Genesis 19:15-17the morning dawned, the Angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.”
There is much talk about the End Times. It is the “buzz” within the Body of Christ today because anyone who has studied the Bible can easily see the Prophesies coming to pass. There is a question about the timeline of the Rapture of the Church and the Great Tribulation period, which will be seven years. There are three schools of thought on this issue.
1. Pre-tribulation Rapture. Most people believe the Rapture will come before the Great Tribulation.
2. Mid-tribulation Rapture. These people believe the Church will suffer one-half of the seven-year Great Tribulation before the Rapture occurs.
3. Post-tribulation Rapture. These folks believe the Church will suffer through the entire seven-year Great Tribulation period and those who survive will be Raptured at that time.
God does not change. He repeats Himself over and over again. If we look all the way back to the Book of Genesis we find the account of Lot and his family. They lived in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah which were horribly ungodly. Homosexuality had taken over the population and few remained faithful to God. Lot and his family were among the few.
Because of the rampant homosexuality of Sodom, God was about to destroy the entire city by fire, but He sent two Angels to save Lot and his family from the wrath that was to soon come. The Angels met Lot at the gate of Sodom and because Lot did not know they were Angels, he invited them to stay at his house. The evil men of Sodom wanted to have sex with the two new men in town, but they found safety in the home of Lot.
What Lot did not know is that God sent these two Angels to rescue him and his family out of Sodom before His Wrath fell on that incredibly sinful place. The righteous are not destined for the wrath of God. He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. The great Apostle Paul wrote to the believing Thessalonians, For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
For us, the truly born-again, Spirit-filled Christians, I do not believe God has destined us for wrath. The Word does say we will suffer persecution and we are seeing that in the world today as Christians are being beheaded for their faith. In America, we are seeing people jailed for taking a stand for Jesus. This is persecution and it will probably become much worse, but we must trust God and stand on the Promises He has made.
It is my belief that the Rapture of the Church will occur prior to the Great Tribulation. This does not mean we will not suffer hard times. I think we will, but it will be nothing compared to the Great Tribulation which Jesus described like this, For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
God will……..turn the tide
Jesus, come quickly, Doreen
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