Sawdust,
Thanks for understanding things. Yes, it isn't a topic that is really spoken of very often because there are so many other things that are occurring in that last seven years that it isn't brought up very often. I posted an item that listed the promises that God made to Israel and those made to the church. It also compared the entities showing how completely different they are, and also the use of the term tribulation or trials in Scripture.

The point is that the promise made to the Jews is an "Earthly Kingdom" which is ruled and reigned over by their Messiah the Son of David. There are very few Jews that will actually live through the entire Tribulation. So the faithful Jews who died looking forward to the promised Millennial Kingdom have to be resurrected like Lazarus was, with the same body that he had already died in made whole and healthy. These are the Jewish people who will repopulate the Jewish nation during the Millennial Kingdom. When I was in Bible College I had to write a Paper on a Biblical topic, but as a speculative point of view. I chose what is the shortest verse in Scripture. "Jesus wept."

I had never heard anyone address this verse for some reason or another. I read through the context until it suddenly came to me, Jesus had purposely waited to allow Lazarus to die and then He further delayed action so that by the time He arrived Lazarus had been in the grave long enough to beginning to decompose in the stifling heat of Israel. Jesus also knew that His intention was to prove that He had the power over life and death as well as the resurrection. If He already knew exactly what was going to happen why would He cry?

The a thought struck me, Jesus knew this family intimately. He had spent time teaching all of them and they all had become His disciples. Lazarus, if he was the same man that Jesus alluded to in His account of the rich man and Lazarus, had not had a great life. After Lazarus had died he had gone into Abraham's Bosom the paradise side of Hades where the dead were separated by a wide chasm and the evil dead could witness what they had missed out on because they could see those who lived by faith living in luxury in paradise.

Jesus knew that after living through a hard and difficult life Lazarus was now living in the place where he was beginning to enjoy the benefits of living for God. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the tomb, He had taken Lazarus out of paradise and brought him back to a harsh life in which he would have to suffer death yet again. I believe that Jesus knew just hard that life would be again for Lazarus. As we know after Lazarus was raised from the dead the miracle angered the Jewish leaders and they plotted the deaths of both Jesus and Lazarus. How would you like to return from heaven to a hard and harsh life only to find out that the religious leaders who controlled things in the country in which you lived, again, were out to kill you, again. So Jesus wept, knowing how hard things would be for Lazarus because Jesus was using him for an object lesson.

Don M

Isa 26:19-21

19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

21 For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
KJV

James,

From your choice of verses in this post it sounds like you are not one who believes or supports the Pre-Trib Rapture. I'm not going to try and refute your understanding if this is your sincere point of view. However, one thing that you should be aware of is that Isaiah was led of the Holy Spirit to write this book as a synopsis of the entire Bible. I'm not saying that Isaiah was outlining the Bible, but that this book is practically a synopsis of the Bible. It has the same number of chapters as the Bible has books. The chapters which parallel the books of the Old Testament all have similar content to the books of the OT which they compare to. The chapters which parallel the New Testament also have similar content to the NT books which they parallel.

Many scholars have tried to push this similarity too far, but the chapter which you quote these verses from were written to the Jews and not to those of the Body of Christ. The 12th chapter of the Book of Daniel speaks to the Rapture of the Jews who died looking forward to the Millennial Kingdom. When they are raised to live for 1,000 years under the reign of their Messiah they will have physical bodies with which to repopulate the Earth.

Don M

I'm not disagreeing here but just asking a question.

When Isaiah was written the new testament writings had not come about..obviously. So is it just divine intervention that the chapters and the NT books are similar? And that those particular books got included in the canon?

DMcKay:

Actually I do believe in the pre-trib rapture almost to a fault. I do not remember at the moment as to why I posted the previous scriptures but I do know they are separate applications as to the rapture of the church.
This resurrection Isaiah mentioned is also in line with the "valley of dry bones". You cannot have a resurrection of a nation without first having a resurrection of the people.

I would put my ideas to paper but our Pastor isn't here to say yay or nay.


everready