Chapter 1

In His Time “Poof ”

Who originated the idea that the believers would disappear with a poof, like a genie into thin air?

I think it would be safe to say that the idea for the believer to just disappear into thin air finds its origination with in the text of the Bible itself.

1Corinthians CP 15:51-53 behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump : for the trump shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1Thesalonians CP 4:16-17 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds , to meet the lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

These two parallel verses solidify the argument that the believers who are alive and remain at this point in time shall realize the reality of this heavenly abduction. There is no doubt that this bodily transfiguration negates death and is a physical transformation that translates the believer into the upper atmosphere and into the direct presence or the Lord himself.

While the facts indicate the specifics of this redemptive transformation, the mystery of timing shrouds the climate the believer will exist in at the time in which this rapture takes place.

“We, who are alive and remain” gives the reader the understanding of the passage of time. How much time?

Over nineteen hundred years have expired and yet here we remain. It has been stated that each generation of "The Way" expected this event in their own time and yet in modern times we still find this prophetic message trumpeted from the church pulpits, the street corners, the TV's and radio's.

Psychologists suggest that man has invented this and other biblical doctrines to cope with reality. They state that simpletons cannot accept the place they find themselves in society; and therefore are easy prey for any illusion of escape from reality. To the psychologist every deviation from the normal worldly way is treated as a chemical imbalance or a response to some childhood psychological trauma. (Everything must be explained in the physical realm.)

It is naturally expected that God requires of man to accept His Word with out reservations. This is the point of reference the author holds to and expects the reader to embrace as well. Most of this book will deal with an in-depth analysis of prophecy, which requires that the reader must have first completed prerequisites in Christian literacy. The reader should poses the spirit of God through a salvation experience, have a grounded knowledge in the Word of God and be willing to accept what ever the Word teaches regardless of what you have been taught in the past.

It is commonly accepted among non-believers that the bible teaches Jesus will return at the End of Time . Modern bible teachers have complicated the teaching of Christ's return to the point where the average lay person cannot connect the parallel passages of associated scripture. I will attempt to only deal with scripture and the understanding there of.

The dominant factor when studying prophecy is the element of time or timing. The reader will find that this single element will be critical in the understanding of what God has to teach concerning prophecy.

God is not bound by time; this gives God the ability to share with man future events through the concept of prophecy. When one looks for a definition of the word prophecy one finds the predominate definition is the foretelling of future events. Even in the New Testament the only book given to prophecy (the book of Revelation) seems to have the sole purpose of foretelling future events.

Modern definitions for the word imply that the usage in the New Testament adhere to a new meaning “to proclaim” or to boldly declare. In the Old Testament it is clear that the usage clearly indicates Jonah proclaimed what God had in mind to perform in the future, in this case forty days. God sent the prophet Nathan to king David to inform him of the future of his house and how the child born to him of Bath Sheba would die. All through the Old Testament the word implies future predictions.

Is it possible a God who never changes decided to change the meaning of this word with the coming of Jesus? Nay, the prophet Agabus sent to Paul told him of future events he should see concerning his return to Jerusalem.

In 1Corinthians cp. 12 Paul instructs the early church and makes distinction between the gifts. He mentions the word of Wisdom the word of knowledge the gift of faith and of prophecy. Did God annul certain gifts and keep some? For a God who changes not this would hardly seem logical. The evidence mandates when taking in to account the book of revelation that the definition is precisely as ancient texts had defined it. (The foretelling of the future.)

It is true prophecy is the foretelling of future events, however, not all prophecy is of God and not all God given prophecy will come to fruition. This might almost sound anti-biblical but consider the fact that Jonah's prophecy against Nineveh was contingent on the will of God. God decided to withhold his judgment on the city when the people repented of their sins.

The prophet Micaiah told King Ahab of the lying spirit God sent into the mouths of the prophets to slay king Ahab. This prophecy came from God, and yet the message was a lie. There are also prophets from the Devil who appear to be prophets of God. The message sent from the evil prophet can be true or false or a mixture thereof. In the case of King Saul reviving Samuel's spirit through the witch of Endor, Saul was punished for seeking help from the darkness rather than light. We must allow only the Word to teach us if we are to break through barriers of thought that other men have stumbled on.

One must be very careful when handling the Word of God. What the text might seem to imply is not necessarily the essence of Gods message. Jesus professed “destroy this temple, and I will raise it in three days”. The physical meaning and the spiritual meaning identify two separate temples. One was King Herod's legacy, and the other was Jesus' body. It is only through the leadership of the spirit of God that one might perceive the true meaning of the Word of God.

If prophecies dominate factor is the element of time, and time is relative to the understanding of prophecy; then one must inquire as to the beginning and ending of time.

The beginning according to God was approximately six thousand years ago. In the book of Genesis God records his forming of the element we call time, and his division of time into night and day. God also separated the time into days of the week of which He sanctified the seventh, and gave man the first six to accomplish all that his duty demanded.

The day and the week are commonly accepted as standard units of measure in time. We will examine another God given standard unit of measure in time.

2 Peter CP 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

This verse is found in a passage that is talking about the last days. Peter reminds us that people will reject the idea of the Lords return. Peter then enlightens us to this heavenly time measurement. One day with God is equal to one thousand man-years. There must be a test we can put this measurement to in order to prove its validity. In my experience with Gods Word I have found It to be perfect and self interpreting. One proof positive is that the Lord Jesus is allotted one thousand years to reign on earth. The day Jesus returns God has termed “The day of the Lord”. Both of these equal to one thousand years when using our new unit of measure.

Another method to prove this might be to compare the six days of man to the amount of time man has existed on planet earth. For the equation to prove itself the days of man must equal six thousand. The only way to account for this time is to trace time through the bible. This will be a lengthy process and there is a margin of error because of the human element.

Reference _________Years __________________________________Total Years

Gen 5:3__ _Adam was 130 years old when he begat seth_________ 130

Gen 5:6__ _Seth lived 105 years when he begat Enos____________ 235

Gen 5:9__ _Enos lived 90 years when he begat Cainan ___________325

Gen 5:12___Cainan lived 70 years when he begat Mahalaleel ______395

Gen 5:15 ___Mahalaleel lived 65 years when he begat Jared _______460

Gen 5:18 ___Jared lived 162 years when he begat Enoch__________ 622

Gen 5:21 ___Enoch lived 65 years when he begat Methuselah ______687

Gen 5:25 ___Methuselah lived187 years when he begat Lamech____ 874

Gen 5:28___ Lamech lived 182 years when he begat Noah ________1056

Gen 5:32____Noah lived 500 years and begat Shem ______________1556

Gen 11:10 __Shem lived 100 years and begat Arphaxad Flood _____1656

Gen 11:12 __Arphaxad lived 35 years and begat Salah___________ 1691

Gen 11:14 __Salah lived 30 years and begat Eber________________ 1721

Gen 11:16 __Eber lived 34 years and begat Peleg _______________1755

Gen 11:18__ Peleg lived 30 years and begat Reu ________________1785

Gen 11:20__ Reu lived 32 years and begat Seruy ________________1817

Gen 11:22 __Seruy lived30 years and begat Nahor_______________ 1847

Gen 11:24__ Nahor lived 29 years and begat Terah_______________ 1876

Gen 11:26 __Terah lived 70 years and begat Abram______________ 1946

Gen 21:5 ___Abram lived 100 yesrt and begat Isaac______________ 2046

Gen 25:20 __Isaac lived 40 and married Rebecca ________________2048

Gen 47:9 ___Jacob was 130 years old when he entered egypt _____2216

Gen 15:13 __Israel in bondage for 400 years ____________________2616

Deu 29:5 ___God led Israel in the wilderness 40 years ___________2656

Jos 24:29___ Joshua judged Israel 30 years after crossing Jordan _2686

Jud 3:8 ____King of Mesopotamia puts Israel in bondage 8 years __2694

Jud 3:11 ___Othniel Judges Israel 40 years _____________________2734

Jud 3:14 ___King of Moab puts Israel under bondage 18 years _____2752

Jud 3:30 ___Ehud delivers Israel for 80 years of peace ___________2832

Jud 4:3 ____Jabin king of canaan oppresses Israel 20 years ______2852

Jud 5:31 ___Deborah fights for Israel's rest of 40 years ___________2892

Jud 6:1 ____The Lord delivers Israel to the hand of Midian 7 years _2899

Jud 8:28 ___Gidion Judges Israel 40 years_____________________ 2939

Jud 10:2 ___Abimelech Judges Israel 23 years _________________2962

Jud 10:3 ___Jair judges Israel 22 years ________________________2984

Jud 10:8 ___Philistines rule over Israel 18 years________________ 3002

Jud 12:7 ___Japhthah Judged Israel 6 years____________________ 3008

Jud 12:9 __-Ibzan Judged Israel 7 years________________________ 3015

Jud 12:11__ Elon Judges Israel 10 years_______________________ 3025

Jud 12:13 __Abdon Judges Israel 8 years______________________ 3033

Jud 13:1 ___God delivers Israel to the Philistines 40 years._______ 3073

Jud 16:31 __Samson Judges Israel 20 years____________________ 3093

1Sa 4:18 ___Eli Judged Israel 40 years _________________________3133

2Sa 5:4____ King David reigns over Israel 40 years ______________3173

1Ki 11:42 __King Solomon reigns over Israel 40 years ____________3213

1Ki 14:21 __King Rehoboam reigns Judah 17 years______________ 3230

1Ki 15:10 __King Asa Reigns over Judah 41 years _______________3271

1Ki 22:42 __King Jehoshaphat Reigns in Judah 25 years _________3296

2Ch 21:5 ___King Jejoram reigns in Judah 8 years ______________3304

2Ki 8:26 ___Ahaziah Reigns in Judah 1 year____________________ 3305

2Ch 22:12 __Athaliah Reigns in Judah 6 years__________________ 3311

2Ch 24:1 ___Joash reigns in Judah 40 years____________________ 3351

2Ch 25:1 ___Amaziah Reigns in Judah 29 years_________________ 3380

2Ki 15:27 __Azariah Reigns in Judah 52 years___________________ 3432

2Ch 27:1 ___Jotham Reigns in Judah 16 years__________________ 3448

2Ki 16:2___ Ahaz Reigns in Judah 16 years_____________________ 3464

2Ch 29:1 ___Hezekiah Reigns in Judah 29 years _________________3493

2Ki 21:1___ Manasseh Reigns in Judah 55 years _________________3548

2Ki 21:19 __Amon Reigns in Judah 2 years _____________________3550

2Ki 22:1 ___Josiah Reigns in Judah 31 years ___________________3581

2Ch 36:2___ Jehoahaz Reigns in Judah 3 months

2Ki 23:36 __Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah 11 years________________ 3592

2Ki 24:12 __Jehoiachin Reigns in Judah 8 years and

Nebuchadnezzar carries him to Babylon.______________________ 3600

History records this date as 587 BC, when King Nebuchadnezzar II removed the Jewish people to Babylon. As one might ascertain from the total sum of years, the years from Adam to the exile in Babylon are 3600. The historians date Nebuchadnezzars' conquest of Israel to be 587 years before Christ. When we add both these numbers together we might expect to arrive at a round figure of 4000 years. The number, when added is found to be 4187, with an extra 187 years of difference. 3600 + 587 = 4187

There is a logical explanation to the extra years in the margin of error, however I have not discovered it. Could it be that Mans recollection of history is distorted? Did the author correctly assign the figures? If Adam was created with age; then was he created to be 130 years old? Remember before the flood men lived to be 900 years old and 130 would be a young adult. That would drop the difference to 57 years. It is possible that some of the years added together were over lapping. That might account for the rest of the difference. One thing is for sure, the principal is true! Creation till now 3600 + 587 + 1999 = 6186 + or - margin of error.

Another example of this principal is found in:

2 Peter 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Last days, is a term used in the old and new testament to refer to the last period of mankind's term on earth. Mans 6000 years is split up into a 4000 year section before Christ and a 2000 year section after Christ. The term “Last Days” refers to the last 2000-year period. Low and behold mankind approaches the 2000-year threshold of time (after Christ) and life on our planet is transformed into what we see now.

As man approached the 2000 millennial mark in time, the inventions began to multiply. There was a transformation in the transportation industry, followed by the information age. We have air-conditioning, and instant communication, space exploration and stem cell research. Where does it all end?

It was necessary for the development of a worldwide system to manage the multitudes. You must have the ability to communicate to all of them in a single moment. You must be able to change their thought processes to conform to your design.

Never before in the history of mankind, was there the ability to globally control and initiate immediate worldwide change. This was a precursor to a worldwide governmental system that can control mankind from one point, one mouth, and one man. This man will be accepted as a god.

So we see that this biblical principal is true!

Adam ? 4000 years ? Jesus ? 2000 years = 6000 years

4 days + 2 days = 6 days

Exodus 20:9-12 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day.

Here we see the Jewish law set forth for the Jewish nation to observe. This principal was part of creation in that God delivered it to man at creation, and it shall carry forth through all of this earth's existence, until the end of the Lords 1000 year reign.

Revelation CP 20:4 And they lived and reigned with Him a thousand years.

ONE DAY WITH GOD = 1000 YEARS OF MANS TIME

If we have proved that this is mans six thousandth year on earth give or take the margin of error, then we can assume that Christ's thousand year reign must be soon at hand.

It is also imperative to take note that our date 1999 is an account of time between now and the year of our Lord. What took place that caused the Roman government / church to account for time in relation to one man and his death? They must have acknowledged that this man was the Son of God.

So far we have examined Time in the Word of God from the beginning but where is the end of time spoken of in the scriptures? We will be analyzing verses that you may be quite familiar with, and you may already have predetermined interpretation of; but please, let Gods Word instruct you and not man.

In Matthew 24:3 Jesus had just spoken of the temple's destruction that the Romans accomplished in 70 AD when his disciples supposing Jesus spoke of the end of time, asked Him for a sign of His return.

Matthew CP 24:3 “and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and the end of the world?

Even the disciples understood the end of time was synonymous with Jesus' return although, they thought Jesus was speaking of (Daniel 9:26) the destruction of the temple during the antichrist's reign. Jesus understanding they inquired of the end of time answered them. “Take heed that no man deceive you, many shall claim to be me and there shall be wars, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in many places.”

We have not reached our objective (The End of Time) and yet troubles persist. Jesus continues to expound, “this is the beginning of sorrows”; ‘ Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you for my names sake ”.

Some people think this passage is written only to the Jews; however what Jew is willing to die for Jesus' namesake? When a Jew believes in Jesus he becomes a Christian. The Jews end up believing in the false Messiah.

There are some Jews at the very end that believe in the Word (become Christians) and are instructed to run to the mountains for their life. This passage is written to believers who are willing to die for Jesus' namesake and the believing Jewish remnant in the holy land at the last moments of time.

We finally find mention of the end in Matthew 24:14 proceeded by one final worldwide message from Heaven, delivered by an angel .

Another reference to the end of time is in Revelation cp. 10:6 John reports that there should be time no longer.

Revelation cp. 10:6 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery shall be finished .

The seventh Angel has the last of seven trumpets the purpose of which is to signal the end of time, as we know it.

Paul mentions this trump in 1Corinthhians 15:51& 52

1Corinthhians CP 15:51& 52 Behold, I show you a Mystery ; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the Last Trump : For the trumpet shall sound , and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

The Angel preaching the Gospel world wide is found in Revelation 14:6

Revelation CP 14:6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach to them that dwell on earth .

You will find Jesus coming in the clouds to reap his harvest in Revelation 14:14.

Revelation 14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like the Son of man , having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp Sickle .

The second time Jesus comes to earth is found in Rev 19:11

Revelation 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

The first time Jesus returns is to redeem his children so He can poor out the seven vials of his wrath on the unbelievers, the second time we will be with him to rule and reign for one thousand years.

We have examined the beginning and ending of time according to Gods word. Given that time is the critical element of prophecy, we will begin to analyze the book of Revelation, Daniel and other portions of scripture to paint a realistic understanding of what God desires for us to know about the end of time.

Review: What have we learned in this chapter?

•  1) The bible teaches that there will be a day when Jesus returns in the clouds at the last trump to rapture his children; the dead first and we that remain shall be ushered into His presence. Termed (The End of Time)

•  2) Time is the critical element of prophecy and man cannot understand this factor without the supernatural leadership of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

•  3) Prophecy is the foretelling of future events.

•  4) God is not bound by time and therefore can share the future events with man through prophecy.

•  5) One day with God is equal to one thousand years in mans time.

•  6) God has given man six thousand years to rule the earth and God has reserved one thousand years for Himself to reign.

•  7) According to Gods account of time and given the margin of error, man has existed on earth 6000 years.

•  8) There is a mystery Paul spoke of that shall be finished when the last of seven trumps sound.

•  9) Jesus returns once in the clouds to gather his fruit, and the last time without clouds, ridding a horse to rule and reign.