The Shout

©2010 CJDennison

In 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, we are told:

"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

The word for shout used here means a WAR-CRY! (per Martin Luther) If the pre-tribulation Rapture is correct, then why is the Lord shouting a war-cry SEVEN years before the battle starts?

Matthew Henry, a great expositor of the scriptures who believed in the Rapture AT the Revelation, wrote this about 1 Thessalonians chapter 4:

"[The Lord] ascended into heaven after his resurrection,...into the third heaven, which must retain him till the restitution of all things; and then he will come again, and appear in his glory....The appearance will be with pomp and power, with a shout - the shout of a king, and the power and authority of a mighty king and conqueror."

Did you see that? Henry did NOT say that Christ would come seven years before the Revelation to gather out the believers; no, he said that Christ would remain in the third heaven UNTIL he returns in glory. And at this time, Christ will SHOUT as a conqueror!!

As mentioned before, Joel 3:15-16 in the Old Testament also refers to this post-tribulation shout:

"The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel."

Note that the timing is again just after the tribulation of those days (Matt. 24) when the moon is darkened, etc.

A third reference to this shout is found in Jeremiah 25:30-31 which tells us:

"Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD."

Here again, Jeremiah gives us a clue to the timing of the shout. It is "as they that tread out the grapes." This is a reference to the battle of Armageddon.

(It is quite possible that the "noise that shall come even to the ends of the earth" is a reference to the trump of God which occurs just after the shout, and which calls together the saints that are scattered throughout the nations of the world!)

If the shout of 1 Thessalonians 4 is AT the Revelation, doesn't it make sense that the Rapture of 1 Thessalonians 4 is also AT the Revelation?

Those who believe in a pre-tribulation Rapture would have us believe that there are TWO shouts, one before and one after the Tribulation. Which leads us to our next post.

The Wheat, the Tares, and the End of the World: Part 3 . . . and the Grapes??

In the last few posts, we have been talking about the Harvest at the End of this World. Most Christians don't know that there is a very clear illustration of this in chapter 14 of the book of Revelation.

Before we look at it, I want to remind you that the order of events on the last day is:

1. The unsaved nations are gathered in preparation for Armageddon
2. The saved are caught up to meet the Lord in the clouds
3. The unsaved nations are destroyed at Armageddon

I also want to make sure that you are familiar with a couple of biblical terms. The battle of Armageddon is fought in the Valley of Megiddo. Because it takes place in a valley, and because it is a real blood-bath, it is often referred to figuratively as 'treading out grapes in a wine press.'

With that in mind, please read Revelation 14:14-16.

"And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man [that's Jesus!], having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped."

This is the gathering of the saints to meet the Lord in the air. Revelation 1:7 tells us that the visible Second Coming will be with clouds.

Now watch, something else happens (v. 17-20):

"And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs."

Here we see that the saints are called 'the harvest of the earth' and the unsaved are called 'the vine of the earth.' The saints are gathered to the clouds, and the unsaved are gathered to Armageddon, the winepress of God, where they are destroyed.

This is a very clear picture of the wheat and tares/grapes being allowed to grow together unto the end of the world. (By the way, grapes are very different from wheat and represent the obviously unsaved people of the world. Tares look just like wheat and, as such, represent those who profess to be saved but in actuality are not.)

Before we close this post, I'd like to look at one Old Testament passage that is an exact parallel to this one.

Joel 3:9-11

Here is the first gathering. The unsaved nations are gathered against the nation of Israel, more specifically the city of Jerusalem. They hope to destroy it. However, God has other plans, and they are being gathered for their own destruction!

"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about:"

"...thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD."

The mighty ones of God who come down are the believers who return with him -- that's us!!

The valley of Jehoshasphat is the valley of Megiddo (more or less) where the battle of Armageddon will be fought. This is the winepress of God.

"Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great."

"Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision."

And here is another reference to the valley of Megiddo.

"The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining."

Matthew 24 tells us that "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,..." so here we have a time stamp that tells us when these things will happen. The battle of Armageddon, like the Rapture, will happen immediately AFTER the Tribulation.

"The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake:”

This is the "shout" of 1 Thess. 4:16 which is actually a 'war cry.' It is a ROAR! Notice that the heavens "shake" at this point. Revelation mentions this in several places, always associated with the post-tribulation return of Christ.

“but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel."

And, behold, the Blessed Hope is right where it should be!! It is always connected with this great, singular event known as the Day of the Lord, the Second Coming of Christ, etc.

After all this, we enter into the Millennial reign of Christ on earth, a time of peace and plenty.

"So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim."

Again, this is all very simple to understand once you know the key: The Rapture occurs AT the Revelation!