The Bride, The Escape, The Rapture

I have asked the Lord recently "why have you been so cryptic about the Bride, the escape and the rapture?  If we are going to escape why not just come right out and say it.  Or another way to ask this is why leave so much room for debate?"

The answer:  On this earth we are being tested.  What especially is being tested is our faith and our knowledge of God.

1 Peter 4:12Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

 1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:


 Titus 1:16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny ... They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him

2 Thessalonians 1:8 He will punish those who do not know God and ... He will punish those who do not know God and do
not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ..

1 John 4:6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us ... ... But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. 

 And the list goes on...

Why leave the rapture timing open to debate knowing that men would be at each other continually over the issue?  To test our faith and knowledge of God.  What do I mean.  Knowing our Father enables us to understand what He has written.  Just as an earthly father who has written a message to his son, his son understands the message according to his knowledge of his father so we understand our Fathers Words based on our knowledge of Him.

What about faith?  Some of the promises and/or statements the Lord has made are very straightforward and concise yet men still reject them.  For example:

Luke 21:34And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 35For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Is this ^^ veiled in any way?  No, and yet men will argue with it until their faces are blue and the veins are bulging in their neck that the Lord did not actually mean what He clearly says above in Luke 21. 

What place is our heart, mind, spirit in?  What place is our faith in?  Do we really believe the Lord will do what He said He would do?  What does "escape all" mean?

Luke 21 is more or less a quick journey through the tribulation speaking of the abomination all the way through to the return of the Lord as (Warrior King Rev 19), then after discussing all this He tells us pray that you will be counted worthy to escape all of this.  How much more clear could He be?  And yet, even in the face of exhaustive rebuttals and evidence of every point the pre-wrath and post-trib teachers and preachers put forward, they always have another excuse, another reason to not do what the Word clearly tells them to do (pray to escape all that is about to happen).  This is why it has been said here the time for debate is over.  It does not matter what you show these people, they are determined to go through part or all of the tribulation in spite of specific promises of deliverance.

What makes this so sad is, what is coming is one of the greatest acts of deliverance the Lord has ever performed (right up there with parting the Red Sea) and we have the benefit of foresight knowing it is coming and people still reject it.  What would have happened if the Lord approached Noah and told him to build the ark and Noah said "nope, sorry Lord can't do it.  If I am on the ark who is going to preach to all the lost outside the ark?  I know you want to deliver me but my religious doctrine tells me to stay here on the ground where I am needed most."  Can you see how utterly ridiculous that line of reasoning is?  And yet people use the same line of reasoning for the deliverance that is coming "sorry Lord, I know you told me to pray for escape but I am needed right here on the ground to do all kinds of religious work..."  Is this heroic or foolish?  Is this faith or willful disobedience?  The Lord will be their judge.

The Bride is found in Rev 3 (new jerusalem=bride), and Rev 21:2.  The churches are mentioned by name in Rev 2-3 then mentioned no more.  Did the Lord forget to be specific or is the Church not mentioned after Rev 3 (apart from being called the Bride at the end) because the Lord is forgetful?  We know the answer, the Lord is not forgetful, He remains quite specific.  For example He specifically calls out the 12 tribes of Israel, by name in Rev 7:

5Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. 6Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. 7Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. 8Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

While specific tribes of Israel are being called out where is the specific mention of the Church (either universal or local?)  Its not there...for a reason.  The Bride is in heaven making herself ready:

Rev 19:7Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

Notice the past tense (hath made) there ^^.


At this point I am convinced there is no proof, no scripture, no evidence you can show some people to prove that the Lord means what He says when He tells us to pray to escape all that is about to happen.  They are bound and determined to go through part or all of the tribulation no matter what anyone presents to them.  The willfully disregard one of the greatest acts of deliverance the Lord has every offered to mankind.  The only things I can compare it to is Israel refusing to go through the Red Sea in order to "witness to the Egyptians" or Noah refusing to build or board an ark in order to witness to the world doomed to destruction.  I cannot understand it.

What I do understand is this:  there is a great deliverance coming, a great escape.  A door will be opened in heaven for the patient church (Rev 3) to be kept from (not through, from) the hour of trial coming upon the whole world.  All the events listed from the beginning to end of Luke 21 we were told to pray to escape them all.  An obedient and faithful servant will do what Noah did, do what they were told to do.  Noah built an ark, we were told to pray for escape from all that is about to happen.

An escape from all is coming, that is a fact.  The Lord does what He said He is going to do.  He does not fail and He does not forget.  This fact should encourage the Church.  In fact, this post is written to encourage you.  The Lord will do what He said He would do.  Let us do what we were told to do:

36Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

^^ That is what we were told to do...

grace and peace