Do you want to explore God's Word and the prophetic?
Let's consider how Jesus experienced the tribulation as an example and pattern for what would follow during the latter day great tribulation?
If you are familiar with the Bible, this may take on more meaning as God's historical cycles repeat..
Jesus' own personal week of tribulation shows us when He will gather His Saints, and the week of Jesus' Tribulation week began as He returned to Jerusalem to keep the third Passover in His ministry.
That momentous week of tribulation as Jesus lived it,
will show us the coming tribulation and the "rapture". (I use the word "rapture" as is commonly spoken of in churches, but the word "rapture" is not given in scripture, but is more accurately "our gathering unto Him", and a "catching away". )
After 3 years of ministry, Jesus went up to Jerusalem to keep the mandatory Passover Week, aka the "Feast of Unleavened Bread". (Lev. 23:5)
Like the lamb of Passover (Ex. 12:5), Jesus would also be examined offer Himself as the sacrificial Lamb, and he was tested by the leaders and later, the Roman governor as they questioned him in Matthew 23 by the chief priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees.
He was not only walking out a fulfillment of what had been prophesied a millennia prior, He was also walking out a prophecy that would repeat in our day.
A reading of Exodus 12 gives the command and ordinances of the Passover given to Israel as they departed from Egypt. It was also the prototype or the pre-figuring of Christ.
So on the first day of the week, our Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, to the acclaim of crowds. He went to the temple and again drove out the money changers.
Jesus, The true Passover Lamb would be in the house of Israel, (physically in the temple) in the city of Jerusalem, to minister for 3 days.
In doing so, He was examined for spot and blemish by the priests who tried to find fault with him. -Which was according to a "type and shadow" fulfillment of Exodus 12 regarding the offering of the Passover lamb as required by the Old Testament law.
He, being found without any leaven as the Living Bread, was also the lamb without any blemish of sin. "Which of you convicts me of sin?" -and none could.
Even Governor Pilate witnessed in Lk 23:4 And Pilate said unto the chief priests and the multitudes, I find no fault in this man.
Let's see what else happened in the time frame of seven days..
1. Two witnesses were sent ahead of Him.
On the 10th day of the month, Jesus came into Jerusalem, and the "house" of Israel. All the disciples accompanied Jesus into Jerusalem including Judas.
As He was coming to Jerusalem, two witnesses were sent ahead. Mark 11:1 And when they draw near to Jerusalem, ...to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,
(Bethphage means "house of unripe figs", "Bethany means "house of misery", spiritually symbolic names for where Jesus was going.)
Looking forward.
In tribulation the two witness are sent forth and prophesy for 3.5 years.
Rev. 11:3 And I will give to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy
a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
:4 These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks, standing before the
Lord of the earth .
(-those are not two men. The two olive trees were the people of the "natural branches", Old Testament Israel which were given Moses and the law as the former, the latter being the NEW Testament Israel consisting of those in Christ in which there is neither Jew nor gentile". See Romans 11:24 for an amazing confirmation)
2. Jesus entered physically INTO the physical temple:
a.
As a parable and foreshadowing two times of Him coming INTO His temple as a life-
giving Spirit, to those who are "watching and praying":
Mat. 21:12 And Jesus entered into the temple <building> of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money- changers, and the seats of them that sold the doves;
He will again cast out the modern "money-changers" those who are in the NT temple (.i.e the body of Christ> plundering and merchandising God's people by exchanging the freely given gospel for the reward of a hireling.
Jesus will come INTO His NT temple in NEW JERUSALEM at the beginning of the tribulation
Mal. 3:1 Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me:
and the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his temple.
(again, a dual prophecy)
The NT temple is His Body of people (aka the church).
He will come forth IN His people before He comes FOR His church. -As He did in Acts 2. "and SUDDENLY there came a sound..." as Jesus came INTO His Temple (His people) as the Life-giving Spirit.
In the tribulation season:
The week Jesus was tribulated began with his acceptance into Jerusalem on a donkey. He came humbly, without flags, without an army, without pompous robes, without a gold chariot.
In the beginning of the 7 year time of "great tribulation", Jesus Spiritually comes again without fanfare, without stage lights, without notice to many of the saints in "New Jerusalem", nevertheless He is a growing presence.
To those that thirst, He will come in the form of the "latter rain" and anoints His witnesses and disciples..
Hos. 6:3... and he will come to us as the rain, as the latter rain that waters the earth.
This is the sudden fulfillment as He comes forth IN His people at the appointed time.
Rev 3:3 Remember therefore how you have received and did hear; and keep it, and repent.
If therefore you will not watch, I will come as a thief, and you shall not know what hour I will come upon you.
-1Thessalonians 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
Now notice this amazing prophecy:
Jeremiah 5:24...Let us now fear the LORD our God, that gives rain,
both the former and the latter, in its season; that preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
Jesus came as the "former rain" on the Day of Pentecost as "a life-giving Spirit", according to Peter in Acts 2:17, and He comes again at the time of the "latter rain" at the time of "harvest", the last days of the church-elect-saints.
b.
When the "70th week" begins, Christ's disciples also begin to spiritually "keep" the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
ALL leaven (tradition, sin, false teaching) must be put out as the church begins to feast on the scriptures only.
NO manmade definitions, explanations, commentaries, doctrinal lists or statements are acceptable to God.
The saints MUST feast on the Word alone as Jesus is the WORD of God, and He is the bread come down from heaven".
John 6: 35 Jesus said unto them. I am the bread of life:
he that comes to me shall not hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst.)
for a list of things leavened into the church as we know it.
Ex. 13: 7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days;
and there shall no leavened bread seen, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee....
:8 And you shall tell thy son in that day, saying, It is because of that which The LORD did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord."
see Ex. 13:6-7, Lev.23:6, Deut 16:3-4.
Now God put the timing of the this FEAST for a reason, and for our learning.
The tribulation finally causes God's people to separate from the world and its' systems.
In order to separate His people from the body of the harlot church and the world, those that abide in the ark of Christ, i.e. His Word, the real disciples of Jesus will partake of His Word without the leaven of tradition, sin, church law, and fear of human church government.
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord.
Here is a double prophecy is seen regarding the "7th day", the 7th 1,000 year "day", which is also the "third day" since Christ's first coming.
Hos.6:2
After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up,
and we shall live before him. ... to know the LORD: his going forth is sure as the morning;
and he will come to us as the rain, as the latter rain that waters the earth.
3. For 3.5 days Jesus testified and gave witness in the temple, doing signs and healing:
Mat. 21:14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
Tribulaion:
For three and a half years, Jesus powerfully manifests Himself in a corporate body (His "temple") as the two witnesses, while His disciples do signs and miracles.
Rev. 11:6 These have the power to shut the heaven, that it rain not during the days of their prophecy: and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they shall desire.
Their Word (free from the leavened doctrines and deeds of the apostate church) is confirmed by power, signs, and wonders.
-Just as it was in Acts, for those that made themselves ready.
Mark 16:20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed..
These were not pew-sitting, pastor-idolizing, church building pseudo-saints. They manifested the character, nature, and name of Jesus Christ, and their words were confirmed by truthful signs and wonders by the Lord, as written. Therefore we have a great expectation and reason for rejoicing in anticipation of a repetition of Acts. Let each of us "prepare His way" and everyone having this hope "purify himself".
4. He declared the harlot, the body of apostate Israel desolate.
Mat 23:38 Behold, your house (the temple building and unregenerated Israel) is left to you desolate.
He was taking the kingdom away from the apostasy of Israel and giving it to a worldwide body of people made up of both Jew and gentile, the "holy nation" called (spiritually) "ALL Israel".
In the tribulation, the harlot church, a worldwide body and her offspring are reprobated. The churches who are of "the seed of men" are the daughters of the harlot of Christianity.
And in Rev.13, this is what the mark signifies as the apostate body of the harlot, those who do not have the "seal of God in their foreheads", take the mark and are reprobated.
-the abomination that makes desolate.
Rev. 14: 9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice,
If any man worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on
his forehead, or upon his hand
:10 he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God
5. The "Midst" of the "week".
This is where it becomes extremely interesting!
Luke 22:7 And the day came, on which the Passover must be sacrificed.
In the "midst (middle) of the week" that ended with Resurrection:
The second 3.5 days of Jesus "week" begins His great tribulation:
It began in the garden:
Mat 26:37..he took the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and sore troubled.
Judas the antichrist, was revealed to be the Son of Perdition who had been "hidden" in the corporate body of Christ.
At the middle of that week, Satan entered into Judas:
Luke 22:3 And Satan entered into Judas (the spirit of antichrist entered Judas ), and was revealed:
Mat 26:47 And while he yet spoke,.. Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief priest and elders of the people.
Likewise in the midst of the 7 tribulation years, comes the abomination of desolation as the anti-christ body of people is also revealed.
Dan 9:27 And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease;
(exactly what happened with Jesus in the garden as His sacrifice of service and the fruit of His lips ceased from prayer )
... and upon the wing of abominations shall come one that makes desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out upon the desolate.
At that time, the spirit of antichrist hidden in a body of professing Christians turns against the true disciples. "and brother shall betray brother..."
Mark 13:12 And brother shall deliver up brother to death.
Matthew 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another,
and shall hate one another.
6. Jesus was betrayed and delivered up to the harlot (Israel) and the beast (Rome).
Mark 14:43 And straightway, while he yet spoke, came Judas, one of the twelve,
and with him a multitude with swords and clubs,
from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
In tribulation, the saints are betrayed and delivered up to the harlot of Christinity and the NWO "beast".
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints,
and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
Matt 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another,
and shall hate one another...
7. At the arrest of Jesus, the disciples fled.
Mark 14:50 And they all left him, and fled.
In tribulation the church (the woman) flees into the wilderness.
Here is where "He who restrains will be taken out of the way"
Rev 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place
prepared of God, that there they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore days. (3.5 years)
Mat 24:16 then let them that are in Judaea flee unto the mountains :
20 And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on a sabbath:
21 for then shall be great tribulation, such as has not been from the
beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be (see Dan. 12:1)
8. The harlot and beast "tread down" Jesus Christ as His own "great tribulation" begins
Mat 27:2 and they bound him, and led him away, and delivered him up
to Pilate the governor.
Luke 23:7 And when he knew that he was of Herod's jurisdiction,
he sent him unto Herod,-Herod was the Roman "beast kingdom" governor.
As the two witness finish their 3.5 year ministry, the harlot of Christianity and the NWO beast put many saints to death.
(the two witnesses are two identifiable groups of people, called the two olive trees. We develop this in another post)
Rev 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that cometh up
out of the abyss shall make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman (the harlot of Christianity) drunken with the blood of the saints,
and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
At the end of their prophesying, they are martyred, as Jesus was in the middle of His "tribulation" week. In other words, the corporate body of Jesus begins to die worldwide from persecution by the beast <NWO kingdom> and harlot <NWO religion..
Their bodies lie in the open for for 3.5 years and then they are "caught up" into heaven.
Revelation 11: And after the three days and a half (3.5 years) the breath of life from God
entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them that beheld them.
12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them,
Come up hither. And they went up into heaven in the cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
"Middle of the week" continued.
9. When Jesus had finished His ministry, the "beast" put Him to death.
Luke 24:20 and how the chief priests (the harlot: apostate Judaism) and our rulers (the Romans) delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.
The beast is given power to make war against the saints.
Tribulation saints are persecuted (Christ in His people) and scattered (given flight )..
Many go into captivity.
Rev 13:10 If any man is for captivity, into captivity he goeth:
if any man shall kill with the sword, with the sword must he be killed.
Here is the patience and the faith of the saints
The "son of perdition" is revealed as a corporate body within the body (temple) of Christ.
2Thess. 2:4 he that opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God
or that is worshipped; so that he sits in *the temple of God,
setting himself forth as God.
2Thess 2:3 let no man beguile you in any wise: for it will not be, except the falling away
come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition
Matthew 24:15 When therefore ye see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let him that reads understand).
What is there to understand? Is it that the temple is not made with hands out of stone?
* Ephesians 2:19 ...but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,
21 in whom each several building, fitly framed together,
grows into a holy temple in the Lord;
In Acts 15: the church said there is no difference between Jew and gentile:
Acts 15:9 and he made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. -i.e., the saints.
This and many other scriptures demonstrate that there is ONE body of Christ, one church, in which there is neither Jew nor Greek. In other words, there will be no division from a gentile church being raptured so God can turn back to the Jew.
And both of these groups form the "holy temple" in the Lord. These are the "two olive trees".
10. When Jesus was arrested, the disciples fled.
Matthew 26:56 But all this is come to pass, that the scriptures of the prophets might be
fulfilled. then all the disciples left him, and fled.
The scattered saints go into 3.5 years of Great Tribulation.
Many saints die, lose their heads, are taken captive, but they overcome the beast and the harlot in doing so.
Dan 8:13 Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said unto that certain one
who spoke, How long shall be the vision concerning the continual burnt-offering,
and the transgression that makes desolate, to give both
the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?
Dan 7:25 And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out
the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the
law; and they shall be given into his hand until a
time and times and half a time.
Rev 12:14 And there were given to the woman the two wings of the great eagle, that she
might fly into the wilderness unto her place, where she is nourished for *a time, and
times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
* is a figure for 3.5 years.
Mat. 24: 20 And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on a sabbath:
21 for then shall be great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning
of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be
11. When Jesus was crucified, His body was broken. Jesus died- HIS Great Tribulation.....
Jonah 3:2 Out of the belly of Sheol cried I, And thou heardest my voice.
Isa. 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin
In tribulation, the "body of Christ" suffers again, corporately.
The persecuted saints, the "lively stones" of the temple (the church) are also "thrown down" as the saints flee, scattered, and persecuted.
Rev 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony;
and they loved not their life even unto death.
However the gospel is preached in power and worldwide:
Matt 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a
testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.
Rev 14:6 And I saw another angel flying in mid heaven, having eternal good tidings to
proclaim unto them that dwell on the earth,
and unto every nation and tribe and tongue and people..
Rev 11:6 These have the power to shut the heaven, that it rain not during the days of
their prophecy: and they have power over the waters to turn them
into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as
they shall desire.
12. Jesus died "outside the gates" according to the Law:
Deut 16:5 Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates
Rev 11:8 And their dead body lie in the street of the great city,
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
Jesus was not crucified INSIDE the city of Jerusalem, but in the world.
The saints also are given to suffer "outside the camp":
Heb 13:12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood,
suffered without the gate.
Rev. 18:4 another voice saying, Come forth, my people, out of her that ye have no
fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues:
Rev 11:8 And their dead body lie in the street of the great city,
which spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord
was crucified.
The two witnesses, which we believe are the "two olive trees" of the church and a remnant of natural Jews grafted back into the tree called "all Israel". As a corporate body, their dead body lies in the streets of the world wide city spiritually called Sodom and Egypt.
"Egypt" was a "type" of the world when ancient Israel came out from them 3,600 years ago.
13. Jesus overcame death :
Acts 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul unto Hades, Neither wilt thou give thy
Holy One to see corruption.
Acts 2:31 he foreseeing this spake of the resurrection of the Christ, that
neither was he left unto Hades
Rev 1:18 and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore,
and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
Likewise the saints overcome the devil, the beast, the harlot, and their own flesh.
1John 5:4 For that who is begotten of God overcomes the world: and
this is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
Rev 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb,
and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.
14. After the Resurrection ...
He appeared for 40 days to His disciples.
Acts 1:3 ..he also showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs,
appearing to them by the space of forty days, and speaking the
things concerning the kingdom of God:
So we see in the acts of Jesus, after 7 days of personal tribulation and 40 days He went up .
Acts 1:3 ..appearing to them by the span of forty days
:9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up;
and a cloud received him out of their sight.
After 7 days abiding in the ark, and 40 days on the ark during judgment, Noah also was lifted up.
After the 7 years and 40 days, the church goes up.
Noah's days: 7 x 365 + 40 = 2595 to a "raising up" above the earth.
Jesus' week of tribulation in a summary:
Began the 7 days in which He came to the city of Jerusalem.
For 3.5 days He ministered in the temple of God..
The son of perdition was revealed, and He was put on trial before the harlot and the beast, and was killed.
For 3.5 days He was in great tribulation beginning with His arrest, crucifixtion, and death..
At the end of the 7th day, He was alive and appeared for 40 Days comforting His disciples, and then >>>>>>>> the body of Jesus went UP.
After 7 years and 40 days, the body of Christ goes up a a cloud of witnesses, gathered to be with Jesus and follow him as the army of God.
1Thess 4: 17 then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up
in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Jesus shows the way.
My testimony.
I was praying asking the Lord if the tribulation was shown to us by Jesus in another way besides the obvious prophecies.
