Jesus Christ is and cannot define it. No Amil has shown up to prove me wrong by defining it. Your doctrine of Amillennialism comes from authors of books you have encouraged me to read and not from the scriptures. They are your authority for what you say.

And yes, the New covenant was made with Israel. Jesus said this;

Joh 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

So God provided salvation to the Jews because he promised them he would. He made no such promise to anyone else. Therefore his provision of salvation was to Jews first by the principle of promise and by opening the door of faith later, because of his mercy, to gentiles, he saved us on the principle of grace. This is what is taught in the New Testament scriptures. When the Jews lost their identity as a nation in 70 AD and dispersed into the nations, they became as gentiles in God's eyes and salvation to the world is by grace through faith. The church then took on a gentile character. There is an end to this at the rapture of the church when the fullness of the gentiles be come in.

There is logic and reason to be associated with the faith.

 

Thanks for responding MrW. I know how to define the church but the divide between theological systems is largely (imo) due to the fact that it is misunderstood by most people. That is understandable because God calls it a "mystery" revealed by the Spirit first to the apostles and the prophets somewhat piecemeal but later to the specially chosen man, Paul, who God would commission as the lone apostle to the gentiles, whom he began adding to the church some 10 years after it's beginning on Pentecost with Israel only. Paul was different in that he was given complete understanding of the church of Jesus Christ.

Now, here is an example of the piecemeal revelation in the primitive church before most of the NT epistles were written.

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1 Cor 14:23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?
24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.
28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.

29 Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.
30 If any thing be revealed to another(prophet) that sitteth by, let the first (prophet) hold his peace.
31 For ye (prophets) may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.
32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

This is how the truths were disemminated in the churches before the written scriptures.

Check this out.

1 Cor 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

This is the primitive church. The modern church does not have these special spiritual gifts. We cannot even define some of them, like the gift of faith. We do not need them. We have the complete scriptures for our faith and practice. There has not been the exercise of a single one of these gifts since the end of the apostolic era of the church of Jesus Christ. The scriptures alone are our authority, taught by the indwelling Spirit.

I would like to know how YOU define the church of Jesus Christ. I will give my definition later.