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By Ed Tarkowski Jesus told us that Old Testament believers who died up to His resurrection were confined in a place called Abraham's bosom: Luke 16:26 And beside all this, between us [Abraham's bosom] and you [the rich man] there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
All without faith would have been on the other side of a great chasm (hell). Daniel would have been one of those who died in faith and rested in Abraham's bosom. When Jesus came, He descended into the lower parts of the earth and led captivity captive: Eph 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. He took the saints in Abraham's bosom to heaven where they were corporately called "the spirits of just men made perfect": Heb 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, All whose names are "written in heaven" are members of "the general assembly and church of the firstborn." The Old Testament saints who were dead at the time of Jesus' resurrection and those New Testament saints who have died since are one body in Christ. The living saints on earth along with all the spirits of the dead saints in heaven are one body. There is no distinction between Jew and Gentile in this corporate body, who are Abraham's spiritual seed: Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. ALL are heirs in one body of Christ according to the promise, whether they be Jew or Gentile.
The OT and NT saints who have died are members of the one body of Christ. Living believers on earth are also members of that one body:
When Jesus returns, He gathers together His entire body:
2. The NT saints who have died 3. The living saints who remain on earth until His coming This gathering is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:
1 Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
There is no distinction made anywhere in Scripture of NT saints returning with Him before the tribulation while the OT saints must wait until after the tribulation to return with Him. This would mean that the NT saints are glorified before the trub while the dead OT saints would wait to be glorified until after the tribulation. ALL of these saints returning with Him before the tribulation must include the OT saints (Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, etc.). Pretribulationism confuses the simplicity of His return regarding the glorification of Church:
Pretribulationism cannot say Daniel, and therefore all OT saints, is raised BEFORE the tribulation because Daniel 12 clearly refutes that. Pretribulationism creates a very confusing situation in heaven concerning the saints waiting to be glorified. Pretribulationism has NT saints glorified (changed and risen) and taken to heaven before the tribulation, while the dead OT saints must wait to be resurrected and glorified until after the tribulation. Daniel 12 clearly shows Daniel is to be raised after a time of trouble (the tribulation): Dan 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.  With Daniel's spirit in heaven, this creates this situation in heaven in Pretribulationism:  There is nothing in Scripture to indicate that the dead OT saints, including Daniel, are raised at a different time than the NT saints. As shown above, it is impossible for them to be raised at the same time in Pretribulationism. Pretribulationism destroys the oneness of the one new man in Christ. Daniel and the NT saints are IN CHRIST, yet Daniel must wait to be raised and glorified seven years after the Church in Pretribulationism. There is no such scenario in Scripture. The Pretribulation doctrine makes a joke out of the body of the OT and NT saints being ONE new man in Christ. It also makes a joke of the ONE hope ALL the saints have in Christ. It makes a joke of the resurrection, splitting the ONE resurrection into two resurrections concerning the glorification of the saints. What is not a joke is the reality of what Scripture says about such treatment of the Scriptures:
2 Pet 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. |
