It is clear from the Scriptures that there will be a tremendous revival during the first half of the prophetic week, and then God will permit Antichrist to rise up and wage his war of deception against the bearers of the witness and against those who heard the witness. The resulting flood of lust and lawlessness will result in the true saints being driven from the cities of the earth.

But the end is not yet.

But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. (Revelation 11:11—NIV)

At the end of the second half of the week great Divine Glory will come upon the saints. This event is described as follows:

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. (Isaiah 60:1,2—NIV)

At the time of the return of Christ to the earth the Glory of God will fill the saints who have been in hiding. The nations of the earth will come to the spiritual light that suddenly has appeared.

Today the resurrection and ascension ("rapture") of the Church are being presented as an escape from Antichrist and the great tribulation. There is not one verse in the Bible that presents an ascension to Heaven of a godly person, whether Enoch or Elijah or Christ or anyone else as being an escape from trouble. If it has no clear scriptural basis, why is such an error preached?

A little thought will reveal that when the dead in Christ rise and the living saints are transformed they will have no fear of Antichrist, the great tribulation, or any power of the enemy whatever.

As in the verse above, terror will strike those who see the resurrection and transformation of God's witnesses of all ages. Those who "stood on their feet" will include not only the living witnesses but also the members of the cloud of heavenly witnesses who always have surrounded the earthly witnesses.

What a marvelous sight the resurrection and glorification of the saints will be! But the appearance of them will bring terror and horror to the ungodly. It will not be the righteous who are forced to flee for fear of destruction. It will be the wicked who will see their end approaching.

Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on. (Revelation 11:12—NIV)

"While their enemies looked on."

In terms of Scripture and logic I see no reason why the resurrection ("they stood on their feet") and ascension ("they went up to heaven in a cloud") mentioned in the two verses above are not the resurrection and ascension that will take place at the coming of the Lord.

In I Thessalonians it is said the dead and living in Christ are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, whereas it says here "they went up to heaven in a cloud."

I don't believe there is a real problem. It is impossible to tell from the Greek language when the term heaven is referring to the sky above us or to the spiritual Heaven, the home of God and the angels.

To be continued.