Law of recurrence

Soul Harvest Ministries of Minnesota

Soul Harvest : Problems in the Church today : Pre Tribulation rapture theory : Law of recurrence

Further explanation-“The Law of Recurrence”.

The scripture seems very clear as to when the rapture will occur, and that is after the last trumpet, which is in Revelation 11:15. Now this posses a serious question regardless of what theory you believe. Either you believe the book of revelation is in chronological order and Jesus establishes His kingdom twice and judges the world twice? Or if you believe He returns after the last trumpet as in Rev. chapter 11 there remains 11 more chapters of revelations? These remaining chapters are a recap of the tribulation period and God’s judgments, it cannot be read assuming it is in chronological order. This should not surprise us as this process has been used before in the bible. An example is in Genesis when God speaks of His creation; Gen. 1:1-2:4 Then He goes on to further expound on His creation, Gen. 2:4 even ends with “This is the history of the heavens and earth when they were created”, but after stating clearly this is the history of creation it goes on to further explain. In Genesis are these examples happening twice?

Creation of man and woman:
1-Gen. 1:27 “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them“.

2-Gen. 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Gen. 2:22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

Creation of the birds and the beast of the earth:
1-Genesis 1:21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

2-Genesis 2:19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.

There are other examples of this writing style in the bible, this is called the “Law of recurrence“. Before I go on to give further evidence ask yourself these questions.

Is Christ returning twice and establishing His kingdom twice?
1-Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" If He returns here and establishes His kingdom is he going to do it again after the bowl judgments in chapter 16?

Is there going to be two different judgment times?
1-Revelation 11:18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth."

2-Revelation 20:11-15 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. and I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Something is not making sense unless it’s happening twice which we all know isn’t the case. Read John 5:28-29 and Matt. 13:50 for further understanding on the judgments.

Also chapters 12 and 13 of Revelations are speaking of past events. Please read: Revelation 12:1-6 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

These verses cause great problems for pre-tribbers and they go great lengths to explain this as being some future event. First who is this Child that is with the woman? It goes on to say He will rule the nations with a rod of iron. It is Jesus and to make sure I haven’t taken this verse out of context read:

Revelation 19:14-16 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. This Child was caught up to God and His throne, a reference to the ascension after His resurrection.

We have established this is referring to Jesus but how do we know this is a recap of past events? It is the dragon (Satan) who tried to destroy the Child (Jesus) right when he was born. This is exactly what king Herod did when satan was working through him. Read: Matthew 2:3-16 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: "But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel."' Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also." When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

A reference to past tense events. It also says the dragon drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to earth. Often “stars of heaven” or “heavenly host” is a reference to angels (Rev. 1:20 & Job 38:7). Could this be the fallen angles? It says a third where thrown down, any guess on how many angels the bible says where cast out of heaven? Many biblical scholars believe the number of Angels cast down was one-third.
Lets read the rest of revelation chapter 12: Rev. 12:7-9 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Now we know this war already took place to include them being cast out (Isaiah 14:12) . Another past tense reference. One final note on this chapter. Many believe the woman is Israel, but it clearly says they are being persecuted for having the testimony of Christ. The Jews have been persecuted many times but the motivating factor usually isn’t because they are Christians
Rev. 2:17 “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ“.

As far as chapter thirteen verse 2 goes almost all scholars to including pre-tribbers interpret this as a reference to the Babylonian, Persian, and the Greek empires. Once again past tense. I feel we have shown sufficient evidence that the bible recaps past events especially in the book of Rev., also the books of Kings, Chronicles, and the 4 gospels repeat the same events often. But this in itself doesn’t show why the chapters following Rev. chapter 11 including the bowl judgments are recaps. The next page shows the events in the trumpet judgments vs. the bowl judgments, please notice how exact these seem to be, even the words used to describe these events are often exactly the same . Are they happening twice? No, and when you see them this way it reaffirms what is written in the old testament, the gospels, epistles, and so on concerning the last trumpet being the time when the rapture will occur, at the end of the tribulation (Rev. 11:15). There are no contradictions or lengthy explanations to justify ones belief.

Click next on Trumpet, Bowl, and Seal judgments