Bible Insights Episode 46

Posted on January 2, 2009 in Bible study, Christianity, faith, God, JESUS CHRIST, lectures, religion, spirituality, videos

Bible Study by Sis Carms Mendoza – The Works of Jesus as Salvation Part 2

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2 Comments on Bible Insights Episode 46

Rev. Mario I. Quitoriano // January 10, 2009 at 9:31 pm //

Dear Herchel,

Thank you for your letters. Please accept my apologies for not having written you earlier. I have your three letters answered in this one reply. May the Lord Jesus bless you and thank you for your patience.

First set of questions: “My question is if you know Benny Hinn what can you say about him? Since he was one of guest pastor during Asian Conference event should i still continue attending to this church?”

Reply: Although I have watched some of his programs, I don’t know Pastor Benny Hinn personally and I cannot make a comment about him just based on the things placed on the internet against him. I would be making the error of trying to make judgments on a person I don’t know and with only one side of the issue being presented. The Bible tells us to judge not according to appearance but to judge with a righteous judgment. (Jn. 7:24) This is very difficult to do even when you are presented with the two sides of an argument. Under those circumstances it would be almost impossible for me to make one. There is a biblical process if we want to correct a person. I would suggest that those who published those allegations on the internet should personally take them up with Pastor Benny Hinn rather than publish those allegations on the internet.
Those things raised against a person invited to speak in a congregation may not necessarily reflect the teaching of the inviting church. People are not perfect and we continue to learn from the Lord Jesus about Him and His word and to learn to discern what is Biblical and unbiblical. The Apostle Paul said this, “Let those of us who are mature be thus minded, and if in anything you are otherwise minded, God shall reveal these things unto you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.” (Phil. 3:15-16) Let us continue to focus our faith in the Lord Jesus and He will reveal the truth to us as we continue to get closer to Him. He is our best Master-Teacher regarding God’s will for each and every one of us. Let us continue to pray for His guidance through the Holy Spirit and “when the Holy Spirit is come, He will guide you into all the truth.” (Jn. 16:13)

Second question: “Which one will come first, rapture or tribulation? because during the time of the plagues when moses lead his people out of egypt the plague came first before they get out from Egypt and God’s people were protected during the plagues…”
Reply: In the Christian world, there are three different positions on the teaching of the “rapture”, i.e., when the Lord Jesus will come for His Church and the dead and then those who are alive will meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thess. 4:16-18; 1 Cor. 15:51-55). The first position is that the rapture will happen before the tribulation period; the second is that rapture will happen during the middle of tribulation period; the third is that it will happen after the tribulation period. I won’t discuss the last two but will just discuss the first which is the position we have taken.
Here are some of the Biblical reasons why the “pre-tribulation” rapture position is favored over the other two:
1) The verses following 1 Thess. 4:16-18 which describes the event of the rapture, say that no one will know when the rapture will happen for “for the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night…But we are not in darkness that that day should overtake us as a thief…for we are all children of the light and the children of the day: we are not of the night…For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ”. (1 Thess. 5:1-9) No one will know when the rapture will happen for the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. If it happens in the middle of the tribulation period or after the tribulation period, then people can estimate His coming for the tribulation period is 7 years or the last week (years) of Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy. Jesus said that no man, not the angels will know His second coming. Therefore, it is Biblical to accept that the rapture will happen before the tribulation period for we do not know when it will start or when the “fullness of the Gentiles is come” after which the rapture will occur.

The tribulation period which follows the rapture is the period when the Lord will pour out His wrath of judgment against an unbelieving world. Since the verses say that “we are not appointed to wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ”, it means that the believers are taken out of this world by rapture before the tribulation period when the wrath of God is poured out to an unbelieving world.

2) In the book of Revelation, before the tribulations of plagues and the vials of wrath and judgment are poured out to a wicked and unbelieving world, the church is being mentioned. (Revelation chapters 2-5) But when the judgment of God would be poured out (Chapters 6-19), there is no more mention of the church for the church has been raptured away by the Lord out of this earth.

3) The Bible mentions of several events that before the Lord poured out His judgment on an unbelieving world, the Lord gave occasion for His people to be taken out before the anger of the Lord burned on the wicked that were left behind.
a) Before the great flood during the time of Noah. Noah and his family were taken out via the ark which the Lord commanded Noah to make as a provision for saving them from the great flood that is to come for the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Gen. 6:5) And so Noah’s family was taken out when they entered the ark (type of a rapture) and all those who entered the ark were saved from the flood, while the wicked had to go through the judgment by water (a type of tribulation). (Genesis chapters 6-9)
b) When the Lord was about to rain fire and brimstone upon the wicked Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham asked the Lord, “Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?… That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?… And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure (fifty, forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty) ten shall be found there.” And He said, “I will not destroy it for (fifty, forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty) ten’s sake.” Before the Lord rained fire and brimstone on sinful Sodom and Gomorrah, He sent angels to bring out Lot and his wife and two daughters, although later on the wife of Lot became a pillar of salt because she looked back as if to say, she didn’t want to leave the sinful city.(Genesis chapters 18-19)
c) Another example is the household of Rahab. Because Rahab did kindness to the spies sent to Jericho by hiding them, they were spared of the destruction of the city of Jericho where she and her household were staying. The spies sent by Joshua brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had and all her kindred before the Lord gave Jericho into the hands of the Israelites to be utterly destroyed and burned with fire. (Joshua chapters 2-6)
Principle: The Lord will not destroy the wicked together with the righteous. Those who have committed their all in faith, hope and love to the Lord Jesus Christ will not go through the Tribulation Period when the Lord will execute judgment and His wrath upon the wicked and those who did not believe the gospel. That is why the church or the body of believers in Jesus will be raptured before the Tribulation happens.
Thirdly, your prayer request: Yes, Herchel, we will be praying with you and we need to pray for each other and all the saints of God that we shall overcome all temptations of the evil one and this world. Jesus said to His disciples, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mat 26:41) Ephe. 6:10-20 says that we need to “put on the whole armor of God” and to “pray always with all prayers and supplication in the Spirit and watching with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”
Please note that we are not saved to sin. We are saved not to sin yet it does not mean that we are not capable of sinning for we are not yet perfect because we are still in the flesh. (Rom. 7:21-25) Yet even in this situation, we are no longer under condemnation when though we are in the flesh, we no longer consciously and deliberately walk in the flesh but we deliberately and consciously walk after the Spirit. (Rom. 8:1) We should remember, however, that we are expected no longer to walk after the flesh (not to sin) but to walk after the Spirit. The Apostle John has this to say, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.” This means that we are expected not to continue in sin. But if in our imperfections, we may unconsciously and not deliberately sin, the Apostle John continues to say, “And if any man sin (it means the commission of sin is not deliberate), we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. So Paul says, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 7:24-25)
Salvation is attained by everyone who has truly committed his/her all to the Lord Jesus in faith, hope and love. Sanctification (being set apart for the Lord Jesus Christ) is progressive. While we are in this earthly tent, we continue to be “conformed into the image of Jesus” (Jn. 8:29) and “we all are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Cor. 3:18) How fast do we conform to the Lord’s image? It will depend on how moldable clay are we in the hands of the Potter. That is why faith is fighting the good fight of surrendering our lives to Jesus. As we come closer to the light and brightness of His holiness, Jesus continues to reveal many more imperfections and sins in our life. The process of conforming ourselves to His image will continue until we are finally made perfect when we are ultimately brought into His eternal presence and transformed by the Lord into our glorious bodies.
If there are some points unclear, please do not hesitate to write us.

In Christ,

Bro. Mar
Herchel // January 7, 2009 at 2:05 pm //

Hi TAFJs’

I would like to followup my previous question since no response from your end po.

My additional questional.

1) Which one will come first, rapture or tribulation? because during the time of the plagues when moses lead his people out of egypt the plague came first before they get out from Egypt and God’s people were protected during the plagues…

Anyone who is available can answer.

Thank you