Stumbling in the Way, Part 51
The Seventh Church is the Church of Laodicea, meaning “justice for the people” or “a judged people”.
The return of the Lord (The Second Presence or Greek: Parousia) marks the beginning of Laodicean period.
This date or time period began in A.D. 1874 and is established by the Jubilee Prophecy (See: Earths Great Jubilee), and is likewise confirmed by Daniel 12:12 viz.,
“Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.”
If we add 1335 years to A.D. 539 (The date in which the abomination of desolation was first set up. The same date which marks the beginning of the 1260 and 1290 days of Daniel) we reach the date A.D. 1874, the blessed day, the time of the Second Advent, and invisible (thief like) return of our Lord.
This is also confirmed in the parallel dates taught in the “Jewish double.”
The connection between the beginning of Laodicea and the Parousia is strongly shown by Rev. 3:20, viz.,
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
And likewise, by Rev 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!”
And most strongly by 1 Thess. 4:15, 16 which proclaims the return IN (such it is stated in the Greek) the “Trump of God” — the LAST trumpet of 1 Cor. 15, the seventh of the series. “This (Seventh Trumpet) has been symbolically sounding since 1874, and will continue.”
“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”
The END of Laodicea has not yet been found. It should be marked by that wonderful proclamation from Psalm 46: BE STILL! AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.
Once again, this stage of the Church as well as its Seal and Trumpet have already been thoroughly covered in detail therefore, we will not go over them again here, but would direct you to the following:
In our next post we should like to share some concluding thoughts on this study.