Quote:
Originally Posted by Timotheist
Another good question!
For this one I have to suggest a choice between two options:
1) These are those who converted AFTER the 7th trumpet and the resurrection. There is a path to salvation for them, but they must stay alert.
2) Incredibly, these are those who were raptured/resurrected at the 7th trumpet, and this is a warning to "keep your clothes on". What are these clothes? Elsewhere the robe seems to indicate the spiritual body, as opposed to the physical, which is "naked".
I see a parallel to the parable of the "naked guest" who somehow makes it to the wedding feast. The guest is thrown out into the outer darkness, apparently because he shed his garment.
How can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
The robe is also an indication of holiness, sanctification. Taking the robe off, then, would indicate a rejection of salvation, which is within the realm of possibility. These are those in the parable of the sower, who initially accept salvation with joy, but then walk away.
So the time of the bowls must lie between the second coming and the judgement of the believers. Can somebody "screw up" and rebel during this time? I suppose that the tendency of human nature to "lust for the flesh" knows no bounds.
The "thief" comes to those who are not alert and prepared.
So I tend towards the second option, but the other is still a possibility in my mind. I know I am treading in dangerous waters here, possibly angering those who believe in "once saved, always saved". But the outer darkness is not the second death. That judgement does not occur until the end of the 1000 years.
|
OK. Still thinking about your answer...not going into cardiac arrest yet.
Here's another one for you...a 3rd possibility for Rev. 16:15.
Going waaaayyy back to the children of Israel in captivity in Egypt. There were 10 horrific plagues, from which God's people were miraculously protected. They did not experience the wrath being poured out by God on their captors.
In the same manner, can God's people being spared from the ancient 10 plagues be a picture of God's protection of His people during the horrific events of the great tribulation and God's wrath?
That is, a kind of painting of the blood of the lamb on the doorposts which causes the death angel to pass over those sheltered inside? Is there a similar kind of protection for believers during the tribulation making the timing of the rapture of the believers even more of a mystery?
Nell