2 am theology

editor's note: there's a good chance i may have misunderstood, misquoted or misrepresented the perspectives or words of my companions mentioned here.  if i did so, my deepest and humblest apologies.  feel free to correct me!

***

this past week has been a killer.  worse than a killer, because actually it's been almost 2 weeks long.  and in those 1.7 weeks, i worked the equivalent of 3 weeks' worth of work.  9 shifts in 11 nights, and i'm ready for a break! 

like, for realzies.

i do not remember how this all came about because the nights have all run together in my head, but somewhere several nights ago at work a random question popped up between 2 other super-cool nurses about the end times and persecution and one of them casually asked my opinion, listened for a minute and then went back about her work.  the other nurse couldn't escape me because we were in the same area ;)  it helped immensely that she has a working knowledge of the Bible and basic Christian principles and holds to her faith, so we had a common ground- which hasn't been the case with anyone who's recently asked me a question about faith or spirituality. 

i'm not good with my spoken words.  kinda like Moses only worse, i believe. my brain turns into macaroni and cheese, my words get jumbled and lost and half the time i just give up talking altogether.

but i loved the talk anyway, which continued and ranged over several topics and hours.

the question centered on my belief in either the pre- or post-Tribulation rapture (whether i thought Christians would be called up to heaven before or after the "end times", namely the time of great evil and trials that the Bible says will happen as/just before the physical world ends)- and why.

oh boy.

oooooooh, boy!

the short answer, as of right this moment before more study, is that i am led more towards a post-tribulation rapture.  i have heard strong, and strongly-worded, cases for both sides, and several more sides that it would just take too long to think about here. i forget what my first coworker said, but the second seemed to hope that it was a pre-trib rapture.  i don't know if she has actually read, or if she only knows of, the Left Behind series- but i'm just gonna say now that i have read all of them (excepting the very last one, after Jesus comes back), and i disagree with the authors on several points.  mainly, i object to the way it seems they pick and choose prophecies from all throughout the Bible and interpret them in ways that make for a great story, but not *necessarily* the truth. 

she said first of all

1)that she's a fighter (she is- really.  i wouldn't push it ;) )and that she hoped she'd be able to stay strong against those who challenged her faith, 

2) that she honestly hadn't thought things would get as bad as they have for Christians in America so soon, and also

3) that she knows a bit more about the Old Testament than the New.

to the first point, i hope the same.  but i also know myself enough to know that i do have a breaking point and i do sometimes wonder how much i could really handle. i do concede that a lot of me hopes that i do get raptured first, or that my persecutor just whips out a gun so we can skip the whole fighting, bribing, blasphemy, physical torture and all similar trauma.  not to be glib, but to be real. i have a high pain tolerance, but … evil minds go deeper and darker than i can fathom. and there are evil, evil minds at work in this world today.

to the second point, nothing encouraging there.  sorry. because i really don't things will get better.  i really do things will get worse.  possibly faster than i think.

to the third, finally… i do think i have an answer.  and it means that i can accept the first two points and hold to the hope in the truths i see here.

for a book with so many authors and written over so many years, the Bible is a remarkably put-together read!  because really, it only has one Author and He's brilliant and He put all kinds of allusions and illustrations all over the Old Testament so that even the fishermen we read about in the New Testament were able to understand the connections.

and one of my favorite Old Testament stories is also one of the most well-known.

it's the story of the Exodus, and i think it illustrates in many ways the coming "exodus," or rapture.

back in Egypt's grand day, this guy who was admittedly not an orator but rather an exiled, rejected, simple, OLD shepherd was told by a burning scrub bush to do the impossible- rescue God's people from their 400-year long slavery. after much convincing, he agreed.

he went back to the land that had his face on wanted posters, walked up to the pharaoh (who was held to be deity to the Egyptians) and told him to give up his entire workforce, because a Voice was telling him to.  a Voice who said He was the ONLY GOD. 

now, Moses had already been told that there was going to be a struggle.  and a struggle there was.  10 seconds after that first encounter, pharaoh made the labor worse so that even the slaves hated Moses, who was genetically one of their own.

then the plagues came, each one a little worse, and (i read from a Jewish rabbi) each pointedly showing Yahweh's superiority over a different Egyptian god. 

i read about the Nile turned to blood and the plague of frogs and want to puke. 

i read about the gnats and the boils and want some benedryl and a shower. 

i read about the hail and fire and loss and resulting poverty, destruction and hunger and want to cry.

but alongside the plagues, there's a promise.  starting with the 4th (of 10) plagues, God promises that they WILL NOT TOUCH HIS PEOPLE.  hate them all you want, but not a single hailstone  or locust landed in Goshen.  search the barracks, and you will not see a boil or blemish on a Jew's face.  even the 3-day darkness that every Egyptian physically felt didn't affect those the I AM said were His.

then the final blow to the king who would call himself a god: the loss of every single first-born child in Egypt…

except those who heard and heeded Moses's warning by wiping the blood of a spotless lamb on their doorposts.

at that point, not only were the Jews let go, they were commanded to flee and sent on their way with their arms full of gold and jewels, effectively looting the mighty nation that had already lost everything else because of their impenitent hearts.

those Jews were physically present for all the plagues- but were protected for the worst, and served as an example to the Egyptians .  when the judgement was complete, His people were called out of their bondage and led to the Promised Land.

thus, the first "Passover" celebration, where God's people remember how He passed over those covered by the blood.

i think in the same way, we (meaning, "Christians living during the coming of the 'Great Tribulation' ") will be left on earth when the final judgements come.  but in Revelation, there is a point at which everyone will be marked- those who follow Jesus the Lamb being covered by His blood, and everyone else receiving the "mark of the beast."  Christians will face persecution, but those "coming out of the great tribulation" will be given white robes and a front seat in the amphitheater of martyrs praising Jesus for the rest of eternity. (see Revelation 7: 13-14, and note: it does not say "hauled out as a group before the tribulation")

before the white robes, they will be on the earth, serving as shining lights in a dark, dark world and pointing the lost to the Savior, though those with impenitent hearts will suffer for, but not turn from, their sins.

***

a New Testament parallel would be the very last Passover mentioned.

when Jesus tells His faithful few yet again that persecution will come.

this spotless Lamb was heading for that wooden crossbeam so the wrath of God would pass over those who claimed refuge under it, while the rest of the outwardly religious city was trying to destroy the I AM and set up their own religion as they wanted.

not very many verses later, all four of the Gospels tell how those faithful few run like jackrabbits as their leader is arrested by murderous scoundrels.

and Peter?… good, lively, adamantly pro-Jesus Peter?... guy with Christian bumper stickers all over his fishing boat? that Peter?!?- at the very first test of his devotion to Christ, he caves to fear and lies to save his own skin, just like Jesus said he would. 

just like i could see myself doing, if pushed too far.

and yet a few days later, the newly-risen Savior meets him again and in one of the most touching bonding moments in the history of EVER, Peter is forgiven.

redeemed, restored, refreshed.

the first to recognize Jesus as the Son of God was (essentially) the first one to face persecution, the first to face arrest and possible death for his devotion to Jesus, and the first one to fail -not even once, but 3 times- and was the first to be met with unparalleled grace and love from the One he denied.

those who are truly His are not lost.

the Blood never fails.

i don't have many answers, but i do see an awful lot of Bible verses about spiritual warfare, preparedness, promises that persecution WILL COME to any who hold fast to the name of Jesus, knowing that we are never tempted beyond what we can bear *through His strength.* and that we are also promised mercy and forgiveness for our failings, which happen when we do things *in our own strength.*

and there are just as many Bible verses about the victory coming, eternal rest in the heavenly Promised Land, and the promise that those "passed over" will not have any regrets afterwards.  the book of Revelations ends much the same way Moses's exodus does, which should give us all the hope and encouragement we need as we follow our Leader towards whatever does happen.