Bible Prophecy and Inspiration

Isaiah 26:19-21 – ¹⁹ But your dead will live; their bodies will rise.  You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy.  Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.  ²⁰ Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.  ²¹ See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins.  The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer.

Here is a very interesting verse in the Old Testament from the prophet Isaiah.

Is it on the rapture?  Let’s read it more carefully and break it down.

In verse nineteen it certainly sounds like a rapture verse.  Your dead will live and their bodies will rise.  You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy.  The earth will give birth to their dead.

That reminds me of another verse we have went over a couple of times from Paul.

1 Corinthians 15:52-54 – ⁵²in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

There seems to be a pretty good parallel there.  Also in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 it talks about the dead rising first, concerning the rapture.

To me verse nineteen fits with others.  Let’s move onto verse twenty.

In Isaiah 26:20 it talks about enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you.  This could mean the Jewish people he is talking to could be hiding, possibly sealed, when the Lord displays His wrath.  However, a verse that also comes to mind is this one.

John 14:2-3 –  ²In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Does this indicate that we will go to be in our rooms, or mansions, as the KJV states?  Then after the wrath, we come down with God at the end of the Tribulation?  At the rapture you receive your resurrected body, so one could enjoy his new heavenly dwelling with a new body.

One other important thing I want to hit on concerning verses 19 and 20 before moving on.  In nineteen we start with the rising of the dead.  Why would God raise the dead for a new life in which they are shouting for joy and then have to shield or protect them during His wrath?  Wouldn’t it be easier to wait afterwards if they were not going to a place of safety?  So if the dead have risen and they shouting for joy, but this is not the rapture, they better hurry and find a door to go behind before God spills down His wrath.  They also better find a door to get behind because the Antichrist is trying to kill them too.  But, wait, weren’t they already dead?  How can they be killed again?  After they have been resurrected?  We know that can’t happen and it wouldn’t make sense that way.

What makes verses 19-21 appear to be an event that takes place during the end times?  Well, one is dead people rising, but they did that when Jesus resurrected also.  Two the Bible speaks about a time when God will pour out His wrath on all on mankind that lives on Earth.  Verse twenty-one hits on that very thing.

Isaiah 26:21 – ²¹ See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins.  The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer.

The flood had already passed and the next judgment in which God pours down His wrath on man concerning the whole earth is in the last days.  

I believe Isaiah 26:19-21 fits right in line with the Pre-Tribulation rapture theory.

There is a crown for those who love His appearing.  Why?  Because if you love the idea of Jesus coming back right now, you are probably trying to live for Him and are excited to see Him.  Worth Rewarding?  From what I read about my King and Savior, I would say yes. 

If you’re not excited about the Lord returning at any second and you’re not looking for Him at all, you’re probably not living for Him.  Start today making it your goal to live for Him every day so you can be rewarded and excited about standing in front of Him.

We are continuing on with the support scriptures of a pre-tribulation rapture.  This week is another scripture that indicates we are to be spared from God’s wrath.

1 Thessalonians 5:9 – ⁹For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We talked last week that the righteous will not be swept away with the wicked.  What makes you righteous?   By accepting Jesus Christ and his blood sacrifice on the cross.

Who is wicked?  We are all wicked, some more than others, but none-the-less all.  It’s not about what we can do to get back to God, but what God did through His Son.

So we see once again that those in Jesus Christ are not appointed to suffer wrath.

Some mid-tribbers will state that the last three and half years is when God pours out His wrath.  The first three and half years are just hardships.  What does the book of Revelation say?

Revelation 6:16 – ¹⁶They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!

So the sixth seal indicates that it is a part of the wrath of the Lamb!  Who is the Lamb that was slain?  Jesus.  Who do we read Jesus is in Revelation?

Revelation 1:7-8 –  ⁷Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.  ⁸“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Revelation 1:17-18 – ¹⁷When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

So the wrath of the Lamb is the wrath of God.  When is it mentioned?  Just the sixth seal into the Tribulation which is in chapter 6.  The tribulation doesn’t start until the 6^th chapter.  It also states that only the Lion from the Tribe of Judah and the Lamb that was slain was worthy to open up the scroll and begin the seal judgments.  The second, third, and fourth seals, are war, famine, and pestilence.  Would these be considered wraths from God?  Jesus is the only One who could open the seals and initiate them, so my guess is yes.  

How soon are the seal judgments released into the Tribulation?  Well we know that the Seal Judgments are the first of three sets of seven judgments each that are unleashed.  The second group of seven judgments is called the Trumpet Judgments.  The third set is the Bowl Judgments.

In Chapter 11 we have the Seventh Trumpet Judgment happening.  In Chapter 12 we have Satan being cast down after losing a battle in Heaven.  Why is this significant?  Because we know that Satan incarnates the Antichrist’s body after he is killed.  That is at the 3 and half year point.  So if the seventh trumpet judgment happens before that, it leaves only the Bowl Judgments left.

My whole point is that the 6^th Seal appears to happen within a year or two into the Tribulation.  The other point is I believe all the Seal Judgments are part of the wrath of God.

To recap both the scripture that started this post and the one in the previous posts:

1 Thessalonians 5:9 – ⁹For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 1:10 – ¹⁰and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

According to the scriptures from Paul we will not be here for the wrath that is to come, but are rescued by Jesus Christ.