Letter I wrote to the 5 doves site

Wendy, I hope this answers some of your questions, here are my thoughts.

70 weeks of years were allotted to Israel.
69 weeks of years were fulfilled in the First Coming of Christ. (He came for the Jews first)

Israel rejected their Messiah and the Church was grafted in (Romans 11: 1-24)..(Church Age began at Pentecost)

God's focus now turned from Israel to the Church. The Church age will end at the Rapture
when the restrainer (Holy Spirit who indwells the believers) will be removed along with the Saints.

During the Church Age, Israel will be partially blinded .

Romans 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in (God has a number of Gentiles (Church) which will be completed before the Church Age ends..at the Rapture).

1 week (7 years) is yet to be fulfilled. God's focus will again be turned to Israel ..(this is for Israel..not for the Church). This will commence when AC will make a covenant with the many (Israel and surrounding nations) Daniel 9:27

This entire 70th week (1 week =7 year period is known as the Tribulation and the Church will not be part of this final week for this is when God will turn His focus back on Israel and for their redemption.

The 7 year Tribulation will be for Israels Redemption but they will have to endure the Seal, Trumpets, and Bowls Judgments because of their previous rejection of the Messiah..then All of Israel will be saved.
Although there will be a multitude of both Jew & Gentiles who will be saved during the Tribulation, the Holy Spirit will not indwell them as He did during the Church age, but again will interact with the tribulation saints as He did during the O.T. 
Psalm 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

Because of the Revelation 12 sign, now I guess some people are saying were into the Tribulation.

That was NOT the sign spoken of in Revelation 12, that is still future and happens during the Tribulation period and is for Israel not the Church. This may have a been a foreshadow of things to come, but definitely not for the Church age.

Since Paul the Apostles time, there were those who were saying that they were in the Tribulation, but Paul in 2:Thessalonians 2:1-3 refutes it. Evidently there was a false letter sent to the saints as if from Paul telling them that the Lord had come and the tribulation had started (sound familiar for today).

Here is a short writing by J. Vernon Mcgee on the subject, and another on Rapture Verses by Jack Kelley below.

2 THESSALONIANS

WRITER: Paul

DATE: A.D. 52-53 (The second epistle followed shortly after the first)

OCCASION: The first letter to the Thessalonians gave rise to further questions, and Paul is attempting to answer these. There was circulating in the Thessalonian church a letter or report, purported to have come from Paul, which was inclined to disturb the Christians. This false report claimed that Christ had already come and had already gathered out the church to Himself and that the world was then living in the judgments of the “day of the Lord.” Their present persecutions confirmed this false report. Paul attempts to allay their fears by stating definitely that “our gathering together unto him” is yet future (2 Thessalonians 2:1) and that “the day of the Lord” has certain forerunners which must first come. The apostasy and the “man of sin” must come first; the removal of the remnant of believers at “our gathering together unto him” makes the apostasy in the professing church 100% (Luke 18:8).

Every era of persecution or trouble has given rise to the false impression that the church is going through the time of judgment which Christ identified as the “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21). This period has been so clearly identified by Christ that there is no reason for getting panicky or being stampeded into an unwarranted position. Christ said that there is coming a small interval which will be blocked off by “such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). Nothing like it has taken place before, and nothing like it will ever take place afterward. Has there ever been such a period of unparalleled trouble? The answer is obvious.

THEME: The first epistle to the Thessalonians deals with the Rapture, Christ’s coming for believers. The second epistle relates the return of Christ to that phase where He returns to the earth in judgment and where one of the accomplishments is in connection with the “man of sin,” whom He “shall destroy with the brightness of his coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8). These two aspects are clearly delineated. The interval between these two phases is the Great Tribulation, which can be further identified with the 70th week of Daniel 9 as a period of seven years.

THE DAY OF THE LORD: This is the phrase which occurs in 2 Thessalonians 2:2 (incorrectly translated “the day of Christ” in the Authorized Version). It is an Old Testament phrase with definite connotations. It occurs in the writings of the Old Testament prophets where it relates to the future kingdom promised in the Old Testament. The day of Christ is a New Testament expression (1 Corinthians 1:8); it relates here to the future of the church. The day of the Lord is connected with the coming of Christ as it relates to the setting up of the kingdom. The day of Christ is connected with the coming of Christ for the church.

Whatever else is implied in these two statements, certainly this is basic. The teaching in 1 Thessalonians is that the saints who have died will have part in Christ’s coming for His living saints; in 2 Thessalonians it is that the saints who are alive will not have part in the Great Tribulation. The return of Christ has a peculiar and precious meaning for His saints.


Grace Thru Faith...Jack Kelley
Subject : No verses on the Rapture?

Question:
I believe that the Bible teaches that the Lord will come for His church before the Tribulation. But I was reading an article by another Bible teacher/author who says that there are no verses to support the timing of the Rapture being before the Tribulation. He seemed to have kind of a snarky attitude about it, too. I don’t know why, as fellow believers in the Lord Jesus, why some get so worked up about it and make the claim that it’s a deception for us to believe in the pre-tribulation rapture. What do you think?


Answer:
There are people who think that just by saying something they can make it true, and they expect us to take their word for this. But that’s a power only God has and even He cannot make us believe Him. And in Acts 17:11 Paul told us not to believe what we hear until we search the Scriptures to see if what we’ve been told is true.

There are several verses in the Bible that place the rapture of the Church before the end times judgments. Three of the clearest ones are Romans 5:9, 1 Thes. 1:10, and Rev. 3:10. They either say God will save us, or deliver us, or keep us from the coming wrath, also called the time of trial that’s coming upon the whole world. This period of time contains the end times judgments that will begin in Rev. 6 and conclude in Rev. 16. In the Greek language all three of these verses say we’ll be kept from both the time and place of the end times judgments.