Episode 13 - The Raptured Church - Meditation on Revelation 3:7-13

Revelation 3:7-13 (ESV)

7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. 

8 “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. 11 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. 12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. 13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ 

Reflect: 

Reflecting on the Scripture. In this message, Jesus speaks to His Church, the Body of Christ, as a whole and to each individual member. Both yesterday, today, and forever. To all those who profess to believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. The following Scriptures, Revelation 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; and 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 confirm that there will be a time, in the very near future, when 1) the dead in Christ will be resurrected, 2) immediately afterward, those in Christ who are left, will be caught up (raptured), and 3) these end-time believers in Christ (those with a Philadelphian-like spirit) will not go through the tribulation.

Rev. 4:1: After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 

I Thessalonians 1:10 -. . . and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead: Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. 

I Thessalonians 4:15-18:  For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. 

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the World English Bible (WEB) by Public Domain. The name "World English Bible" is trademarked. 

Scripture quotations: English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. 

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