#3.5 THE RAPTURE OCCURS AFTER THE SUN SHALL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD

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YOUTUBE VIDEO Prophesied Rapture in REVELATION 12 on 23rd September 2017 is FALSE

Introduction 3.5

One of the false teachings of the pre-tribulation rapture teachers is that no prophesied event stands between us now and the rapture. So what is the significance of 'the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood'? Simply this, if we can give biblical proof that 'the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood' occurs before the rapture, then we have shown that the pre-tribulation argument is false. This bible study gives biblical proof that the rapture occurs after the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood.

#3.5 THE RAPTURE OCCURS AFTER THE SUN SHALL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD

Hebrew - Joel 2:30-31 - English
וְנָתַתִּי מוֹפְתִים בַּשָּׁמַיִם, וּבָאָרֶץ: דָּם וָאֵשׁ, וְתִימְרוֹת עָשָׁן.	30 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ יֵהָפֵךְ לְחֹשֶׁךְ וְהַיָּרֵחַ לְדָם-לִפְנֵי, בּוֹא יוֹם יִַהְוֶה הַגָּדוֹל וְהַנּוֹרָא.	31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.

MATTHEW 24:29-31 (Jesus)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken;
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Greek - Mark 13:24-27 - English
ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις μετὰ τὴν θλῖψιν ἐκείνην ὁ ἥλιος σκοτισθήσεται καὶ ἡ σελήνη οὐ δώσει τὸ φέγγος αὐτῆς	24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
καὶ οἱ ἀστέρες τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἔσονται ἐκπίπτοντες, καὶ αἱ δυνάμεις αἱ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς σαλευθήσονται	25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
καὶ τότε ὄψονται τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενον ἐν νεφέλαις μετὰ δυνάμεως πολλῆς καὶ δόξης	26 Then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
καὶ τότε ἀποστελεῖ τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπισυνάξει τοὺς ἐκλεκτοὺς αὐτοῦ, ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων ἀνέμων ἀπ᾽ ἄκρου γῆς ἕως ἄκρου οὐρανοῦ	27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

LUKE 21:25-27 (Jesus)
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Greek - Acts 2:19-20 - English
καὶ δώσω τέρατα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ σημεῖα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κάτω αἷμα καὶ πῦρ καὶ ἀτμίδα καπνοῦ	19 And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
ὁ ἥλιος μεταστραφήσεται εἰς σκότος καὶ ἡ σελήνη εἰς αἷμα πρὶν ἡ ἐλθεῖν τὴν ἡμέραν κυρίου τὴν μεγάλην καὶ ἐπιφανῆ	20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

REVELATION 6:12 (John)
12 And when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

Note: In order to explain the meaning of this section, we will have to look at some more typology. The physical sun is the source of all light to the physical world, and during the night, when the sun cannot be seen, its light is reflected onto the world by the physical moon. In a spiritual sense Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5), the people of the earth are the world (John 3:16), and the moon is symbolic of the church. While Jesus was upon the earth it was a time of spiritual day (John 9:4), but when he died, and the world could see him no more, we entered into a time of spiritual night. The only light that the world can now see is that reflected by the spiritual moon, the church. Thus Jesus told his disciples, "You are the light of the world." (Matthew 5:14), just as we consider the moon to be the light of the physical world during the night. The spiritual and the physical often run parallel to one another, so when the spiritual light of the world was extinguished on the cross, the physical sun also was darkened (Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44). Bearing all this in mind, let us now examine the scriptures concerning the sun and the moon during the tribulation period.
Firstly, we have the tribulation on the church: persecution under the fifth seal (Revelation 6:9-11). This does not completely destroy it because others are to be killed later (Revelation 6:11), and so the persecution continues under the sixth seal judgment, when "the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;" (Revelation 6:12). This is a time of great spiritual darkness, when the word will be under strong delusion (2 Thessalonians 2:11), and "the moon became as blood;" we might interpret as symbolic of the continued persecution on the church. The time of all this is during the sixth seal judgment, and there may, or may not be also physical signs with it.
Secondly, we have the tribulation on the Jews: persecution by "the beast", and from other sources (See #4.3), after which the sun and moon are darkened (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24). This may be a literal astronomical phenomenon, but the point to note is that it occurs after the tribulation, and before Jesus returns.
Therefore this section also refutes the false idea of both a pre-tribulation and a mid-tribulation rapture.

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