I’m so thankful for the Gospel:
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 1Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
I’m so thankful for the sealing of the Holy Spirit within that guarantees my salvation:
Ephesians 1:13-14 13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Praise God for this sealing…
…for by it we’re secure. My concern, though, is that we’re taking this amazing guarantee of eternal security given to us in the Church Age and misapplying it to pre- and post Church Age times.
I call it wearing Church Colored Glasses.
Why do we do this? Because…
- …it’s true for us so it must be true for everyone?
- …it seems right?
- …we’ve been taught it since the day we got saved?
Though you’ll probably say yes to the above (like I did), I’m proposing to you that it’s also because we are not rightly dividing the Word of Truth.
Whatever the reason is, the fact remains that we do it.
So let’s take off our Church Colored Glasses and look at this topic without bias so we can better see how God divides time.
But first, a reminder. I know we’re eternally secure. There are many verses besides Ephesians 1 quoted above that tell us so. A few of those are Ephesians 4:30, 2 Corinthians 1:22 and 2 Corinthians 5:5. (Other verses are listed in the Actual ES Verses article.) We’ve been given something we could never, ever earn!
Now, the simplest way to begin looking at this is by understanding our time slot. We, the Church, are in God’s Great Parenthesis, the Church Age. The Church Age had its beginning when Jesus gave our gospel to Paul and it will have its end at the Rapture. Our ‘parenthesis’ interrupted the prior age of law before it finished due to Israel rejecting their King on Palm Sunday. The last seven years of that age will be completed after we’re gone.
But back to the subject at hand.
The book of Ephesians talks much about the Church.
Here’s an example:
Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption
The precious promise given to the Church of the indwelling Holy Spirit actually has an end date! Did you see that? Unto the day of redemption. (I know I had always thought it was a forever thing.) Well, we were redeemed at the moment of salvation, right? So what day is he talking about?
Now look again at the earlier mentioned Ephesians passage, verse 14. 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
See it again?
When is the redemption of the purchased possession?
Both passages are saying the same thing. The redemption time/day is in regards to the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23) at the Rapture. The Rapture of the Church.
1 Corinthians 15:51-54 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 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. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
Amazing!
Our souls, like I said, were already redeemed so he’s not talking about that. What he’s saying is we’ll no longer need Him sealing us as a ‘deposit’ because we are given our eternal glorified bodies at that point. We’ll have it all, not just the down payment!
After we’re raptured, we’ll no longer need the Holy Spirit to be sealed within us, since the event His presence guaranteed will have taken place.
https://gracethrufaith.com/end-times-prophecy/the-nature-of-post-church-salvation/
The guarantee of the indwelling Spirit is for the Church in the Church Age. Period. That’s the only time the Holy Spirit seals anyone! Salvation is available to those outside the Church Age, obviously, but not security. I know that sounds crazy, but stay with me.
Continuing on with the above GraceThruFaith article:
So during the 70th week of Daniel the Holy Spirit, having been released from the Church, will resume a ministry on Earth similar to the one He performed in Old Testament times. Once again He’ll come upon people, and be with them, but won’t be sealed within them.
The 70th Week of Daniel he mentions is the last seven years of a prophecy found in Daniel 9:24-27 that I mentioned earlier. I go into detail on this prophecy in my book which is available for free on the Book tab.
Our Uniqueness
Daniel 9:24-27 tells us that the seven-year ‘Tribulation’ period is actually the tail end of this prophecy to the JEWS and about the JEWS, not the Church. We cannot be on earth at the time of this event. No one will be indwelt by the Holy Spirit then.
So the Rapture:
- ends the Church Age.
- must precede the Tribulation.
- allows for the Tribulation ‘kick-off’ event in Daniel 9:27 to occur.
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Do you see how ‘rightly dividing’ matters and why we need to focus on witnessing to our loved ones now while they can still join the Church! Do you see now without your glasses on!
churchageisdifferent.com