What mode will take you into eternity?

Most of us know that we will be traveling First Class to become the bride of Christ Jesus. 
In heaven we will be united with our Beloved Savior.  Another thing we know is that those who refuse to accept Jesus will be bumped; their names will be removed from the book of eternal life and they will spend eternity separated from God.  That is cut and dry.  But, I rarely hear anyone talking about the plight of the Jews or the Arabs (those who accept the one true God, but they don't believe that Jesus is Gods Son; the second in the Godhead).  The Jews (who haven't already)  will accept Jesus during the Great Tribulation Period.

The three groups that have been ignored are: (1)  those flying coach into heaven (2)  those standing by here on earth and (3)  those who are going to be bumped if they don't accept the truth. 

When people hear the Salvation message they need to hear the whole story.  Paul is the only Apostle who teaches us about the "catching up" of the body of Christ, that is because he is the Apostle for the Church; yet the apostle John is shown (in a vision) Christ Jesus returning to earth with His angels and His bride.  We have nothing to worry about; but, we have to understand that we can't force the world to accept Jesus; we can only spread the word and pray that Gods will is done! 

A large portion of the Jews won't accept Jesus in time to become Christs Church and neither will the Arabs and many Gentiles.  Hopefully these people will be part of one of two groups: Coach or Standy

First let's talk about those who will be flying coach. 

During the Great Tribulation many people will give their hearts to God (they will accept Jesus); some of these people will be martyred; once they are killed they will rise and join us in heaven with Jesus but they won't be the Church (they missed the flight for that). 

Now for those on standby; this group will never take flight but, they will accept Jesus during the GT and they will see Jesus, His angels and His bride return to this earth to destroy the works of Satan; punish those who have harmed the Jews and after that Jesus will establish His kingodm in Jerusalem (Gods chosen people the Jews will receive all of the promised land).  The entire world will bow when they see Jesus coming in the clouds.  I wouldn't want to take a chance on being in one of these two groups; these are they who only believe what they can see; unlike us; we believe by faith.  Speaking of faith; before the world enters into the Millennial Kingdom (here on earth) the Old Testament saints will be resurrected and they will also be part of the earthly kingdom [praise God]

Woe to the bumped group they will never give their hearts to God and they will never accept Jesus as their Savior; this group (both the dead and those living at the time) will stand before Christ Jesus at the Great White Throne (judgment, here on earth); and they will enter the place prepared for Satan and his angels; these people will spend eternity separated from God; their hearts are hardened:eek:

Our top priority is to lead people to the first class ticket booth, but, we also need to be ready with the correct answer when skeptics ask: how could a just God send people to hell!  The answer is: if anyone goes to hell it is because they deny God and reject His Son Jesus.

For some reason we have a habit of labeling those who believe the whole Bible and take the Words in it to be literal; when I say literal I don't mean that we should try to live according to the OT; most of us arenot the Jews (the chosen people of God); we are the called.  If we let His Word be our guide (by learning from the Old; striving to make the present better and preparing the world for the future) we will be doing Gods will.
His Word is His Will. 
:)

Life is wonderful for some and when they travel they always go top drawer-first class.  And then there are the rest of us; we fly coach in order to save money.  Those flying standby try to save lots of money and those who are bumped usually volunteer because not a lot would be lost if they don't reach their destination by a certain time.  In the airline business it is all a matter of economics & time.  But our eternal life is more important than a ride on an iron bird.

First Class: is the assurance that we will be transformed (one day) from mortal bodies into Glorified bodies to be joined with Jesus as His bride.

Coach: is a bumpy ride and yet they get to heaven to see their Savior and His bride.

Standby: yes, the Tribulation saved will be standing by the wayside when the Messiah returns to earth with His bride.  Who else is invited to the wedding supper?  We'll see the Old Testament saints they'll be introduced to Jesus for the first time (I'm sure He'll tell them that He's the LORD God of the Hebrew Text that they once knew).

bumped: they'll be eternally separated from God because spirits never die; their fate is due to their disbelief and their foolish pride.

:)

Where would you put those who are intent on leading others to the first class line, but because of their judgmental ism or authoritarianism or other unkind demeanor, they would actually cause some to leave?  What about those who think they are in First Class but are not, as Jesus said, not all who think they will be saved will be.  What about those in the present day who take a literal view of the Bible but miss the point of Jesus' teaching?  Jesus pointed out that this is exactly what the Pharisees did.  They WERE believers, after all, sincere believers. 

Perhaps God's grace is wider and deeper than we can imagine.  I'm not talking about cheap grace, but that God will judge as He sees fit, not as we humans think or hope He will.

Standby:

These are the spirits of the Old Testament saints in heaven.
Rev 6:10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

These are the spirits of those slain during the Great Tribulation Period.
Rev 6:11  And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they [were], should be fulfilled.

These are they whose [b]bodies  will rise from the graves after Jesus returns to this earth; these are those that I refer to as Standby; they are not the church that will be changed from mortal bodies to Glorified bodies and caught up to heaven to become the bride of Christ (they are not the church: First Class).[/b]

The second standby group are those living when Christ Jesus returns to earth.
Rev 7:3  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Rev 7:4  And I heard the number of them which were sealed: [and there were] sealed an hundred [and] forty [and] four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Rev 7:5  Of the tribe of Juda [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad [were] sealed twelve thousand.
Rev 7:6  Of the tribe of Aser [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses [were] sealed twelve thousand.
Rev 7:7  Of the tribe of Simeon [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar [were] sealed twelve thousand.
Rev 7:8  Of the tribe of Zabulon [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin [were] sealed twelve thousand.

Here we see the rest of the world; people of all races; these people were martyred and their [spirits] appear in heaven before God (they are not the church).
Rev 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Rev 7:10  And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Rev 7:11  And all the angels stood round about the throne, and [about] the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 7:12  Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, [be] unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Rev 7:15  Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
Rev 7:16  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
Rev 7:17  For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Here Paul is letting us (the church) know that the day of the Lord is coming when those who are not looking  (not the church) least expect it.
1Th 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

Here we are reassured that we (the church) are not of darkness and we won't be overtaken.  We won't even be here to suffer through the Great Tribulation Period; that time is for those who don't believe; not those who do.
1Th 5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 

No one should wait to be saved; seek Him now while it is day!



:)

voice-crying,

You told me about this thread on the Middle East board. I am not reading anything here that is out of line with anything I have read about Reveleations before. I note that there are a specific number of Jews, 144,000, who will accept Christ, identified in Revelations.

Salvation today requires accepting Christ, and this applies to Jews, too. This was the point I found myself keep having to make on the other thread.

All who do not accept Christ are lost and in need of Christ. Christ in us shows us we are always loved and never alone. To live for Christ is to have a purpose for our lives, to know we can overcome anything and everything with Christ, to seek to glorify God with ourl lives as Christ did, and know that we can have joy and peace and love and hope, despite our circumstances. My heart breaks for all of the many people in this world who do not have Christ, who feel unloved and unworthy and do not know of Christ's saving grace.  We are called to do what we can to tell others in the world about Christ.

The Prophecies of Revelations do not tell us how to live our lives, today. They do tell us God ultimately wins and we have nothing to fear with God by our side.

Sherri