The Rapture time line chart is not accurate regarding the "beheading of the foolish virgins."  Because of this I have removed it from this posting and I am researching this question and will show my findings soon.  (The former inaccurate chart can be found in previous posts) 

Leo

Joel’s Army, the Army of Jesus Lovers

   When we read the description of Joel's Army, these do not fit the description of your average Christian.  Christians in America seem willing to tolerate any kind of sin, as long as it doesn't effect their own sphere of influence.  Because of the election of false persons into positions in government, American laws and institutions have been taken ill with laws and policies which violate the commands of God.  Despite this, American culture allows for secular humanism to dictate some part of the governance of the nation.  Even though Christians seem to be tolerant of sin, it grieves the heart of them that know God's goodness.  It grieves the many saints who have found that God's word will bring life in the long run, if followed.  Christians have been commanded to submit to the authorities (Romans 13:1-10), however Christians have been commanded to not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness (Ephesians 5:11).  When our American leaders begin to encroach on Christian liberty to the point of unfairness, only then the Christian community organizes in opposition to those policies and laws and leaders that would enact them.  Christians feel frustrated by this uneasy truce with legalized sin, but feel obligated to permit it, being cognizant of the command of God to be submitted to Governmental authority.  Joel's Army has no such restraint, thus its political and moral power is unlimited.  This is not what we commonly picture as an army of Christians.

    A question that we must answer is, "What is it about Joel's Army that qualifies the members to exercise unlimited moral and political authority?"  Simply put, it is that "saints" have been approved by God to rule and reign with Christ.  2 Timothy 2:12-13 says:

2 Timothy 2:12
12If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

To suffer with Christ is to pay the price in life to follow Him.  The way you "pay" that price is not by natural money, but by obedience to His word.  The work of being a disciple involves doing God's will on earth, no matter the personal cost, whether it be use of time, treasure, or talent.  Christians often lose their reputation, or their financial opportunities, simply because of this faith in Christ.  Some lose their family's love, or worse.  Jesus said, "And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:27).   Being a disciple of Christ in life is the single most qualifying mark of the members of  Joel's Army. 

    Another qualifying aspect is that Joel's Army are participant in the "first resurrection" (See the Prophetic Timeline chart).  John writes in
Revelation 20:
   
Revelation 20:6
6Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

The glorification of the saints is the finality of the perfecting of the soul and body, in addition to the "born again" spirit that initiates the salvation of the saint (John 3:3-7).  Whereas the person who is "born again" has their spirit born of incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1:23), the full inheritance of the incorruptable has not yet been given (1 Peter 1:4-5).  However, this incorruptible inheritance will be given in the last time:

1 Peter 1:3-5
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

At the last moments of the Church Age the church will be marked by the "revealed" incorruptible inheritance "in the last time" (1 Peter 1:5) in the resurrected power of Joel's Army.  After the glorified ones are raptured, then the Antichrist has his ascendancy to world rule (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8).  So we can conclude that only those that qualify in life for glorification will be rewarded with glorification and resurrection (in the case of the dead) and will be qualified to rule after the rapture.  Further we can conclude that the authority of Joel's Army is based in its incorruptibility, therefore its ability to enact judgment, both politically and morally will be completely according to God's perfect judgment.  Christians today are commanded to judge in a way that is consistent with the ways of Christ while Christians are yet imperfect:

John 7:24:
23If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day? 24Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. 

How much more when made incorruptible will Joel's Army be qualified to judge the corruption of man? 

    Some might ask how imperfect Christians can be righteous as Christ is in judgment after resurrection.  To start, we must look at this army as saints that have been resurrected in the image of Christ.  Paul wrote in Romans 8:

Romans 8:29-30
29For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Many might tend to read the word "predestinate" and then put this scripture into a future time period, and a heavenly locality.  Although the future is the Christian's present relation to this "glorified" state, the place of glorification is not only in the future heaven.  This same Paul says that this will happen on earth before the rapture occurs.  Glorification will happen to all Christians before they are raptured!

1 Corinthians 15:51-54
51Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 


Paul agued with many who found this glorification far fetched.  He called them fools (1 Corinthian 15:35-36).  Many scriptures point to the supernatural resurrection body that the saints shall receive.  These scriptures are familiar:

2 Corinthians 5:1-4
1For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

Imagine for a moment that the resurrection of the Christian saints has occurred and that the rapture is immanent; but what has astounded the whole earth is that not only have a great number of deceased Christians resurrected, but a certain number of living Christians have at the same moment been clothed upon by the glory of God as in 2 Corinthians 5:1-4.  What might one of these supernaturally transformed Christians look like and how could you distinguish them from the normal human being?  The answer must eventually lie in what Jesus looked like after His resurrection, for Romans 8:28-30 says:

Romans 8:28-30

28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Paul’s use of “glorified” in the past tense indicates Paul’s perfect revelation of the final intention of the Lord; spoken with prophetic surety as though already accomplished.  He did not put it away in the mists of future heaven, but in present finality.  In addition to this unique point of view, it is basic Christian doctrine that the believer has been "born again," or glorified in the spirit.  many do not apply this concept beyond the realm of the spirit.  however, Paul is obvious talking about the body.

    Jesus is for all Christians the pattern of things that are to be believed and He is the pattern for all things to come.  If a resurrection army is to exist, then it must resemble the resurrection of Christ; otherwise it is a Satanic counterfeit.  Jesus' physical attributes were enhanced after His resurrection as you can see by this list of supernatural acts after He rose from the dead:

Luke 24:31- Jesus vanishes.
Luke 24:36 - Jesus appears in the midst of the apostles
John 20:19 - Jesus appeared in an enclosed room without entering by a door.
John 20:27 - Jesus' resurrected body had open wounds from the crucifixion, and no apparent pain or blood.
27Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

And of course Jesus was “raptured” in Acts 1:9-11
9And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.


The body of Jesus has all the characteristics of that body that must comprise the Army of Joel 2.  Remember that the rapture is after the resurrection, so shouldn’t our focus as Christians be to achieve our resurrection, rather than to "make the rapture?"


The Message of the Army of Jesus Lovers

    This supernatural army has ultimate authority on earth and no stronghold can resist its movement, so what message will Joel‘s Army carry?  Again we look to Jesus‘ final instructions.  Acts 1:1-5:

1The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: 4And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

Whereas many denigrate the Charismatic sects of Christiandom, Jesus himself told the believers to wait for a further installment of grace by means of the baptism of the Holy Ghost.  He said that this installment would make them into witnesses of his kingdom:

Acts 1:8
8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

If we are to take seriously our election in God’s plan, then we must not minimize this command to wait to be endued with power.

The prophesy of Malachi $ speaks of a final Christian uprising.  This is an army that repudiates the forces of the liberal and the Marxist, and all manifestations of the Antichrist.  However this happens in a “day,” or season, not as a perpetual condition.  This is consistent with the “day” of Joel’s army.

Malachi 4:1-3
1For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 3And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

Jesus walked freely after His resurrection preaching the kingdom of God, so Joel’s army will do the same.  However, it will not be mild and meek and without judgment, rather lets look at Enoch‘s manner of preaching and his message.

Jude 1:14-16
14And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,  15To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 16These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

No longer do we see Christians cowed into “non-judgmental” evangelism.  Frankly, no true evangelism go forth without the judgment of the Law of Moses, and conviction of the Spirit; however conversion to Christ is a voluntary response , as is obedience to Him.  Isaiah 26:9-10 says:

9With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. 10Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.

Joel’s army is what the world fears most, though they know not that it is coming before the rapture of the saints.  Imagine an army of Christians unafraid of lawsuits, accusations of “hate speech,“ or reprisals from liberal religious organizations, atheists, Muslims, Marxists or from governmental oppressions of any kind.  Not any human law or atheistic authority, or force of arms will be able to stop this army of Jesus lovers from preaching the Gospel.  Joel 2:6 says, “Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.”  The word “blackness” comes from a Hebrew  word (6289 in Strong’s Concordance) Which indicates red faced shame.

                    *****

Through this series of entries in the BLOG I have built a case for a dwell time between the Christian resurrection and the rapture.  This next section will cover the question of how we can qualify to march in Joel's Army, and how we can participate in the marriage of the Lord.

Contrasting the White Horse Army with Joel's Army

Contrasting the White Horse Army with Joel's Army

The army described in Joel Chapter 2 cannot be that of the white horse return of Christ, simply because the descriptions of these armies do not match.  Let us now examine a list of distinctions will show that the "white horse army" cannot be Joel’s Army:


One of the main points describing the white horse return is that Christ does a lot of killing (Revelation 19:21).  You know that this is actual killing by the feast of vultures being invited to "the supper of the great God" (Revelation 19:17-18).  In contrast, Joel’s army only brings conviction on the world (Joel 2:6) with no killing described. 

The manner of the "white horse return of Christ" will be a visible descent from heaven (Acts 1:10-11) with the "armies of heaven" dressed in white linen riding with the Lord upon horses (Revelation 19:14).   In contrast, Joel's Army manifest "as the morning spread upon the mountains" (Joel 2:1), which signifies a world wide instantaneous appearance; not a single invading army of horses led by Christ.

The White Horse Army rides on horses.  In contrast, Joel's Army runs and leaps (Joel 2:4-5).

The duration of the armies is different.  The verse in Joel 2:2 that says, “...a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.”  This description does not seem to fit the "white horse army" that rules with Christ (Jude 14-15), at a thousand years (Revelation 20:6) and presumably for all eternity yet to come.

I am emphatic about these distinctions, because the last days prophesy that I am promoting does not include Dominion Theology, A-millennial-ism, Latter Reign, or Kingdom Now doctrines.  Though these doctrines are held by large sects within Christianity, their greatest flaw is that they attempt to apply the perfect glorification of Joel's Army upon their own lives and present societies.  They have missed the message of 1 Corinthians 15:50 that says, "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."  As you study thsi prophesy, you will find that, I have made my presentation of this prophesy about the last days rapture based upon the actual words that come from the scriptures, not out of fanciful doctrinal twists that satisfy the fleshy conceptions of man.

Thesis #2 
Joel's Army is not only different in substance, but different in activity than the White Horse Army that follows Jesus Christ at His "2nd Coming."
What is Joel Chapter 2 talking about?
What has driven me crazy for years in the reading of  Joel 2, are the questions:

Who forms the ranks of this army?
How do you become one of these soldiers?
When does it appear?
an additional question that must be known is, For how long does it march?

The answers are, well, in the scriptures: such as the physical description. its nature, its power, its activity, etc. are listed in Joel.  Joel Chapter 2 reads:

1Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; 2A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. 3A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. 4The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. 5Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. 6Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. 7They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: 8Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. 9They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. 10The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: 11And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

This passage presents an army of supermen, a supernatural army, not an army of natural countries or of men.  However, the White Horse Army of Revelation 21 is also a supernatural army, so they can be confused.  Though they are both supernatural armies, a comparison of descriptive points shows that they are not the same army, nor do they ride at the same period in prophetic history. 

Army: White Horse Army  vs.  Joel's Army
    
Leader:    Christ Himself   vs.  The Lord's Voice 
   
Transportation:    white horses  vs.  Running on foot, or flying

Activity:  Following Christ as He destroys The militaries of the antichrist vs. Destroying property and rooting people out of strongholds and violating social structures repudiating the strength of the ungodly. 

Scope of movement:   traversing the atmosphere of Earth in plain sight  vs.  Strong doors and locks provide no obstacle  
 
Eschatological order of Appearance:  2nd Coming, Initiating the Millennial reign of Christ  vs. At a time approaching the Day of the Lord (The 2nd Coming).
 
Mortal Limits:  Not seen facing any opposition, though glorified and immortal  vs.  Cannot be killed, (allowing for such attempts by the unrighteous).
 
Earthly Reception:  None specified, presumably obedience  vs.  The ungodly attempt to kill; many feel fear and shame.  
 
Duration of appearance:  1000 years, and presumably into eternity?  vs.  Limited, not continuing, but existing for a space before the white Horse return of Christ.



 


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    Joel Chapter 2 describes an army of "supermen."  Some doubt the word of God and allegorize this passage so the natural meaning of this passage is discounted and downgraded to a prphesy about a plague of locusts.   This passage is too challenging for most scholars, because of the necessity to conform to traditional theology.  If these scholars believe that there will be a worldwide resurrection of Christians, then a delayed rapture, then such personas, would be abloe to allow for an army of perfected Bible thumpers, evangelizing the world with impunity.  An honest overview of all revealed Biblical history and prophesy (history yet to be) one must will be driven to admit that the only place this prophesy of Joel could be played out is between the time of the Christian resurrection, and the rapture, followed by the revealing of the Antichrist.  At the time of Christ's resurrection was the only historical place that this kind of resurrection superman can be found.  Since there is another resurrection of saints yet to come, what more likely place is there for Joel's Army to march?   The army told of in Joel must be resurrected saints, whether risen from the dead or quickened with them at this time of resurrection, otherwise the "soldiers" in this army will not be immortal.  It's time to put away unbelief and begine to sound the alarm in the body of Christ!

God Resurrects the Dead Jews
The only other place there was a human resurrection "army" was Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones that were raised to form, “...an exceeding great army...”(Ezek 37:2-14).  It is recognized that this Ezekiel prophesy has an application to the advent of the Zionist movement and the re-establishment of Israel in Palestine, however the promise given by God to the Jews is a literal resurrection.  The prophesy does say emphatically that dead Jews will be raised physically from graves. 

“... Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, 14And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.”

 I can imagine all the murdered of the holocaust suddenly raising from the dead in triumph, and living back in the land of Israel.  I can imagine that when this happens, that they will “know it was the Lord.”

    This will literally happen, but I have no revelation of what the timing of this even is, however God will show the truth to those who seek it.