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Daily Life Cut Short" -- REFERENCE NOTES
REFERENCE NOTES:
#1 “DOUBLE REFERENCE” PROPHECY
The "days of Noah" is a double reference" prophecy in Matthew 24:37-39. That is because of the "day or hour" imminency clause attached to it in v.36, 44. An imminent event is an "any-moment" event--it can happen at any time, suddenly and unexpected. That can only apply to the Rapture. But the "days of Noah" in Matthew 24 is also a Second Coming reference because contextually Christ is coming "like lightning" (v.27).
The imminent language is not used in Luke 17. The double-reference in Matthew's "days of Noah" has reference to both the Rapture and the Christ's Return to the Earth. Luke 17 has reference only to the Second Coming. Double reference prophecy, well attested in prophetic Scripture already, compresses the Rapture and Return phases of Christ’s Second Coming into a single prophecy in Matthew 24, without reference to the fact that the Rapture and Return have separate fulfillments at least 7 years apart.The compression of the two events into a single prophecy makes them appear to be a single event.
The Old Testament prophets saw the “coming of Christ” to be a single event because the predictions of Christ’s coming in a manger and coming as a King were compressed “double-reference” prophecies.
The"days of Noah" prophecy of Matthew 24 fits the same mold, a Rapture and a Return appearing as one prophecy while separated in actual fulfillment.
"Few laws are more important to observe in the interpretation of prophetic Scriptures than the law of double reference. Two events, widely separated as to the time of their fulfillment, may be brought together into the scope of one prophecy."
Dwight Pentecost, Things To Come, p.46.
#2 There was a particular "day" that "buying and selling" was not just interrupted, but STOPPED "on the [very] same day that Noah entered the Ark [and] that Lot went out" of Sodom and Gomorrah." This single-"day" is compared to the single-"day that [Jesus] is revealed." This happens at His Second Coming to the earth, NOT at the Rapture. Why? Since the Antichrist permits the majority of the world [unbelievers] who take his number [666] to "buy and sell" [Rev. 13:17] during the Tribulation, then "buying and selling" is NOT STOPPED with the Rapture. But in Luke 17 "buying and selling", etc., STOPS at Christ's Second Coming (not the Rapture) because we know from the Biblical history of these two events that the "buying and selling", etc., STOPPED on the day Noah entered the Ark and it STOPPED on the day when Lot went out from Sodom and Gomorrah. In both instances, the "buyers and sellers" were destroyed suddenly, totally and absolutely (Sodom and Gomorrah reduced "to ashes", 2 Pet. 2:6). Therefore, "on the day that Christ is revealed" in Luke 17 must refer, NOT to the Rapture, but rather to the Second Coming of Christ to the earth.
#3 When Does Jesus Return "like lightning"?
1. In Luke 17:24, the glorious appearance of the Second Coming of Christ “just as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky [and] shines to the other part of the sky” is a clear reference to His coming at the end of the Great Tribulation as seen by the same phrase in Matthew 24:27-30.
2. That same appearance of lightning-like glory will happen on THE DAY that the Son of Man is revealed.” (Luke 17:31)
3. It is compared to THE DAY that Lot fled Sodom (v. 28-29)--a day of brimstone, fire and smoke, which EVERY EYE in the whole land could see (Gen. 19:24-28).
4. Therefore, on the day of the Second Coming of Christ, at the end of the Great Tribulation, somewhere, someplace, there will be everyday eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting and building activities happening on the earth when Christ comes like "lightning, when "every eye will see Him" (Rev. 1:7).
#4 Luke 17 CONTRADICTS the Rapture event
Any attempt to insert the Rapture into Luke 17:24-37 CONTRADICTS the passage at verses 30-32, where we read this:
"It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. "On that day, let not the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house go down to take them away; and likewise let not the one who is in the field turn back. "Remember Lot's wife. (Luke 17:30-32)
On "the day that the Son of Man is revealed" Believers are warned not to turn back to get their goods out of the house. There is a time-consuming decision and a time-consuming act involved in this warning. However, the Rapture permits no such time consuming thoughts or acts, for it occurs "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." (1 Cor. 15:52) Therefore, "the day that the Son of Man is revealed" is not the Rapture, but rather the Second Coming.
#5 The Judgment of Luke 17 happens at the Second Coming of Jesus to the earth
The Judgment described in Luke 17:26-30 compares the two judgments on the people of Noah's day and Lot's day with the judgment that will occur when "the Son of Man is revealed." Both of those early judgments "destroyed them all" (Gen. 7:21-23; 19:24-28; Luke 17:27, 29) suddenly and completely. This IMMEDIATE Sodom & Gomorrah-like judgement does not occur to the Tribulation-generation left behind after the Rapture, as would be by the passage if it were referring to the Rapture. Those left behind when the "floodgates" burst upon Noah and the Ark & when Lot fled Sodom were immediately destroyed. But those left behind after the Rapture are judged over a period of 7 years during the Tribulation. The Judgment at the End of the Tribulation at the Second Coming, however, can be compared to the Luke 17 judgment of Lot's Sodom and Gomorrah (v.29, "fire [Greek "pur"] and brimstone"), because it occurs immediately in a single day, and because Christ "shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire [Greek "pur"]." (2 Thessalonians 1:7)
#6 "Life-as-usual" in catastrophes
We can see a picture of this in a smaller micro-setting when everyday life carried on in Asia after the 2004 Indonesia tsunami (documented as “one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history”), or when day to day life continued after the 2011 Japan earthquake-tsunami, or when Superstorm Sandy hit about 33% of the continental United States. Some sense of normal life continued in each location, including 66% of the U.S. Also, when half-a-million Syrians were killed in the Syrian Civil War (as of 2016), "eating and drinking, buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage, planting and building" continued in Damascus and other Syrian cities.
#7 "did not repent of the works of their hands"
A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues [the 6th Trumpet Judgment]... And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts." Rev. 9:18-21
The "works of their hands" are the "eating, drinking, buying, selling, and all of the life-as-usual activities we read about going on in Babylon (Rev. 18) at the edge of history as Christ is set to Return in Judgment
"Repent" means to change one's mind and turn away from or toward something. In a Biblical context it often means to turn our mind away from sin and the world and toward God and heaven. Notice above that at the same time "a third of mankind was killed" that "the rest of mankind...did not repent." That means they did not change and turn toward God, but rather kept on worshiping the "works of their hands"--planting, building, eating, drinking, buying, selling. They worshiped the fruit and profit of their material production--which then became their idols (sorcery and immorality). They committed thefts and murders to keep it. Obsessed and drunk with "wealth" (Rev. 18:17) they fastened their focus on Babylon despite the sudden deaths of several BILLION people (v.18).
The next steps come very quickly. "Works of the hands" are valued to the exclusion of God. "Works of the hands" then become one's focus of "worship." Next comes thefts, sorcery, immorality and even murder in the pursuit of the "wealth" obtained by the "Works of the hands." All the while the true object of the worship is the demons and dark spirits behind the gross materialism (verse 20).
When these people chase wealth and worldly glitter, they ignore the reality around them. But could anyone ignore waking up to the breaking news that 1/3 of mankind died overnight? Disgustingly--YES. Jesus put it in perspective: "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead." (Luke 16:31)
Now--we can see how "life-as-usual" could happen in some places during the "great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall."
1. The Trumpet Judgments target 33% of the earth.
2. The Bowl Judgments target 100% of the earth. With the spoiling of 100% of both vegetation and water on the earth, “no life would have been saved”, as Jesus said in Matthew 24:22.
3. While the Trumps “plague” the earth; The Bowls “kill” the earth. Without pure water, there is no life.
4. The Trumps span the Great Tribulation in a 3.5 year horizontal timeline— still, life goes on. But the Bowls, triggered by the 7th Trump, commence an assault on the earth in a rapid-fire vertical timeline (the Day of the Lord) with plagues so severe that life is only saved by the Return of Jesus.
5. During the Trumps, 66% of the earth, though heavily impacted and deeply troubled by the catastrophes which have affected 33% of the earth, will still carry on everyday life to some degree.
6. The key to understanding this, as we have seen, is Revelation 9:18-21.
"A third of mankind was killed ... And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands..."
#8 LIFE AS USUAL “on the day”that Jesus Returns
Luke 17:28-30
●eating, drinking
●buying, selling
●planting, building
●marrying, giving in marriage
Revelation 18
●financing...... (v. 11-16; requires a working international banking system)
●producing ...... (v. 11-16; requires a viable capital, management & labor system)
●profit making ...... (v. 17; “great” wealth requires “great profit”, and assumes a global marketplace)
●international commerce ...... (v. 19; “ships at sea” require cargo & crews, fuel & maintenance, ports, etc.)
●entertainment industry ...... (v. 22; assumes leisure time, events production & celebration venues, etc.)
●business & industry ...... (v. 22; requires training, systems management, production & distribution, etc.)
●food processing ...... (v. 22; requires millage & processing plants, refrigerated transport, etc.)
●power & utilities ...... (v. 23; requires energy sources, generating plants & infrastructure)
●family life, love & marriage ...... (v. 23; assumes a sense of confidence about the future)
●merchant stores ...... (v. 11, 15, 23: requires a system of goods & services production, advertising & retail, etc)
#9 Luke 17 and "the day"
Both Luke 17 and Revelation 18 stress judgment occurs on a single, normal 24 hour day. Luke 17 compares "the day" that both Noah and Lot took refuge to "the day" that Christ Returns (v.27, 29 & 30). The accounts of Noah and Lot in Genesis confirm that each took refuge on a particular 24 hour day (Gen. 7:4, 13; 19:15, 23, 27).
More Indications of Functional Life at the End of the Tribulation Period
Revelation 11:7-10--The Global Celebration (CLICK HERE)
●viewing TV/Internet (v. 9; requires a global communications network)
●celebrating worldwide in unison (v. 10; requires instantaneous communication)
●sending gifts/international shipping (v. 10; requires an intact global postal network)
Revelation 16:16--Armageddon
●An international coalition of “all the nations of the earth” gathered against Jerusalem in the Valley of Armageddon (Zec. 12:3; 14:2; Rev. 16:16; 19:19)— requires the massive transport of troops, machines & supplies, logistics & support, food, water, munitions, communication, coordination, etc. over vast areas of continents and oceans, in a VERY short window of time.
The truth of this is made abundantly clear in the story of the plagues of Egypt during the Exodus. Very similar plagues to those of the Trumpet Judgments of Revelation did not compel the hard-hearted Egyptians to belief in God, and they were able to send a fully functioning army of chariots and horsemen after the Israelites. In the midst of plagues of blood-water to hailstone bombardment, they watered and fed both the troops and the horses and chased the Hebrews all the way to the Red Sea. There, the Egyptians met their doom. The same will be the case when the Antichrist raises up his international army and brings them on a planetary rendezvous to Armageddon--and doom.