Come Up Hither
In this study, you will see a prime example, of how
those who teach the rapture, twist the scriptures to
fit their doctrine. This is very easy to see and I
hope it will put you on guard and cause you to
examine the rapture more closely. I will say that
some who teach this just don't know any better but
it's still dangerous nonetheless. Will you listen
to God's word or take their word for it?
Revelation 4
1) After this I looked, and,
behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first
voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet
talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I
will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
If you go back and read chapter 1 verses 1-9,
you will find that John is the one these things
were showed to on the Lord's day. So I ask, who
is the one who looked and saw a door open in
heaven? Who heard a voice as it were a trumpet
talking to them? If you were taking an English
test and you said the church, you would surely
fail. I realize this may be over simplifying
the issue, but why would anyone believe this
has anything to do with the church? This defies
rational thought and goes against even the most
basic reading skills we all learned in
Elementary School. In order for you to
believe this is being addressed to the church
you have to ignore the rules of grammar, ignore
the word of God and add an object that there is
no article for. This is adding to the word of
God. We are warned about doing such things in
Revelation chapter 22:18.
Revelation 22
18) For I testify unto every man
that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If
any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto
him the plagues that are written in this book:
Another popular misconception, that is used to support
the rapture theory, is that the church is not mentioned
after Revelation Chapter 4. One of the problems we have
when we try and refute this statement in discussions,
is that, whenever we show where the church is
mentioned, it is dismissed and we get the explanation
"those are tribulation saints". Since this has become
such a crutch for a failing doctrine, we have decided
to look at this from a different perspective. Chapters
4-6 all link to one another and are chronological.
Let's look at some scripture and prove this point and
see what we can learn from the Word of God.
Revelation 4
2) And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a
throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
3) And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and
a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about
the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
4) And round about the throne were four and twenty
seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders
sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on
their heads crowns of gold.
5) And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and
thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of
fire burning before the throne, which are the seven
Spirits of God.
6) And before the throne there was a sea of glass like
unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and
round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes
before and behind.
Revelation 5
1) And I saw in the
right hand of him that sat on the throne a book
written within and on the backside, sealed with
seven seals.
2) And I saw a strong
angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is
worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals
thereof?
As you can see, when we get to Revelation
Chapter 5, John is still looking upon the
throne and seeing things that are happening in
heaven. Now though, John notices a book
in the hand of the One that sat on the throne.
The book of the seven seals. This chapter will
lead us in to chapter 6 and the opening of the
seals.
Revelation 6
1) And I saw when the
Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as
it were the noise of thunder, one of the four
beasts saying, Come and see.
2) And I saw, and behold
a white horse: and he that sat on him had a
bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he
went forth conquering, and to conquer.
Here is where we really need to think about
the come up hither theory. According to this
teaching, the event in Rev.4:1, is symbolic of
the church. I'm not really sure when John
became a symbol for the church, in any case,
this is their interpretation. Keeping this in
mind and now having proven chapters 4-6 are
chronological, then the church should not see
these seals opened. The seals are opened after
the event in Rev 4:1 and the church should be
taken away in the rapture before these things
come to pass. The white horse, (first seal),
has a rider which is seen with a bow. This bow,
if we look to the Greek, (toxon), is from the
simplest fabric. Not a bow like an archer and
not the beautiful rainbow we see around the
throne in Revelation 4:3. This is a fake! I
want you to notice this is the very first seal,
and also the very first warning we receive in
Matthew 24. Is Jesus trying to tell us
something? Perhaps that the deceiver is coming
first?
Matthew 24
4) And Jesus answered
and said unto them, Take heed that no man
deceive you.
5) For many shall come in
my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive
many.
Let's now go through some of the seals and compare them to Matthew 24 so we
have a second witness.
Revelation 6
3) And when he had
opened the second seal, I heard the second
beast say, Come and see.
4) And there went out
another horse that was red: and power was given
to him that sat thereon to take peace from the
earth, and that they should kill one another:
and there was given unto him a great sword.
Here we read about a red horse (a war
horse).
Matthew 24
6) And ye shall hear
of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not
troubled: for all these things must come to
pass, but the end is not yet.
Seals 3 and 4 of Revelation
5) And when he had
opened the third seal, I heard the third beast
say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black
horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of
balances in his hand.
6) And I heard a voice
in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure
of wheat for a penny, and three measures of
barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the
oil and the wine.
7) And when he had
opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of
the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8) And I looked, and
behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on
him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And
power was given unto them over the fourth part
of the earth, to kill with sword, and with
hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of
the earth.
In these two seals we see famine, pestilence
and war. All are prophecies we are very
familiar with.
Matthew 24
7) For nation shall
rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom: and there shall be famines, and
pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8) All these are the
beginning of sorrows.
I just want you to notice how we are given
the seals in Matthew 24 as well Rev 6. We have
two witnesses here and by comparing them both,
we can gain a better understanding of how these
things will happen. Now, if we are to believe
the come up hither doctrine, the church should
be in heaven by the time we see these things
come to pass. I don't think that's a stretch,
it's just logical if we are to believe their
theory. The problem is, we are seeing
these things happen before our very eyes and to
my knowledge, no rapture has occurred. If it
did, you missed it friends. Is the Bible wrong,
or is this doctrine wrong?
Still not convinced? Have you heard of any wars or rumors of wars
lately? What about famine and pestilence, do you know of any countries
whose people are dying from starvation? How about pestilence, heard of
any epidemic breakouts of disease, aids perhaps? Verse 8 says these are
the beginnings of sorrows. You are here for the beginning and will be
for the end as well. There is no rapture!
Let's look at one more point on this
subject. In Revelation Chapter 1, John is given
an explanation of some of the things he is
seeing. Of particular interest are the seven
stars and seven golden candlesticks.
Revelation 1
20) The mystery of the
seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand,
and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven
stars are the angels of the seven churches: and
the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are
the seven churches.
The seven golden candlesticks are a symbol
for the seven churches we read about in chapter
two and three. I just want to point out that
this is how you know if a person, place or
thing is symbolic for another in God's Word. He
tells us it is. I wish someone would tell me
where in the Word we find that John is a symbol
for the church. Now, about these churches,
there are only two of them that God was happy
with. Smyrna and Philadelphia. If you read
through those two chapters this is very easy to
determine. Now, let's look for proof, that
those churches will be here during the
tribulation period. Disregarding any scriptures
that could be perceived as "tribulation
saints".
Revelation 11
3) And I will give
power unto my two witnesses, and they shall
prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore
days, clothed in sackcloth.
4) These are the
two olive trees, and the
two candlesticks standing before the
God of the earth.
5) And if any man will
hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth,
and devoureth their enemies: and if any man
will hurt them, he must in this manner be
killed.
6) These have power to
shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of
their prophecy: and have power over waters to
turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with
all plagues, as often as they will.
7) And when they shall
have finished their testimony, the beast that
ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make
war against them, and shall overcome them, and
kill them.
Rightly dividing the word, we know that the
two olive trees and the two candlesticks are
not one in the same. The two olive trees would
be a good study for another time but we want to
find out about these two candlesticks. We were
told back in Revelation Chapter 1 that the
candlesticks are the churches. As we know,
there were only two that were pleasing to God
and this must be the two we are reading about
here. It's clear that they will be here during
the tribulation. These are God's servants, not
tribulation saints but two churches who knew
the truth and were used by God during this
time. The rest fell in league with the
antichrist. There are so may holes in the come
up hither theory. It is based on assumptions,
not scripture, let the scriptures tell the
story and let God be your guide.
