"It Will Be Months, Not Years"

"Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation' ". (2 Peter 3:3)

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About a year before he died of a heart attack, my father-in-law heard what he believed was the audible voice of God. He had always been a great student of Biblical prophecy, as well as gifted in the prophetic, and had been praying, asking God as to the timing of the rapture. Harry believed that before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He promised that one day He would return to this Earth, and he believed that this return would come in two phases. The term that is commonly given to the first phase is "the rapture", when Jesus will bodily come to the atmosphere of the Earth, a heavenly trumpet will sound, and all humans who have a reborn spirit will instantly be transformed, and caught up into the atmosphere, to meet Jesus there. Jesus then returns to Heaven with this "caught out" group for a period of time. Harry was in the camp that believes that the rapture will take place prior to the beginning of a seven year period known as "the tribulation". This is a time of great judgement upon the Earth, where men will need to declare to whom they will serve. The tribulation ends with the second phase of Jesus return. He comes to the Earth with an army of those that had been reborn, His feet finally standing on the spot that He ascended from, the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. He defeats The Enemy, the Antichrist and False Prophet, and the armies that come to oppose Him. Jesus will then rule on the Earth for 1000 years, at the end of which will come a rebellion, a judgment of all those who have not been reborn in their spirits, and the creation of a new Heavens and a new Earth.

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In response to Harry's question in prayer as to the timing of the rapture, God said; "It will be months, not years". Harry was surprised to hear the audible voice, which had happened to him only once, and that was a voice that said "WAKE UP!" when he had fallen asleep and was heading off the road while driving back from a prayer meeting in Paw Paw. He was also surprised at the directness of the answer. And so he prayed, "How can I know that this is really true?" And the audible answer was; "This year, when you go deer hunting, you will get your biggest buck ever". And a month later in November, at a location in Michigan's Upper Peninsula where his group had been going for years, often without success, and on their last day, a huge buck walked out 20 yards in front of where Harry was waiting, giving him a clear shot. I think it dressed out at over 300 lbs. It was so big that one of their party, a nephew who had traveled the world to hunt big game, and who has a pole barn full of mounted trophies, asked if he could have the animal head stuffed. That head is now hanging at a hunting "lodge" owned by a group of family relatives, many of whom are not believers but who still admire "the big buck".

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Harry told this to us at a family prayer meeting shortly after he returned. He said he was reluctant to share it with us before he went hunting, and even after the confirmation, because of the message, he still wanted to be cautious. The events happened about 10 years ago. As I said, a year later he had a heart attack and died. One of his sons always believed that this was a personal message from God to Harry that his time was short, and in a sense, events would bear that out. I have never been comfortable with that explaination, believing that the message was actually talking about the timing of the rapture, but unsure as how to interpret it. The most obvious interpretation would be to establish a certain time frame from the giving point of the message, to the happening of the rapture. But 10 years is 10 years, and not months. This has bothered me for a long time, and I have often prayed about it. I am convinced that the message was from God, and not something from the enemy, or imagined. One of the reasons is that Harry had a real passion for searching out scripture concerning the end times, and had prayed specifically concerning the timing of the rapture. And I believe that there must be some purpose, some reason, for God to give such a message.

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A couple of months ago I started thinking and praying about it again, and I remembered a comment from my Bible's footnotes on the book of Revelation. The first verse of the first chapter says; "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-spevants, the things which must shortly take place". The commentary says that the word "shortly" is the same Greek word which is translated "speedily" in Luke 18:8. In other words, the time frame of the events that are laid out in Revelation did not necessarily have to begin soon, but rather when things started to begin, things would happen quickly. And I think that would be a reasonable explanation for the word that Harry received. When certain prophetic things start to happen, know that the rapture will soon follow, in a time frame of months, not years.

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Now, I hold to the theological view that the rapture can happen at any time, and that there is nothing that has to precede it. But I have a suspicion that it may happen during the time frame of a future Jewish feast of Pentecost, or perhaps Rosh Hashanah, also known as the Feast of Trumpets, although I don't know when. And I also have a suspicion that if my interpretation of the word given to Harry is correct, that the starting event will be obvious to those that search the prophecies of scripture. And that might be something like the invasion of Israel laid out in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Various Biblical scholars have identified Magog as Russia, which leads a coalition of countries against Israel, with Persia (modern day Iran) as their main ally. At the last moment God intervenes for Israel, destroying the coalition forces. It is my opinion that action against Iran's nuclear facilities may be a trigger for those events to happen.

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This could happen five, ten, or twenty years from now. Or it could happen in 2007. The rapture may signal the beginning of the tribulation period, or there might be a space of months or years after the rapture before the tribulation begins. Whatever the case, or whatever the timing, we should be concerned for all those who do not have a reborn spirit in Christ Jesus, and pray frequently for those we know. At a specific point in time the Word became flesh. At a specific point in time He suffered, died, and rose from the dead, changing forever the dynamics between God and man. At a specific point in time He ascended into Heaven. And whether we are ready for it or not, He will return at a specific point of time. Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus.