Rapture and End Times

I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit—the Father will send Him in My name—will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you. (John 14:25-26)

In nature, symbiosis is a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms. Below are some major examples:

Symbiotic Relationship: Clownfish and Sea Anemone / NYK Daily, August 17, 2020

The greatest example of a symbiotic relationship is the bond between clownfish and sea anemones.

Sea anemone is exceptionally poisonous for other marine wonders. However, Clownfishes are the only fishes who do not get stung by the sea anemone’s tentacles. The tentacles, rather than injecting poison, are seen cuddling these orange fishes. Clownfish have a thick mucus coating that shields them from the sea anemone. However, this mutual respect is much more than a mere no-attack stance. The clownfish and the sea anemone help each other survive in the sea. In return for a harmless and guarding home, the clownfish helps the anemone in several essential ways. Clownfish clean the anemone, provide nutrients in the form of waste, and scares away pillaging fishes like butterflies. In other words, the anemone is dependent on Clownfish for nutrition and protection. In return, the anemone provides home, shelter, and a poison-free environment to the clownfish. Indeed, nature writes the best love story.

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Flowers and Bees – A Symbiotic Relationship / Blissfully Domestic, January 5, 2021

How Bees Benefit Flowers.
Bees pollinate flowers, which means they transfer the pollen made by one flower of one plant to the flower of another plant. Bees do not purposely do this. Actually, the bees are trying to collect the pollen to take back to their hives. In the process of going from one flower to another as they collect pollen, some pollen is picked up from one flower and accidentally dropped on another flower. Pollination results in the formation of seeds.

How Flowers Benefit Bees
Flowers produce pollen, which bees use as food. Pollen provides the nutrients that bees need. Besides honey that bees make, pollen is the only food that bees eat.

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The Gut Microbiome: Symbiosis in Nutrition / Medolac, January 4, 2021

A healthy gastrointestinal tract is full of microorganisms. The cohabitants of our gastrointestinal tract are needed for optimal health and nutrition. We are surrounded by organisms. Bacteria populate our GI tract in a relationship called symbiosis where one or more organisms are in a close environment to the benefit of each other.

We are exposed to bacteria in our GI tract through the food we consume. Good bacteria generally thrive in our gut while assisting in the metabolism of undigestible foods and metabolizing certain essential nutrients, so they are more easily absorbed into blood through our intestinal lumen (or cell walls expose to the inside of our gut). This community of microorganisms in our GI tract is the gut microbiome. It is essential to our health.

We are not alone. And that is a good thing.

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The natural world is filled with symbiotic relationships. 3 sacred foundations of our faith are the synergies of Man, Christ and the Bride, and the Holy Trinity:

1) Man as body, soul, and spirit

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely. And may your spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

The Word of God teaches us that we are spirits that have a soul and live in a body. Using modern terminology, we could say that the soul can be compared to software, and the body is our hardware. For our spirits to interact with the world, we need our body.

What is our body?

Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground… (Genesis 2:7)

What is the “dust”? Dust is even finer than silt, about 2 microns. Considering the size of our DNA (the nuclear volume of an entire sperm cell containing an entire molecule of DNA, is only about 30 microns) the use of dust to identify man’s body in Scripture is significant. DNA has a crystalline structure. DNA, absent any of the other biological systems that make for a living cell, is nothing more than dust.

Thousands of years before the cell was discovered, the Bible explained that we are made up of microscopic particles.

Science has determined that you are made up of 7 octillion atoms (that’s 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms). You have 37 trillion cells, and there are 86 billion neurons powering your brain. Your heart beats 100,000 times per day. If all the DNA in your body were uncoiled, it would stretch out to about 10 billion miles, which is from Earth to Pluto and back. There are  37 thousand billion billion chemical reactions per second in the human body. The human body is a miracle!

What is our soul?

Our soul is our consciousness. It is the immaterial, ethereal part of a human being, regarded as immortal. The soul includes the mind, the will, and emotions. The soul drives the body, much like a driver operates a vehicle. Without the soul, the body quickly disintegrates. Out of all of the Universe, man was created as a special being:

Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)

Throughout our lives, our soul and our body act in concert together. When the body dies, the soul remains.

What is our spirit?

In the Old Testament, “spirit” is ruach, found some 378 times in the Hebrew Old Testament, and literally meaning “breath,” “wind,” etc. The corresponding Greek term is pneuma, occurring 379 times in the New Testament (the original form being found in our English word, pneumonia).

Our spirit is the part with which we contact God and interact with the things of the spiritual realm. The human spirit is our bridge to the Lord. Man was created in God’s image, and when he severed himself from his Godly source at the Fall, he became spiritually dead. Those who reject Jesus Christ will remain spiritually dead for all eternity.

But, when God’s Holy Spirit joins with our spirit, we become a part of God’s family.

2) Christ and the Bride

As Christians, we know that God Himself became a man as Jesus Christ, took on man’s nature, lived, died, resurrected, and ascended as a man, and now is ruling in the heaven:

But Stephen, filled by the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw God’s glory, with Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Acts 7:55-56

We should also know that we, as Christians, are heirs with Christ:

All those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:14-17)

and…

When the time came to completion, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (Galatians 4:4-7)

The Bible uses our relationship as the Church with Jesus Christ as His “body” and His “bride”. These are symbolic designations for something so wonderful and beyond our comprehension that we can’t fully understand it at this time. The Body of Christ consists of individuals that are joined together to form the “body.”

Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. (Romans 12:4-5)

Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? (1 Corinthians 6:15)

He uses the example of the human body to try to explain the concept of being an individual in Christ as well as a part of a larger “superorganism” – the Body of Christ:

For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. So the body is not one part but many. If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” in spite of this it still belongs to the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” in spite of this it still belongs to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed each one of the parts in one body just as He wanted. And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? Now there are many parts, yet one body. (1 Corinthians 12:12-20)

Paul goes on to explain that the “head” of this “body” is Christ Himself:

And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head—Christ. From Him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part. (Ephesians 4:12-16)

Paul also explains that the Gentiles have been included into the Body:

The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. (Ephesians 3:6)

Paul shows that the Rapture will be of the Body:

God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? …But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him… Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? (1 Corinthians 6:14, 15, 17, 19)

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3) The Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit

The doctrine of the Trinity holds that God is one God, but three coeternal and consubstantial persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct, yet are one “substance, essence or nature” In this context, a “nature” is what one is, whereas a “person” is who one is.

As Christians, we worship the Holy Trinity as our God:

Praise to You, Heavenly Father! You spoke the Universe into being. You stretched out the heavens – the trillions of galaxies. You formed the foundation of the Earth, while the angels shouted for joy. You created us in Your own image and Your own likeness. When we fell, and turned away from You in rebellion and idolatry, You sent your own Son to save us. I praise and worship you, Father God, Jehovah, My Lord. You are Almighty God, Father of Lights, the Ancient of Days. You have known me since the foundations of the World. You know my thoughts, feelings and my heart’s desire. Your promises, Abba Father, never fail. You never change. You are the All Sufficient One. You are the Self Existent One. You are the I AM! I praise and worship you, Heavenly Father!

Praise to You, Jesus Messiah! You gave yourself willingly on the cross for my sins, and covered me by Your blood. You saved me from death, hell, and the lake of fire. You are my Savior, my Lord, and my Master. You are my Faithful Intercessor before the Father. You are the Anointed One, the Lord of Lords, and the King of Kings. You are the I AM! I praise and worship you, Jesus Messiah!

Praise to You, Holy Spirit, my Helper and Comforter! You are my Counselor, and the Spirit of truth. You are the All Powerful Spirit of the Living God. You are my teacher, opening the Word of God to me. You are my Wisdom, directing me in every decision I ask. You are Mighty and train me in the Fear of the Lord. You are the I AM! I praise and worship you, Holy Spirit my Helper!

I declare that I am made in the Father’s image, I am covered by the blood of Your Son, so that nothing separates me from You, and I have Your Holy Spirit in me. So You hear my prayers, and Your answers in Jesus Messiah are “Yes and Amen!” You have sealed me for the day of Rapture.

With our Rapture, the Holy Trinity fulfills His promise to make all things new…

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” 
(Revelation 21:5)

What “new” is included in His promise?

Our salvation as a new creation:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

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Our new spiritual bodies:

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
(Philippians 3:20-21)

And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. (1 Corinthians 15:49)

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New heavens and a new earth:

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; 
      And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.
(Isaiah 65:17)

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New Jerusalem:

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:2-4)

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And so, even with all the troubles we are experiencing with the trauma of these End Times, we can look forward to our Rapture into a new, eternal life as the Body in the Lord’s kingdom! We will rule the Universe with Christ!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)

If you are not sure that you are saved, you can accept Christ into your life right now, by praying:

“Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.  Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life.  I ask you in to my life and heart to be my Lord and Savior.”

Reader Comments:

Some of my friends say they read your messages each time. My Pastor does too. He has preached a couple of times on things he learned from it…he loves the science & history second only to the Word of God of course. I am the same!

Gail, January 10, 2020