A Deeper Dive Into the Book of Revelation - Part 16
We see the main harvest of the Church in Revelation 14:14-16. It is at this time that “the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain [on the earth] will simultaneously be caught up (raptured) together with them [the resurrected ones] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord!” as Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (AMP).
John sees this group in Heaven a few verses later.
“And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.”—Revelation 15:2 (KJV)
This group of believers who have just been caught up to Heaven are described here as “them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.”
But you can’t “get the victory” over an opponent unless you face that opponent in a contest.
If these believers were victorious over the Antichrist, does that mean that they went through the Great Tribulation? Because we know that the Antichrist does not rise to power until the Great Tribulation period. Scripture seems to back that up.
What does the Apostle Paul say about this?
“Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction. He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God. Don’t you remember that I told you about all this when I was with you?”—2 Thessalonians 2:1-5 (NLT)
Paul seems to agree that we will see the rise of the Antichrist before the great harvest of the believers who will be gathered to meet Jesus in the air.
Let’s go back to what Jesus told His disciples about the end times.
“Now while Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”— Matthew 24:3 (ISV)
His disciples asked some really good questions! Isn’t that what Christians are still curious about today? When will these things happen, and what signs should we look for?
And what does Jesus tell His disciples about the timing of His return and the rapture of the Church?
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not provide its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And at that time the sign of the Son of Man [coming in His glory] will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth [and especially Israel] will mourn [regretting their rebellion and rejection of the Messiah], and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory [in brilliance and splendor**].** And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet and they will gather together His elect (God’s chosen ones) from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”—Matthew 24:29-31 (AMP)
It looks like Jesus is telling us that the rapture of the Church will be after the Great Tribulation. But that is not what many of us have been taught.
Who should we believe? Should we believe Jesus or the people who have been teaching us?
It may not be easy, but if we are faced with a conflict between our long-held beliefs and the Truth of the Bible, then we must reject our own beliefs and replace them the Truth of the Bible instead. We must guard our hearts with all diligence and only allow Truth to be spoken in our hearts and in our thoughts.
“Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?
He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart” —Psalm 15:1-2 (NKJV)
I believe that the pieces of the end-time puzzle will begin to fall harmoniously into place when we accept the truth that the main harvest of the Church, spoken of in Jesus’ parable of the Wheat and the Tares, happens at the end of the Great Tribulation period.
In other words, the rapture of the Church happens after the Great Tribulation, not before.
A Way of Escape
But as we read closely, near the end of Jesus’ discourse on end-time events, He may be offering us a way to escape the Great Tribulation. This is not recorded in Matthew, but it is found in Luke chapter 21.
Luke 21 parallels Matthew 24. In this chapter, Jesus describes the events of the end times that lead up to His return, and then He says this in Luke 21:36:
“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted **worthy to escape all these things **that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (NKJV)
Could it be that some Christians will escape all of those things so that they do not have to experience the Great Tribulation?
Let’s look back at “the Harvest chapter” of Revelation 14.
We’ve already seen that the great harvest of the believers takes place in Revelation 14:14-16. Jesus tells us that this gathering of the believers takes place immediately *after *the Tribulation.
Let’s backtrack and see if we discover a group of believers who escape *before *the Great Tribulation.
In Revelation 14:9-11, before the great harvest of believers, we read about an angel that warns people not to worship the Antichrist or receive his mark. This is a warning to those who will be on earth during the Great Tribulation period.
And then there is a call to courage for the Christians who will endure the Great Tribulation period.
“This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus.
“And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them!’”—Revelation 14:12-13 (NLT)
This seems like a call to courage for Christians who might be about to enter the Roman arena to face the lions! And that may not be far from the truth. Many Christians will be martyred during the Great Tribulation.
But as we continue to backtrack through Revelation chapter 14, we find a group of believers who seem to appear in Heaven before all of the warnings about the Great Tribulation, and *before *the great harvest of believers in verses 14-16!
“Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 [men] who had His name and His Father’s name inscribed on their foreheads.
“And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of great waters and like the rumbling of mighty thunder; the voice I heard [seemed like the music] of harpists accompanying themselves on their harps.
“And they sang a new song before the throne [of God] and before the four living creatures and before the elders [of the heavenly Sanhedrin]. No one could learn [to sing] that song except the 144,000 who had been ransomed (purchased, redeemed) from the earth.
“These are they who have not defiled themselves by relations with women, for they are [pure as] virgins. These are they who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These are they who have been ransomed (purchased, redeemed) from among men as the firstfruits for God and the Lamb.
“No lie was found to be upon their lips, for they are blameless (spotless, untainted, without blemish) before the throne of God.”—Revelation 14:1-5 (AMPC)
These disciples seem to match the conditions that Jesus gave us in Luke 21:36. They seem to have escaped the Great Tribulation, arriving in Heaven before the warnings about the Antichrist; and they are standing before the throne of God, which seems to match Jesus’ promise that they will “stand before the Son of Man.”
But who are these people, and why are they in Heaven before the other believers?
We’ll look at that in the next article.
Hint: Never forget what Jesus told us in the parable of the sower. There are three groups of believers; not just one.
