One of my favorite movies is Star Wars and all the other sequels, prequels, side stories and spin-offs, but everyone always quotes the line from “Empire Strikes Back” of “Luke, I am your father,” incorrectly. The line is actually “No, I am your father!” Over time and hearing it in different movies, comedies, or other, one thinks, that it says the first way, and because we are a culture of not really listening; especially men (ask any wife) and “blindly” believing, we can misinterpret simple things like this, or worse, scripture and what the Word of God says. In my creative writing classes, I was taught a few things when it came to writing a story, reading a story and also understanding the protagonist, the antagonists, the plot, the climax and then the end. My teacher Ms. Tollstrup who I wrote about previously made us think, made us understand and to not take all things at face value. This goes back to how something is written, how someone reads it, and how someone interprets it. Though movies and books, or stories may take “liberties” of interpretation, we should not do that with the word of God.
There are many examples of misinterpretation in the Bible across, cults, denominations, and even atheists who completely take things out of context, interject their own agenda or view and many don’t study, read and check, what is truly being said. I have read Revelation quite a few times, have heard sermons on it, and even written a few “Cup of Joe’s” on it, but I too, was guilty of not studying the Word and believing whatever pastor or teacher I was listening to, instead of “LISTENING” to what the Spirit is saying.
Revelation Four, which many believe is the “secret” rapture of the church, mis-read or interject their own interpretation or believe it says one thing that it doesn’t. Let’s look at Revelation Four verse One which says,
““After these things I looked, and there was a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said: “Come up here so that I can show you what must happen after
these things.”” (NET)
In order for things to make sense we need to know who is speaking, who is being spoken to and where, what, when, otherwise, we’d be lost like the Israelites wandering around the desert, not realizing they were going in circles because of their disobedience. John starts out with “After these things,” so what things is he referring to? If you look at the Two previous chapters, he is reading the letters that were given to him, (we will get to the who but it’s not who most people think this who is) but where was he before, “after these things?” Let’s go back to Chapter One, verse Nine of Revelation,
““I, John, your brother and the one who shares with you in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, WAS ON THE ISLAND CALLED PATMOS because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus. I WAS IN THE SPIRIT ON THE LORD’S DAY” (NET)(Emphasis Added)
In sentence and writing structure, we see that John was, where? On the Island of Patmos where he was exiled after they tried boiling him in oil and he was also, “on the Lord’s day,” which is the day of rest, and most importantly, “he was in the Spirit.” John is letting us know in chapter four that after these things of reading the letters to the Seven churches and being in the Spirit, he looked, saw a door standing open in heaven, and he heard a voice like a trumpet.
Now, most popular eschatological systems will say that this is where the “secret” rapture happens, because John hears a trumpet and then they quote First Thessalonians Four to emphasize or back up their claim of “Harpazo” of a “secret” rapture, but let look at what Pauls says,
““For the LORD HIMSELF WILL COME DOWN from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the TRUMPET OF GOD, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.” (NET)
So Paul is saying that the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the Trumpet of God. There is no charades going on with a “sounds like,” or that He only calls John and everyone “secretly” goes up behind with John and we are there with John being shown what must happen. The trumpet John hears is not the last trumpet of God, because then Paul would be lying and his words would not be true, as the world doesn’t end when John went up or we weren’t raptured when John heard the sound, but also look at what John hears in Chapter One of Revelation continuing from verse Ten,
“ when I heard behind me a loud voice LIKE A TRUMPET: “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches – to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”” (NET)
So if John is hearing the same trumpet sound in Chapter One and Chapter Four, how can there be Two “raptures?” God is not confusing or contradictory in any sense of His Word and to say or add other meanings is false on so many levels. We can think we hear, “Luke, I am your father,” but that is not what is being written or said. The other thing is that Jesus is the One coming down in Thessalonians and John is told to come up here. If we wanted to talk trumpets, and think there is a “secret” disappearance, the trumpets that are blown don’t appear until chapter Eight of Revelation, which then really can be confusing, if that is what we are attributing to the Trumpet call of God and what John heard.
The other thing with reading, writing and understanding is who is speaking to John and who is the “trumpet” sound speaking of? Many think it is Jesus, but again, let’s read what is written. Revelation One says in verse Twelve,
““I turned to see whose voice was speaking to me, and when I did so, I saw seven golden lampstands,” (NET)
In verse One it says,
““The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must happen very soon. He made it clear by sending HIS ANGEL to His servant John, who then testified to everything that he saw concerning the word of God and the testimony about Jesus Christ.” (NET)
If we are reading in context, we see that the one with the sound like a trumpet, not a trumpet, is the angel sent by Jesus to reveal what is going to happen, and when John turns to see, He sees the seven lampstands and Jesus was there, so John is already in heaven in the presence of the lampstands and of Jesus. The word doesn’t say, the voice of the trumpet was Jesus, but it says as he turned to look, he saw Jesus. When we get to heaven, we will see the saints, the lampstands, the angels, but best of all we will see Jesus and He will shine brighter than all things, as the Word says, that there is no need for a sun. After reading the letters, which in movies, or writing stories or books, the writers jump to different situations, either looking forward or back, as John does here. John goes back to that voice of the angel telling him to come up here, but he was already in the Spirit and in the presence of the Lamb, so the word is clear that it’s not a rapture, because I think God would have used that word Harpazo here, but it’s more of, OK, John’s there more to see, so come here.
If we read what John continues in Chapter Four, we see that again, John is repeating where he was, who was talking to him, and what he was about to write. So John is in the presence of the angel who was sent by Jesus, telling and showing him all these things to write for all who would read the words aloud and understand what the Spirit is saying. John is not yet seeing the multitude of God and all those who would be saved, not thru a seven year tribulation period, but for all time and eternity, until chapter Seven. He is in the presence of the council of God, where the elders and the angels are praising God, not human elders but those already in heaven with God. This imagery John is quoting is out of Ezekiel and Isaiah of God’s cherubim and seraphim. Go read chapter One of Ezekiel and you will see the same imagery. Isaiah chapter six has the same imagery and he even sees the beasts calling out Holy, holy, holy, because that is what God’s word is, consistent, not confusing and orderly.
We should know that the Old Testament is the prophecy of Jesus, and the New Testament writers use it to quote and emphasize what took place and what will take place. Remember when Jesus opened His ministry, He opened the Word and read out of Isaiah, it says in Luke Four,
““Now Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as WAS HIS CUSTOM. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and the regaining of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, Then He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. Then He began to tell them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled even as you heard it being read.”” (NET)
In John Five it says,
““You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about Me, but you are not willing to come to Me so that you may have life.” (NET)
In Luke Twenty Four it says,
““So He said to them, “You foolish people – how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Wasn’t it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them the things written about Himself in all the scriptures.” (NET)
We can read and study, listen to pastors and go to conferences, crusades, outreaches; (that are more of a concert anymore, than the truth of the Word being spoken), but never come to know Jesus. We use the Word as a self help book, where we look up scriptures, take them out of context, to “Live our Best life,” Fulfill our Purpose,” “Be blessed financially, because that’s His will for us,” “and any other fad book, seminar or mockery of God’s word there is. But the scriptures old and new, are all about Jesus. Did you know that there isn’t a single verse of a suffering Messiah in the Bible, that when Jesus came, the reason the “religious” leaders didn’t believe Jesus was the Messiah, was because they were blinded to the fact, because of what Jesus quoted in Luke Four. I dare you to find one verse, you won’t and that is why Jesus shared and said all of scripture. In context, in the whole, the Word talks about Jesus coming, Jesus dying, and then coming back ONCE and for all, to reset us back to Eden.
We have so many examples of people in the Bible; from Cain to Judas, Nadab and Abihu, most of the kings of Israel starting with Saul, to Zedekiah, the Pharisees to the many false prophets, cult leaders and many in so-called Christian churches, that “study” the scriptures, but sadly to look more for loop holes, water it down, make it fit their denomination, but truly never see Jesus.
John in writing Revelation was given the message, yes ultimately from Jesus, but we must remember in context and read aloud as instructed what the message is from God. The angels are God’s messengers, the elect are anyone who have repented and come or will come to Jesus, and the Day of the Lord will be one day, where all will either be taken up to heaven, the true rapture for all to see, for him to take us home with Jesus, and the others away from Jesus. There is no secret coming of Jesus. John being taken up in chapter Four is not a rapture or a rapture event, as all of scripture doesn’t say that, and or even reference that.
God, who is the Author and Creator of all things, He gave us sentence structure, gave us His word, and we must be diligent in understanding. His coming will be like a thief in the night, that never means secretly. The flood that overtook the world, came as a thief in the night, but not from them not being warned, they just chose to not believe, until they saw the rain, but by then it was too late and Noah and his family were still on the earth. Even though the people were warned, didn’t escape death, so it will be for those refusing to repent and come to Jesus. The rapture comes, then the wrath, then the End, all on the same day. Read, listen to the Spirit, understand, it’s not what we want to hear, but what is being said by Him and Him alone.” Jose Barajas
