The Rapture of God’s People and the Defeat of His Enemy
“Come out of her My people,” says the Lord in Revelation 18:4. I believe we are quickly approaching a time when this command of the Lord will rise in the hearts of those who are truly seeking God. A separation is coming that will clarify who is on the Lord’s side and who has chosen to compromise their faith and remain in the evil worldly system described as “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations” (Rev. 17:5). Like Lot and his family in Sodom, many have become entrenched where they should not be. A rescue is needed. Even now God is calling His people to break free from the system that has them trapped in the lifestyle of the world unable to follow the Lord fully.
So I need to address the idea that many have that this command to “come out of her” does not apply to Christians because they believe the church will be raptured by this time and will no longer be present on planet earth. They apply these words as a warning to Israel or others who are converted during the tribulation but not to the church. So, will we be present when this command goes forth probably at the midpoint of the last seven years of this age? I hope to shed some light on that question.
I do not claim infallibility in my attempts to understand the last days of this age and the rapture of the church. I share the conclusions I have come to with much trepidation and humility knowing that I am just one voice and that many scholars much more qualified them me share different opinions. I am just one person sharing what I believe after over 40 years of pondering this, hoping that it might encourage some creative thinking on the subject. I hope you will be patient with me as I try to unpack a new way of looking at the end times and the rapture as it connects with God’s eternal plan.
Let’s begin with my premise. First, let me say the major rapture of saints from planet earth will come at the end of seven-year period that completes this age. This is seen in the clear teaching of Jesus in Matthew chapter 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 and Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18. All of these passages have Christ coming back at the end of the times of tribulation. To see otherwise is to come to these passages with a preconceived agenda. Granted, we all have agendas so let’s keep our minds open as we delve into this subject.
Second, in every age including the last days there have been overcomers in the church who have overcome the temptations of Babylon through the ages and who, like Noah, “found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8). The overcomers like Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Nehemiah, Daniel, and others spearheaded the move of God in their generation. These are the people of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11.
Thirdly, there is a promise that some believers will escape the tribulation of the last days: “Because you have kept My word of perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of the testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who live on the earth” (Rev. 3:10). Perseverance or endurance is the quality we see in the lives of the overcomers and, according to this verse, God rewards that diligence with the promise of keeping them from the “hour of testing.”
The ability to endure is the quality that James indicates allows believers to reach a place of maturity or as he puts it “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:4). Paul mentions endurance as a prerequisite to reigning with Christ when he told Timothy “If we endure, we will also reign with Him.” Jesus describes the overcomer as “one who keeps My deeds until the end,” (Rev. 2:26). Babylon, the world system, constantly opposes the followers of Christ with every imaginable persecution, temptation and personal attack. The overcomers withstand that relentless attack and remain faithful to the end even if it means their own death.
And lastly, by way of stating my premise, the overcomers will be taken up to the throne of God at the midpoint of the tribulation where a great war will take place between Michael and his angels and the enemy of God and his angels. That victory over the enemy camp will be assigned to the overcomers who will overcome him “because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death” (Rev. 12:11).
So let’s look at the big picture. In Genesis we have the account of God’s prophetic statement about the fate of the Serpent in the Garden of Eden: “I will make enemies of you and the woman, and of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel” (Gen. 3:15). So here we have God’s promise concerning the first woman, the woman of creation and her part in the unfolding of His eternal purpose.
The promise was that the offspring of the woman would bruise the head of the Serpent while he would in turn bruise the heel of the woman’s offspring. In other words, the Serpent would inflict a temporary injury on her offspring but that offspring would fatally wound him on the head. Of course, the prophecy is referring to the coming of the Messiah and His victory over Satan but we must also see that the followers of the Messiah are included as part of the offspring of the woman. When a person is born again they become a child of God, a member of the offspring of God. Paul tells us that “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8:16). Christ is called “the firstborn among many brothers and sisters;” (Rom. 8:29).
So, the followers of Christ are included in His offspring and it follows that they would take part in the fatal bruising of the Serpent’s head. We clearly see this in Revelation 2:27 where the overcomers are identified with the Messiah spoken of in Psalm 2. The prophecy that “He shall rule them with a rod of iron” is applied to the overcomers as though they are one with Christ.
1 John 3:10 confirms that the offspring of the woman and the Serpent continue to this day: “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother and sister.”
So in Revelation 12 we see great a sign in heaven:
. . . a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she *cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne (Rev. 12:1–5).
Notice the amazing similarities in this passage with the Genesis account of creation. A woman is accompanied by the sun, moon and stars as Eve was at creation (Gen. 1:16, 17). She is about to give birth to a child as Eve does in the creation story (4:1, 2; 3:15). The birth was accompanied by pain as it was with Eve (3:16). There was a dragon waiting for the birth as the Serpent waited for the birth of Eve’s children (3:1). The dragon wanted to devour this child just as the Serpent began to work his evil on Eve and her children (3:1; 4:1). The child is born and it is said that He would “rule all the nations with a rod of iron” (12:5), a quote from Psalm 2 and the same quote is applied to the overcomers, the offspring of the woman (2:27). The child was “caught up to God and to His throne” and we see the amazing war that breaks out in heaven when this male child is taken up resulting in the great victory of the overcomers described in 12:11.
My humble conclusion at this point is that the overcomers will be taken up to heaven at the midpoint of the seven last years of this age and because Satan is defeated in heaven and cast down to earth, the great Tribulation will begin. Satan, will then turn his attention to the “rest of her” offspring, the remaining saints on earth (12:17), thus stirring him to call forth the beast from the sea of humanity (13:1) and begin his last ditch efforts to destroy the eternal purpose of God, signified by the woman and her offspring — the body of Christ and the overcomers.
So, there you have it — a summary of what I have been seeing for many decades. I have never written or taught on this subject all these years because the time was not right. The time is now here. I am aware that there are other renditions of the last days but as the plea is going forth “come out of her my people” I think it is crucial that we as the people of God know how to respond.
It is important that our attitude is not be stifled by a misunderstanding of what is coming. It is not the doctrine of the second coming that is important so much as the readiness of our hearts. Certain doctrines can inhibit our readiness. Others can encourage us to endure in our faith to the end with Christ at the center of our lives. Even now many Christians are abandoning their faith under the pressures of the enemy.
Jesus said it this way: “But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36). That strength from God will become increasingly important as we approach the last days of the age. To come out of the great harlot Babylon will take much courage on the part of those who follow Jesus. May that courage rise up in all of us.
