Salvation during the Trib and After
Below are emails between Pastor Riley and a sister in Christ. Peggy
Bro Riley:
I
know the seven year trib period is when the Lord resumes dealings with Israel.
And I knew the church would have to be gone for that, but the fact that people
are still saved then....well....I guess I understand that they could be saved in
that period.....but I've forgotten what happens to the ones who aren't martyred.
They don't go on into the kingdom do they?
Maranatha
Dear sister,
Sister, a lot of people just don't seriously "think" about the situtation when they read or study Revelation and related Scriptures.
When the Holy Spirit is "taken out of the way" of the man of sin [2 Thessalonians 2:7] at the time of the rapture, that doesn't mean that He is "taken out of the world." Most people try to read that into that Scripture, but that is not what the Scripture says. The Holy Spirit indwells the body of the beleiver, but He is not limited to the body of the believer. God forbid! Just because believers are taken out of the world at the rapture, doesn't mean that the whole Holy Spirit has to be taken out of the world. So after the rapture has occurred and those saved in this dispensation are removed, the Holy Spirit will still be here saving those who will respond to the gospel. Read Joel 2:28 again. Doesn't this passage clearly say "all flesh"? Today the pouring out of the Holy Spirit is likewise poured out upon all flesh but it is effective only in those who believe, Acts 2:18. During the Trib the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon "all flesh" to the extent that every living human being will be convicted by the Holy Spirit to the extent that they will know that God is, and that Jesus Christ is His Son and Savior. There will be no excuse for any person rejecting Christ during the Trib. There is going to be a great blood washed multitude that will turn to Christ in just 3 1/2 years according to Revelation 7. But all those saved will be martyred, Revelation 6:7-11.
Then humanity comes to the middle of the Trib. At that time the Antichrist will make a decree [law] requiring every living human being to receive the mark. However, it is plain that every living human being will not receive that mark. Does every person obey every law today? Of course not! Well every person on earth will sure not obey that law. Even many lost people will refuse to obey it and receive the mark, and choose rather to flee for their lives to the mountains, to the caves, to any place that appears to offer them a measure of safety. You should notice that at the same the Antichrist requires the mark, the angels of God are flying through the midst of heaven warning people on earth not to take the mark, Revelation 13:16-17; 14:6-11.
Many will take the mark and be for ever damned, but many others won't take it. Those who refuse to take that mark will flee for their lives to any place on earth where they think they can hide and find anything to eat to preserve their lives. That is just one reason why many of the Jews flee to Petra. They know that God's law forbids them from making any mark upon their body, Leviticus 19:28.
Then comes the end of the Trib. All the survivors on earth see the Lord coming out of the heavens back towards the earth, Matthew 24:29-30; Revelation 1:7. The Lord's return to the earth will not be an instantaneous thing like the rapture was, but rather it will occur slow enough that every person left on earth will be able to see Him coming in the clouds. Talk about impressive! The Lord accompanied by all His saints and all the Holy angels. What a great heavenly procession will unfold before the eyes of those still alive upon the earth at that time.
At that time many of those Gentiles who refused to take the mark and are hidden in various places all over the earth will believe and call upon the Lord for salvation. They will be the "sheep" Gentiles spoken about in Matthew 25:31-46 and they will enter the glorious Millennial Kingdom in their natural flesh and blood bodies.
But many other surviving Gentiles still won't repent and receive the Lord even when they see Him coming in the clouds. They will be the "goat" Gentiles in Matthew 25 who will be cast "into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," Matthew 25:41.
At that same time all of the surviving Jews [the one-third Jewish remnant, Zechariah 13:8-9] will turn to the Lord with their whole heart and be saved, Matthew 24:13; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:8-12. There will never again be a lost Jew, for at that same time the Lord will remove the sin nature from the blood stream of the Jewish people, Joel 3:20-21. And of course they will enter the promised Millennial Kingdom in their natural bodies to reproduce generation after generation for ever, Isaiah 60:21-22; 9:6-7. Notice in this latter passage that it plainly states, "Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end....." The only way this could be possible is for there to continue to be flesh and blood people in natural bodies for ever, just as God intended when He created Adam and Eve in flesh and blood bodies capable of reproducing.
While the sin nature will be totally removed from the believing flesh and blood Jewish remnant at the end of the Tribulation, it will not be removed from the redeemed flesh and blood Gentiles until all of redeemed humanity enters the eternal age following the Millennium in Revelation 21:1-5; 1 Corinthians 15:25-28.
Sister, this should answer your questions and give you a lot of Scriptural information to study. When you have more questions, just write me again. By God's grace, and only by His grace, will I be able to answer them. I think of the words of Joseph as he stood before Pharaoh, "It is not in me: God shall give Pharoah an answer of peace," Genesis 41:16. And Daniel when he stood before Nebuchadnezzar, "But there is a God in Heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days....." Sister, I am neither a Joseph nor a Daniel, but I serve the same God, and I just praise and thank Him daily for giving me insight into His wonderful prophetic Word. If I don't know the answer to some of your questions, I will just tell you I don't know. I'm not going to make up some silly answer and fake it like some do to today when they don't really know the answer. A dose of true humility would go a long ways today for all of God's people.
Thank you for writing and God bless you. Pray for me.