Following the Spirit-Inspired Connections

            We’ve been taking the analogy of the prophetic puzzle pieces scattered throughout God’s Word one step further to ensure that we build the actual biblical view and not our pet view or someone else’s view. We’ve learned that no single prophecy shows the whole scene.
            We have to somehow make the right connections. How? By looking for key words and phrases, and symbolic metaphors that the Holy Spirit intentionally placed in God’s Word. These connections enable us to find the related pieces that reveal an event or scene in the end-time picture.  We learned that Paul gave us the four strategic features in 1 Thess. 4 and 5 concerning Christ’s coming.

1. RESURRECTION. Jesus comes with the saints and the dead in Christ rise first.
2. HARPAZO GATHERING. Then there is an harpazo event, where those who are alive when He comes are caught up, seized in a timely manner, and gathered to Him. We receive our glorified, immortal bodies.
3. DAY OF THE LORD. This event is connected to the Day of the Lord; it is tied completely to the start of the last Day; the rapture is the first event of that Day.
4. END OF THE AGE INVASION AS BIRTH PAINS. That Day comes like labor pains upon a pregnant woman (key metaphor—stands out because it’s am unusual term and therefore easily traceable). That Day comes with sudden destruction.

           
            We connected the common key words, phrases, and symbolic metaphors—such as a pregnant woman experiencing birth pains—with Revelation 12, Zechariah 14, and similar passages in Jeremiah and Joel to identify that we see the rise of the Antichrist first, then the final sign of this age of total celestial darkness, and then Christ coming to rapture the Church as the last Day dawns. 
            In Revelation 12, we see the rapture and then we see Jesus ascending again, only this time He is not alone as at His first ascension nearly 2,000 years ago. This time Jesus does not ascend as the first born from the dead but as the firstborn among many brethren. That is, as the One New Man with Jesus as the Head and the Body of Christ, His Church, as His body, the fullness of Him. This is the harpazo event.
            So what is the purpose of this harpazo event? Christ comes down to Mt. Zion, splitting the mountain to make a way of escape for the newly revived Jews. In that prepared place in the wilderness, they are fed for 1,260 days (3½ years). But it doesn’t end there.
            We are caught up to the throne of God with power over the nations as joint-heirs, ruling over them with a rod of iron, as kings and priests. It is the fulfillment of our heavenly calling, as the heavenly Esther born for such a time as this to spoil the evil plot of Haman against her people. If you recall, when He comes in that Day and we are raptured, the Jews finally see Jesus as the Messiah.
            We see the same literal coming down to the mountain, only to ascend back to God’s throne in Heaven to complete our next assignment in the age to come. The 7th Day or last Day is also Christ’s millennial reign over the earth. The first 3½ years of this 1,000-year Day of the Lord brings the destruction of the Antichrist and his evil forces. It begins gradually with the first 6 trumpets, like the plagues Moses brought against Pharaoh. And then this treading operation strikes suddenly with total destruction—the 7th trumpet. The Antichrist’s career is done, and it was short-lived, as was Jesus’ earthly ministry.
            Our reigning with Christ begins with this successful treading operation. This, in turn, brings the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. They finally dwell in true safety and peace. They serve as the natural head of the earthly nations, as directed by the heavenly court above.                 
            If you’ve been paying close attention, you have probably realized that every word in Scripture is intentional and significant. Now, perhaps, Ephesians 1:21 will make more sense when it tells us that Jesus has been given a name “far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”
            Why are these scriptural connections so important? They show us that we no longer have to cling to a secret sort-of-coming at any moment to assure us that we escape the wrath of that Day,  the mark of the beast, and the command to worship the beast. We are raised up at the start of the Day of the Lord to execute God’s judgments—that wrath—against the Antichrist and his evil forces.
            We still are taken to our prepared place in Heaven to reign as joint-heirs with Christ. We reign from above, from the position of all power and authority. That reigning begins with treading, which brings the downfall of the Antichrist and the False Prophet, as they are cast into the Lake of Fire. His armies are killed and devoured at the Supper of the Great God.
            In other words, we lose nothing concerning our future hope in Christ when we make the complete scriptural connections. The counterfeit one-world order is still crushed, compliments of our heavenly ruling judgments. The original calling of the Jews still comes to pass, as they are regrafted into the Vine. The promise to King David is still fulfilled as the kingdom is restored to Israel and Jerusalem becomes the praise of the earth.
            The evil plot of the modern-day “Haman” against the Jews is still foiled, and he is felled by his own devises. We get the privilege of saving “our people” just like Esther did for such a time as this. We don’t come back to this earth, for we rule from above for the rest of the 1,000 years. Instead, we come back at the end of the ages as the City, the New Jerusalem, to the new heavens and earth, to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
 
[For a more in-depth look at the connections summarized here, check out our video on our Chronos Messenger YouTube channel entitled, “Connections: Down to the Mountain…Up to the Throne.”]