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THE GROANING OF THE CHURCH BEFORE THE RAPTURE
Pastor Gabriel Ferrer and Yolanda Rodríguez
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Romans 8:23 (AKJV)
The Bible teaches that, in the end times, just before the Rapture, the Church must groan together with creation (Rom. 8:22-23). What is this groaning? Are the churches groaning at these end times? What is preventing the Church from groaning?
These are some of the questions we will address in this article, with the aim of awakening believers who have fallen asleep, so that their hearts may tremble, and they may rise from the spiritual lethargy into which the Perverse[1] (the old man) and Satan have plunged them.
The only way the Church can groan now is by knowing with certainty that the time of the Rapture has already come and that the day and hour are drawing near, for the Lord said that the Church would see that the day approaches (Heb. 10:25)[2]. However, the churches among the nations are not groaning; instead, they are marrying and giving in marriage, buying and selling, eating and drinking, celebrating festivals every month and every week-like birthdays (Mat. 24:38; Lk. 17:26-28).
The Church has become rooted in this world because she has been convinced by three lies of the evil servant (Mat. 24:48):
-
The Lord is delaying his coming.
-
The time, the day, and the hour of the Lord's coming for His Church will never be known; He may come in many years, even in a thousand or two thousand.
-
The Lord Jesus is coming as a thief in the night and will take the holy Church by surprise[3].
These are lies of the Perverse and of Satan, which have infiltrated churches that are asleep. They have refused to grow in the knowledge of the Lord, rejected the teaching and voice of the Holy Spirit, and have not allowed themselves to be led by Him into the truth. As a result, they have failed to understand the eternal promises and the Eternal Kingdom[4].
The Lord declares in Scripture that He will not delay (Heb. 10:37). He affirms that His holy Church will know the time, the day, and the hour of the Rapture, for it is made up of faithful servants - children of light and children of the day - and Christ's coming will not take them by surprise (1 Thes. 5:1-5). The dead Church, by contrast, will not recognize the hour; and the evil servant is the one who does not watch for the day or the hour because he does not know them (Mat. 24:50; Rev. 3:3).
God has always revealed His prophetic calendar to His people. He did so with Israel when He brought them out of Egypt, and again during the judgment of the exile, when He disclosed to Daniel the prophecy of the seventy weeks (Lev. Ch. 23; Dan. 9:24-27).
Within that calendar, the Church's program lies inside the sixty-ninth week, which has been paused and extended in time since it began in Acts 2 and continues to this day[5]. The Lord promised that the Holy Spirit would reveal to the Church the things to come and guide her into all truth (Jn. 14:26; 16:13). The Church, for her part, had to listen to the Spirit's voice (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:13, 22); therefore, she would be able to discern and understand the end-time calendar — the events, the day, and the hour of Christ's coming to bring her to the New Jerusalem in the Rapture.
For this understanding, the Lord established a method that is also a command: look, watch, and pray[6]. In Mark 13:33, He says, "Take heed [Gr. ἵστημι (histēmi): look at], watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is." The Lord explains why the Church must watch and pray: because she does not yet know the time. The purpose, however, is not that she should never know and be taken by surprise, but that through watching she may come to understand it. In Mark 13:33, the Lord is telling the Church that, by looking at the signs and persevering in watching prayer, the Holy Spirit will reveal the calendar, the events, the time, the day, and the hour of the Rapture. This is confirmed in Revelation 3:3b: "Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you." Here, the Lord makes it clear: the Church that does not watch will not recognize the hour of His coming for her. Watching and praying, therefore, are directly linked to understanding the prophetic calendar - the appointed time, the day, and the hour.
The command to watch is repeated in Luke 21:36: "Watch at all times, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand [Gr. ἵστημι histēmi] before the Son of Man." This verse places the act of watching in the end times, just before the Rapture, for it speaks of the moment when true believers stand before the Lord. There are two purposes for constant watchfulness before the Rapture: (1) to escape the Tribulation described in the verses just before Luke 21:36; (2) to stand before the Lord.
The Greek verb ἵστημι (histēmi), besides meaning "to remain," also carries the sense of "to present oneself, to stand before." In this way it is used in Acts 16:9; 17:22; 24:20; and Revelation 20:12, among other passages.
The command to watch is reiterated in Luke 21:36: "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand [Gr. ἵστημι histēmi] before the Son of Man." This verse places the act of watching in the end times, just before the Rapture, because it speaks of the moment when true believers will present themselves before the Lord. There are two purposes for constant watching before the Rapture: (1) to escape the Tribulation described in the verses just before Luke 21:36; (2) to present oneself before the Lord.
The Greek verb ἵστημι (histēmi), besides meaning "to stand before," also means "to present oneself, to be." In this sense it is used in Acts 16:9; 17:22; 24:20; and Revelation 20:12, among other passages.
Let us now dwell on the third order: pray. There is a specificity to this and that is praying while groaning. Why would the Church groan before the Rapture? Because the Holy Spirit would cause her to feel deeply the physical absence of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result, the Church would seek Him, longing to see Him, to find Him, and to go with Him to the New Jerusalem. This is the longing of the bride described in the Song of Solomon.[7]
Concerning this physical absence that the holy Church would experience, the Lord Jesus spoke in John16:19-20: "19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’?20 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy…"
The Church that feels the Lord's physical absence is the one that groans. At present we cannot be in His bodily presence because of the sin and death that dwell in us; we have been subjected to futility, to what is corruptible. But the Lord is eternal; He has life in Himself[8], and there is nothing corruptible in Him, for He is glorious. As 2 Corinthians 5:6 declares: "So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord."
God's mercy and love are so great that He has prepared for us a dwelling place not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens. He has granted us an everlasting heavenly home — our redeemed, glorified body, transformed into the likeness of Christ's own body.[9] 2 Corinthians 5:1 states: "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
It is because of this powerful, incorruptible body — this heavenly dwelling — that the Church should now be groaning, longing for the mortal to be swallowed up by life; for now, more than ever, our redemption is near. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:2-4. Paul says:
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
The apostle teaches that we, being fully aware of the mortal tent in which we live - where the Perverse (the sin nature, the old self) still dwells — groan in longing to be clothed with the eternal, glorious body the Lord has promised us. We do not wish to remain absent from His physical presence, far from His dwelling place, the heavenly City; rather, we already long to depart to the New Jerusalem, for we know that the day of the Rapture is at hand. As 2 Corinthians 5:7-8 declares: "7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."
How can we confirm that, just before the Rapture, the Church is meant to groan for the glorified body to be with the Lord? We know this because Scripture clearly declares it. Romans 8:18-23 confirms it; let us read:
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
The apostle Paul is speaking about this time of the end, just before the Rapture, not merely about his own days. This is a hallmark of biblical prophecy: the prophets often addressed their contemporaries as if the message were for them, while God was, in fact, speaking to future recipients. Such is the case with Romans 8:18-23, which applies to this final hour before the Rapture, because Paul highlights three key facts:
(a) The creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God - those who will be glorified, the first to rise, never to die again.
(b) The creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. This will happen at the Rapture, when there will be human beings without sin and without death: eternal, incorruptible. It will no longer be one single Adam to whom God entrusted everything, who then sinned and lost the promises.
(c) Paul speaks of the groaning that God's children must make in this end times, for the apostle says, "eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8:23b) - a reality about to be fulfilled in these very last days.
Sadly, most churches throughout the world are not groaning for the coming of Christ or for the redemption of the body; this answers the question raised at the beginning of this blog: Are the churches groaning in this end times? The causes are clear:
- The apostasy that has penetrated them for many years - a fulfillment of the Lord's prophecies (2 Thes. 2:1-3).
- The spiritual sleep into which many have fallen, deceived by apostates who have taught them a corruptible gospel, focused on earthly things.
These causes are part of the answer to the question: What is preventing the Church from groaning?
However, the Church that God will raise up at the Rapture will groan, because He has determined it. It is not the apostate Church, which was already cut off in the judgment of helplessness executed in 2021[10]. The sleeping Church is the one the Lord is going to awaken. How will He do this? We will explore it in the next article on our blog.
Notes
[1] To understand why the Perverse is the old man, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Perversa. La naturaleza de pecado [The Perverse. The nature of sin]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; and Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). La Perversa. El misterio [The Perverse: The mistery]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[2] For more on this topic, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The end of stopped time: the Church will see that the Day of the Rapture approaches. The sign. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog; and: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023, June 25). The day and the hour [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/59IMlomDSqQ?si=BDVlB5sNidwP_mY5
[3] For a more detailed discussion of this topic, see chapter 1, Las claves interpretativas para los Hechos de la Iglesia en el tiempo del fin [The Interpretative Keys for the Acts of the Church in the End Times], in: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Los Hechos de la Iglesia del tiempo del fin: El Calendario [The Acts of the Church in the End Times: The Calendar]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[4] Learn about the messages that the Holy Spirit would speak to the End-time churches, in: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Santidad escucha la voz del Espíritu Santo [Holiness listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros. The oral preaching in this series is available in Spanish on the YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2xb9peCdEMntaCoSxNGrz9HRdsjBam9v&si=mUmKHjzNq2tJZd4L
[5] To learn more about how God stops and extends time in his perfect Kairos, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). Why Israel's generation will not pass away: God stopped the prophetic time in 2022. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog; Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). El Yâsaph. El tiempo de la paciencia y las maravillas del Rey [The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; and: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, October 30). The Yâsaph: the time of patience and the wonders of the King [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/a2ugo2VWfLg?si=4oDo6jEbHAIB5KOg
[6] To learn about this and other prophetic commands that the End-time Church had to fulfill, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025, January 25). Los mandatos proféticos para la Iglesia del tiempo del fin [The Prophetic Commands for the End-Time Church] [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/kjCIncimooI?si=fDzzY_6UmMZoWBcU
[7] For a complete study on what the bride's daydream is, see: Ferrer, G., Rodríguez, Y. & Hernández, I. (2023). The Church in the End Times: The Church that waits for her Lord. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; the chapter 7: El ensueño de la Iglesia, la desposada [The Dream of the Church, the Bride], in: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Los Hechos de la Iglesia del tiempo del fin: El Calendario [The Acts of the End-Time Church: The Calendar]. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; and: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, July 3). The daydream of the Church in the end times [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/eUAuRihhfK8?si=-iQ6rpwD5W_5ZGSY
[8] To learn more about God's attribute of Life, see chapter 3, The Biblical Covenants and the Attributes of God, in: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). The Eternal Kingdom: Descendants, New Earth, and Government. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/el-reino-eterno; and steps 104 to 121 of the discipleship: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2021). The King's Eternal Promises. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/discipulados-berea
[9] For a complete study on this topic, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La redención de nuestro cuerpo [The redemption of our body]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; the oral preaching of this series is available in Spanish on the YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2xb9peCdEMlEELIsOZhdrf33Tfx-MdZE&si=tZ06YhjJ1eS_iR8d
[10] For a complete study on the judgment of forsakenness, and how God executed it with a 50-day countdown, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). El juicio del desamparo sobre la Iglesia apóstata [The judgment of forsakenness upon the apostate Church]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
References
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La redención de nuestro cuerpo [The redemption of our body]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Santidad escucha la voz del Espíritu Santo [Holiness listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023, June 25). The day and the hour [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/59IMlomDSqQ?si=BDVlB5sNidwP_mY5
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, July 3). The daydream of the Church in the end times [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/eUAuRihhfK8?si=-iQ6rpwD5W_5ZGSY
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The end of stopped time: the Church will see that the Day of the Rapture approaches. The sign. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025, January 25). Los mandatos proféticos para la Iglesia del tiempo del fin [The Prophetic Commands for the End-Time Church] [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/kjCIncimooI?si=fDzzY_6UmMZoWBcU
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2021). The King's Eternal Promises. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/discipulados-berea
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). El juicio del desamparo sobre la Iglesia apóstata [The judgment of forsakenness upon the apostate Church]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Los Hechos de la Iglesia del tiempo del fin: El Calendario [The Acts of the Church in the End Times: The Calendar]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). The Eternal Kingdom: Descendants, New Earth, and Government. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/el-reino-eterno
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Perversa. La naturaleza de pecado [The Perverse. The nature of sin]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). El Yâsaph. El tiempo de la paciencia y las maravillas del Rey [The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, October 30). The Yâsaph: the time of patience and the wonders of the King [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/a2ugo2VWfLg?si=4oDo6jEbHAIB5KOg
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The attribute of the existence of God and immutability related to the eternally multiplied descendants. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The tree of life: The hope the Church forgot. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). To deny the eternally multiplied offspring is to deny all the attributes of God. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). Why Israel's generation will not pass away: God stopped the prophetic time in 2022. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). La Perversa. El misterio [The Perverse: The mistery]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., Rodríguez, Y. & Hernández, I. (2023). The Church in the End Times: The Church that waits for her Lord. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
References (AI and digital tools)
DeepL SE. (n.d.). DeepL Translator. DeepL. https://www.deepl.com
Grammarly. (n.d.). Grammarly: AI grammar assistance. Grammarly. https://www.grammarly.com
Meyers, R. (2000). e-Sword X [Computer software]. https://www.e-sword.net/
Microsoft. (n.d.). Microsoft Translator [Computer software]. Microsoft. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/translator
OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT: AI-powered language assistance. https://openai.com
THE GROANING OF THE CHURCH BEFORE THE RAPTURE
Pastor Gabriel Ferrer and Yolanda Rodríguez
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Romans 8:23 (AKJV)
The Bible teaches that, in the end times, just before the Rapture, the Church must groan together with creation (Rom. 8:22-23). What is this groaning? Are the churches groaning at these end times? What is preventing the Church from groaning?
These are some of the questions we will address in this article, with the aim of awakening believers who have fallen asleep, so that their hearts may tremble, and they may rise from the spiritual lethargy into which the Perverse[1] (the old man) and Satan have plunged them.
The only way the Church can groan now is by knowing with certainty that the time of the Rapture has already come and that the day and hour are drawing near, for the Lord said that the Church would see that the day approaches (Heb. 10:25)[2]. However, the churches among the nations are not groaning; instead, they are marrying and giving in marriage, buying and selling, eating and drinking, celebrating festivals every month and every week-like birthdays (Mat. 24:38; Lk. 17:26-28).
The Church has become rooted in this world because she has been convinced by three lies of the evil servant (Mat. 24:48):
-
The Lord is delaying his coming.
-
The time, the day, and the hour of the Lord's coming for His Church will never be known; He may come in many years, even in a thousand or two thousand.
-
The Lord Jesus is coming as a thief in the night and will take the holy Church by surprise[3].
These are lies of the Perverse and of Satan, which have infiltrated churches that are asleep. They have refused to grow in the knowledge of the Lord, rejected the teaching and voice of the Holy Spirit, and have not allowed themselves to be led by Him into the truth. As a result, they have failed to understand the eternal promises and the Eternal Kingdom[4].
The Lord declares in Scripture that He will not delay (Heb. 10:37). He affirms that His holy Church will know the time, the day, and the hour of the Rapture, for it is made up of faithful servants - children of light and children of the day - and Christ's coming will not take them by surprise (1 Thes. 5:1-5). The dead Church, by contrast, will not recognize the hour; and the evil servant is the one who does not watch for the day or the hour because he does not know them (Mat. 24:50; Rev. 3:3).
God has always revealed His prophetic calendar to His people. He did so with Israel when He brought them out of Egypt, and again during the judgment of the exile, when He disclosed to Daniel the prophecy of the seventy weeks (Lev. Ch. 23; Dan. 9:24-27).
Within that calendar, the Church's program lies inside the sixty-ninth week, which has been paused and extended in time since it began in Acts 2 and continues to this day[5]. The Lord promised that the Holy Spirit would reveal to the Church the things to come and guide her into all truth (Jn. 14:26; 16:13). The Church, for her part, had to listen to the Spirit's voice (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:13, 22); therefore, she would be able to discern and understand the end-time calendar — the events, the day, and the hour of Christ's coming to bring her to the New Jerusalem in the Rapture.
For this understanding, the Lord established a method that is also a command: look, watch, and pray[6]. In Mark 13:33, He says, "Take heed [Gr. ἵστημι (histēmi): look at], watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is." The Lord explains why the Church must watch and pray: because she does not yet know the time. The purpose, however, is not that she should never know and be taken by surprise, but that through watching she may come to understand it. In Mark 13:33, the Lord is telling the Church that, by looking at the signs and persevering in watching prayer, the Holy Spirit will reveal the calendar, the events, the time, the day, and the hour of the Rapture. This is confirmed in Revelation 3:3b: "Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you." Here, the Lord makes it clear: the Church that does not watch will not recognize the hour of His coming for her. Watching and praying, therefore, are directly linked to understanding the prophetic calendar - the appointed time, the day, and the hour.
The command to watch is repeated in Luke 21:36: "Watch at all times, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand [Gr. ἵστημι histēmi] before the Son of Man." This verse places the act of watching in the end times, just before the Rapture, for it speaks of the moment when true believers stand before the Lord. There are two purposes for constant watchfulness before the Rapture: (1) to escape the Tribulation described in the verses just before Luke 21:36; (2) to stand before the Lord.
The Greek verb ἵστημι (histēmi), besides meaning "to remain," also carries the sense of "to present oneself, to stand before." In this way it is used in Acts 16:9; 17:22; 24:20; and Revelation 20:12, among other passages.
The command to watch is reiterated in Luke 21:36: "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand [Gr. ἵστημι histēmi] before the Son of Man." This verse places the act of watching in the end times, just before the Rapture, because it speaks of the moment when true believers will present themselves before the Lord. There are two purposes for constant watching before the Rapture: (1) to escape the Tribulation described in the verses just before Luke 21:36; (2) to present oneself before the Lord.
The Greek verb ἵστημι (histēmi), besides meaning "to stand before," also means "to present oneself, to be." In this sense it is used in Acts 16:9; 17:22; 24:20; and Revelation 20:12, among other passages.
Let us now dwell on the third order: pray. There is a specificity to this and that is praying while groaning. Why would the Church groan before the Rapture? Because the Holy Spirit would cause her to feel deeply the physical absence of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result, the Church would seek Him, longing to see Him, to find Him, and to go with Him to the New Jerusalem. This is the longing of the bride described in the Song of Solomon.[7]
Concerning this physical absence that the holy Church would experience, the Lord Jesus spoke in John16:19-20: "19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’?20 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy…"
The Church that feels the Lord's physical absence is the one that groans. At present we cannot be in His bodily presence because of the sin and death that dwell in us; we have been subjected to futility, to what is corruptible. But the Lord is eternal; He has life in Himself[8], and there is nothing corruptible in Him, for He is glorious. As 2 Corinthians 5:6 declares: "So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord."
God's mercy and love are so great that He has prepared for us a dwelling place not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens. He has granted us an everlasting heavenly home — our redeemed, glorified body, transformed into the likeness of Christ's own body.[9] 2 Corinthians 5:1 states: "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
It is because of this powerful, incorruptible body — this heavenly dwelling — that the Church should now be groaning, longing for the mortal to be swallowed up by life; for now, more than ever, our redemption is near. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:2-4. Paul says:
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
The apostle teaches that we, being fully aware of the mortal tent in which we live - where the Perverse (the sin nature, the old self) still dwells — groan in longing to be clothed with the eternal, glorious body the Lord has promised us. We do not wish to remain absent from His physical presence, far from His dwelling place, the heavenly City; rather, we already long to depart to the New Jerusalem, for we know that the day of the Rapture is at hand. As 2 Corinthians 5:7-8 declares: "7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."
How can we confirm that, just before the Rapture, the Church is meant to groan for the glorified body to be with the Lord? We know this because Scripture clearly declares it. Romans 8:18-23 confirms it; let us read:
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
The apostle Paul is speaking about this time of the end, just before the Rapture, not merely about his own days. This is a hallmark of biblical prophecy: the prophets often addressed their contemporaries as if the message were for them, while God was, in fact, speaking to future recipients. Such is the case with Romans 8:18-23, which applies to this final hour before the Rapture, because Paul highlights three key facts:
(a) The creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God - those who will be glorified, the first to rise, never to die again.
(b) The creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. This will happen at the Rapture, when there will be human beings without sin and without death: eternal, incorruptible. It will no longer be one single Adam to whom God entrusted everything, who then sinned and lost the promises.
(c) Paul speaks of the groaning that God's children must make in this end times, for the apostle says, "eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8:23b) - a reality about to be fulfilled in these very last days.
Sadly, most churches throughout the world are not groaning for the coming of Christ or for the redemption of the body; this answers the question raised at the beginning of this blog: Are the churches groaning in this end times? The causes are clear:
- The apostasy that has penetrated them for many years - a fulfillment of the Lord's prophecies (2 Thes. 2:1-3).
- The spiritual sleep into which many have fallen, deceived by apostates who have taught them a corruptible gospel, focused on earthly things.
These causes are part of the answer to the question: What is preventing the Church from groaning?
However, the Church that God will raise up at the Rapture will groan, because He has determined it. It is not the apostate Church, which was already cut off in the judgment of helplessness executed in 2021[10]. The sleeping Church is the one the Lord is going to awaken. How will He do this? We will explore it in the next article on our blog.
Notes
[1] To understand why the Perverse is the old man, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Perversa. La naturaleza de pecado [The Perverse. The nature of sin]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; and Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). La Perversa. El misterio [The Perverse: The mistery]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[2] For more on this topic, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The end of stopped time: the Church will see that the Day of the Rapture approaches. The sign. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog; and: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023, June 25). The day and the hour [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/59IMlomDSqQ?si=BDVlB5sNidwP_mY5
[3] For a more detailed discussion of this topic, see chapter 1, Las claves interpretativas para los Hechos de la Iglesia en el tiempo del fin [The Interpretative Keys for the Acts of the Church in the End Times], in: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Los Hechos de la Iglesia del tiempo del fin: El Calendario [The Acts of the Church in the End Times: The Calendar]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[4] Learn about the messages that the Holy Spirit would speak to the End-time churches, in: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Santidad escucha la voz del Espíritu Santo [Holiness listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros. The oral preaching in this series is available in Spanish on the YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2xb9peCdEMntaCoSxNGrz9HRdsjBam9v&si=mUmKHjzNq2tJZd4L
[5] To learn more about how God stops and extends time in his perfect Kairos, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). Why Israel's generation will not pass away: God stopped the prophetic time in 2022. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog; Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). El Yâsaph. El tiempo de la paciencia y las maravillas del Rey [The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; and: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, October 30). The Yâsaph: the time of patience and the wonders of the King [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/a2ugo2VWfLg?si=4oDo6jEbHAIB5KOg
[6] To learn about this and other prophetic commands that the End-time Church had to fulfill, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025, January 25). Los mandatos proféticos para la Iglesia del tiempo del fin [The Prophetic Commands for the End-Time Church] [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/kjCIncimooI?si=fDzzY_6UmMZoWBcU
[7] For a complete study on what the bride's daydream is, see: Ferrer, G., Rodríguez, Y. & Hernández, I. (2023). The Church in the End Times: The Church that waits for her Lord. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; the chapter 7: El ensueño de la Iglesia, la desposada [The Dream of the Church, the Bride], in: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Los Hechos de la Iglesia del tiempo del fin: El Calendario [The Acts of the End-Time Church: The Calendar]. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; and: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, July 3). The daydream of the Church in the end times [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/eUAuRihhfK8?si=-iQ6rpwD5W_5ZGSY
[8] To learn more about God's attribute of Life, see chapter 3, The Biblical Covenants and the Attributes of God, in: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). The Eternal Kingdom: Descendants, New Earth, and Government. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/el-reino-eterno; and steps 104 to 121 of the discipleship: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2021). The King's Eternal Promises. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/discipulados-berea
[9] For a complete study on this topic, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La redención de nuestro cuerpo [The redemption of our body]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; the oral preaching of this series is available in Spanish on the YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2xb9peCdEMlEELIsOZhdrf33Tfx-MdZE&si=tZ06YhjJ1eS_iR8d
[10] For a complete study on the judgment of forsakenness, and how God executed it with a 50-day countdown, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). El juicio del desamparo sobre la Iglesia apóstata [The judgment of forsakenness upon the apostate Church]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
References
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La redención de nuestro cuerpo [The redemption of our body]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Santidad escucha la voz del Espíritu Santo [Holiness listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023, June 25). The day and the hour [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/59IMlomDSqQ?si=BDVlB5sNidwP_mY5
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, July 3). The daydream of the Church in the end times [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/eUAuRihhfK8?si=-iQ6rpwD5W_5ZGSY
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The end of stopped time: the Church will see that the Day of the Rapture approaches. The sign. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025, January 25). Los mandatos proféticos para la Iglesia del tiempo del fin [The Prophetic Commands for the End-Time Church] [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/kjCIncimooI?si=fDzzY_6UmMZoWBcU
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2021). The King's Eternal Promises. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/discipulados-berea
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). El juicio del desamparo sobre la Iglesia apóstata [The judgment of forsakenness upon the apostate Church]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Los Hechos de la Iglesia del tiempo del fin: El Calendario [The Acts of the Church in the End Times: The Calendar]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). The Eternal Kingdom: Descendants, New Earth, and Government. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/el-reino-eterno
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Perversa. La naturaleza de pecado [The Perverse. The nature of sin]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). El Yâsaph. El tiempo de la paciencia y las maravillas del Rey [The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, October 30). The Yâsaph: the time of patience and the wonders of the King [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/a2ugo2VWfLg?si=4oDo6jEbHAIB5KOg
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The attribute of the existence of God and immutability related to the eternally multiplied descendants. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The tree of life: The hope the Church forgot. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). To deny the eternally multiplied offspring is to deny all the attributes of God. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). Why Israel's generation will not pass away: God stopped the prophetic time in 2022. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). La Perversa. El misterio [The Perverse: The mistery]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., Rodríguez, Y. & Hernández, I. (2023). The Church in the End Times: The Church that waits for her Lord. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
References (AI and digital tools)
DeepL SE. (n.d.). DeepL Translator. DeepL. https://www.deepl.com
Grammarly. (n.d.). Grammarly: AI grammar assistance. Grammarly. https://www.grammarly.com
Meyers, R. (2000). e-Sword X [Computer software]. https://www.e-sword.net/
Microsoft. (n.d.). Microsoft Translator [Computer software]. Microsoft. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/translator
OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT: AI-powered language assistance. https://openai.com
THE GROANING OF THE CHURCH BEFORE THE RAPTURE
Pastor Gabriel Ferrer and Yolanda Rodríguez
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Romans 8:23 (AKJV)
The Bible teaches that, in the end times, just before the Rapture, the Church must groan together with creation (Rom. 8:22-23). What is this groaning? Are the churches groaning at these end times? What is preventing the Church from groaning?
These are some of the questions we will address in this article, with the aim of awakening believers who have fallen asleep, so that their hearts may tremble, and they may rise from the spiritual lethargy into which the Perverse[1] (the old man) and Satan have plunged them.
The only way the Church can groan now is by knowing with certainty that the time of the Rapture has already come and that the day and hour are drawing near, for the Lord said that the Church would see that the day approaches (Heb. 10:25)[2]. However, the churches among the nations are not groaning; instead, they are marrying and giving in marriage, buying and selling, eating and drinking, celebrating festivals every month and every week-like birthdays (Mat. 24:38; Lk. 17:26-28).
The Church has become rooted in this world because she has been convinced by three lies of the evil servant (Mat. 24:48):
-
The Lord is delaying his coming.
-
The time, the day, and the hour of the Lord's coming for His Church will never be known; He may come in many years, even in a thousand or two thousand.
-
The Lord Jesus is coming as a thief in the night and will take the holy Church by surprise[3].
These are lies of the Perverse and of Satan, which have infiltrated churches that are asleep. They have refused to grow in the knowledge of the Lord, rejected the teaching and voice of the Holy Spirit, and have not allowed themselves to be led by Him into the truth. As a result, they have failed to understand the eternal promises and the Eternal Kingdom[4].
The Lord declares in Scripture that He will not delay (Heb. 10:37). He affirms that His holy Church will know the time, the day, and the hour of the Rapture, for it is made up of faithful servants - children of light and children of the day - and Christ's coming will not take them by surprise (1 Thes. 5:1-5). The dead Church, by contrast, will not recognize the hour; and the evil servant is the one who does not watch for the day or the hour because he does not know them (Mat. 24:50; Rev. 3:3).
God has always revealed His prophetic calendar to His people. He did so with Israel when He brought them out of Egypt, and again during the judgment of the exile, when He disclosed to Daniel the prophecy of the seventy weeks (Lev. Ch. 23; Dan. 9:24-27).
Within that calendar, the Church's program lies inside the sixty-ninth week, which has been paused and extended in time since it began in Acts 2 and continues to this day[5]. The Lord promised that the Holy Spirit would reveal to the Church the things to come and guide her into all truth (Jn. 14:26; 16:13). The Church, for her part, had to listen to the Spirit's voice (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:13, 22); therefore, she would be able to discern and understand the end-time calendar — the events, the day, and the hour of Christ's coming to bring her to the New Jerusalem in the Rapture.
For this understanding, the Lord established a method that is also a command: look, watch, and pray[6]. In Mark 13:33, He says, "Take heed [Gr. ἵστημι (histēmi): look at], watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is." The Lord explains why the Church must watch and pray: because she does not yet know the time. The purpose, however, is not that she should never know and be taken by surprise, but that through watching she may come to understand it. In Mark 13:33, the Lord is telling the Church that, by looking at the signs and persevering in watching prayer, the Holy Spirit will reveal the calendar, the events, the time, the day, and the hour of the Rapture. This is confirmed in Revelation 3:3b: "Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you." Here, the Lord makes it clear: the Church that does not watch will not recognize the hour of His coming for her. Watching and praying, therefore, are directly linked to understanding the prophetic calendar - the appointed time, the day, and the hour.
The command to watch is repeated in Luke 21:36: "Watch at all times, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand [Gr. ἵστημι histēmi] before the Son of Man." This verse places the act of watching in the end times, just before the Rapture, for it speaks of the moment when true believers stand before the Lord. There are two purposes for constant watchfulness before the Rapture: (1) to escape the Tribulation described in the verses just before Luke 21:36; (2) to stand before the Lord.
The Greek verb ἵστημι (histēmi), besides meaning "to remain," also carries the sense of "to present oneself, to stand before." In this way it is used in Acts 16:9; 17:22; 24:20; and Revelation 20:12, among other passages.
The command to watch is reiterated in Luke 21:36: "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand [Gr. ἵστημι histēmi] before the Son of Man." This verse places the act of watching in the end times, just before the Rapture, because it speaks of the moment when true believers will present themselves before the Lord. There are two purposes for constant watching before the Rapture: (1) to escape the Tribulation described in the verses just before Luke 21:36; (2) to present oneself before the Lord.
The Greek verb ἵστημι (histēmi), besides meaning "to stand before," also means "to present oneself, to be." In this sense it is used in Acts 16:9; 17:22; 24:20; and Revelation 20:12, among other passages.
Let us now dwell on the third order: pray. There is a specificity to this and that is praying while groaning. Why would the Church groan before the Rapture? Because the Holy Spirit would cause her to feel deeply the physical absence of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result, the Church would seek Him, longing to see Him, to find Him, and to go with Him to the New Jerusalem. This is the longing of the bride described in the Song of Solomon.[7]
Concerning this physical absence that the holy Church would experience, the Lord Jesus spoke in John16:19-20: "19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’?20 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy…"
The Church that feels the Lord's physical absence is the one that groans. At present we cannot be in His bodily presence because of the sin and death that dwell in us; we have been subjected to futility, to what is corruptible. But the Lord is eternal; He has life in Himself[8], and there is nothing corruptible in Him, for He is glorious. As 2 Corinthians 5:6 declares: "So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord."
God's mercy and love are so great that He has prepared for us a dwelling place not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens. He has granted us an everlasting heavenly home — our redeemed, glorified body, transformed into the likeness of Christ's own body.[9] 2 Corinthians 5:1 states: "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
It is because of this powerful, incorruptible body — this heavenly dwelling — that the Church should now be groaning, longing for the mortal to be swallowed up by life; for now, more than ever, our redemption is near. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:2-4. Paul says:
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
The apostle teaches that we, being fully aware of the mortal tent in which we live - where the Perverse (the sin nature, the old self) still dwells — groan in longing to be clothed with the eternal, glorious body the Lord has promised us. We do not wish to remain absent from His physical presence, far from His dwelling place, the heavenly City; rather, we already long to depart to the New Jerusalem, for we know that the day of the Rapture is at hand. As 2 Corinthians 5:7-8 declares: "7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."
How can we confirm that, just before the Rapture, the Church is meant to groan for the glorified body to be with the Lord? We know this because Scripture clearly declares it. Romans 8:18-23 confirms it; let us read:
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
The apostle Paul is speaking about this time of the end, just before the Rapture, not merely about his own days. This is a hallmark of biblical prophecy: the prophets often addressed their contemporaries as if the message were for them, while God was, in fact, speaking to future recipients. Such is the case with Romans 8:18-23, which applies to this final hour before the Rapture, because Paul highlights three key facts:
(a) The creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God - those who will be glorified, the first to rise, never to die again.
(b) The creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. This will happen at the Rapture, when there will be human beings without sin and without death: eternal, incorruptible. It will no longer be one single Adam to whom God entrusted everything, who then sinned and lost the promises.
(c) Paul speaks of the groaning that God's children must make in this end times, for the apostle says, "eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8:23b) - a reality about to be fulfilled in these very last days.
Sadly, most churches throughout the world are not groaning for the coming of Christ or for the redemption of the body; this answers the question raised at the beginning of this blog: Are the churches groaning in this end times? The causes are clear:
- The apostasy that has penetrated them for many years - a fulfillment of the Lord's prophecies (2 Thes. 2:1-3).
- The spiritual sleep into which many have fallen, deceived by apostates who have taught them a corruptible gospel, focused on earthly things.
These causes are part of the answer to the question: What is preventing the Church from groaning?
However, the Church that God will raise up at the Rapture will groan, because He has determined it. It is not the apostate Church, which was already cut off in the judgment of helplessness executed in 2021[10]. The sleeping Church is the one the Lord is going to awaken. How will He do this? We will explore it in the next article on our blog.
Notes
[1] To understand why the Perverse is the old man, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Perversa. La naturaleza de pecado [The Perverse. The nature of sin]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; and Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). La Perversa. El misterio [The Perverse: The mistery]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[2] For more on this topic, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The end of stopped time: the Church will see that the Day of the Rapture approaches. The sign. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog; and: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023, June 25). The day and the hour [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/59IMlomDSqQ?si=BDVlB5sNidwP_mY5
[3] For a more detailed discussion of this topic, see chapter 1, Las claves interpretativas para los Hechos de la Iglesia en el tiempo del fin [The Interpretative Keys for the Acts of the Church in the End Times], in: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Los Hechos de la Iglesia del tiempo del fin: El Calendario [The Acts of the Church in the End Times: The Calendar]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[4] Learn about the messages that the Holy Spirit would speak to the End-time churches, in: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Santidad escucha la voz del Espíritu Santo [Holiness listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros. The oral preaching in this series is available in Spanish on the YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2xb9peCdEMntaCoSxNGrz9HRdsjBam9v&si=mUmKHjzNq2tJZd4L
[5] To learn more about how God stops and extends time in his perfect Kairos, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). Why Israel's generation will not pass away: God stopped the prophetic time in 2022. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog; Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). El Yâsaph. El tiempo de la paciencia y las maravillas del Rey [The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; and: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, October 30). The Yâsaph: the time of patience and the wonders of the King [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/a2ugo2VWfLg?si=4oDo6jEbHAIB5KOg
[6] To learn about this and other prophetic commands that the End-time Church had to fulfill, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025, January 25). Los mandatos proféticos para la Iglesia del tiempo del fin [The Prophetic Commands for the End-Time Church] [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/kjCIncimooI?si=fDzzY_6UmMZoWBcU
[7] For a complete study on what the bride's daydream is, see: Ferrer, G., Rodríguez, Y. & Hernández, I. (2023). The Church in the End Times: The Church that waits for her Lord. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; the chapter 7: El ensueño de la Iglesia, la desposada [The Dream of the Church, the Bride], in: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Los Hechos de la Iglesia del tiempo del fin: El Calendario [The Acts of the End-Time Church: The Calendar]. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; and: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, July 3). The daydream of the Church in the end times [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/eUAuRihhfK8?si=-iQ6rpwD5W_5ZGSY
[8] To learn more about God's attribute of Life, see chapter 3, The Biblical Covenants and the Attributes of God, in: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). The Eternal Kingdom: Descendants, New Earth, and Government. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/el-reino-eterno; and steps 104 to 121 of the discipleship: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2021). The King's Eternal Promises. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/discipulados-berea
[9] For a complete study on this topic, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La redención de nuestro cuerpo [The redemption of our body]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; the oral preaching of this series is available in Spanish on the YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2xb9peCdEMlEELIsOZhdrf33Tfx-MdZE&si=tZ06YhjJ1eS_iR8d
[10] For a complete study on the judgment of forsakenness, and how God executed it with a 50-day countdown, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). El juicio del desamparo sobre la Iglesia apóstata [The judgment of forsakenness upon the apostate Church]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
References
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La redención de nuestro cuerpo [The redemption of our body]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Santidad escucha la voz del Espíritu Santo [Holiness listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023, June 25). The day and the hour [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/59IMlomDSqQ?si=BDVlB5sNidwP_mY5
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, July 3). The daydream of the Church in the end times [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/eUAuRihhfK8?si=-iQ6rpwD5W_5ZGSY
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The end of stopped time: the Church will see that the Day of the Rapture approaches. The sign. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025, January 25). Los mandatos proféticos para la Iglesia del tiempo del fin [The Prophetic Commands for the End-Time Church] [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/kjCIncimooI?si=fDzzY_6UmMZoWBcU
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2021). The King's Eternal Promises. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/discipulados-berea
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). El juicio del desamparo sobre la Iglesia apóstata [The judgment of forsakenness upon the apostate Church]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Los Hechos de la Iglesia del tiempo del fin: El Calendario [The Acts of the Church in the End Times: The Calendar]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). The Eternal Kingdom: Descendants, New Earth, and Government. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/el-reino-eterno
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Perversa. La naturaleza de pecado [The Perverse. The nature of sin]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). El Yâsaph. El tiempo de la paciencia y las maravillas del Rey [The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, October 30). The Yâsaph: the time of patience and the wonders of the King [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/a2ugo2VWfLg?si=4oDo6jEbHAIB5KOg
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The attribute of the existence of God and immutability related to the eternally multiplied descendants. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The tree of life: The hope the Church forgot. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). To deny the eternally multiplied offspring is to deny all the attributes of God. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). Why Israel's generation will not pass away: God stopped the prophetic time in 2022. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). La Perversa. El misterio [The Perverse: The mistery]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., Rodríguez, Y. & Hernández, I. (2023). The Church in the End Times: The Church that waits for her Lord. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
References (AI and digital tools)
DeepL SE. (n.d.). DeepL Translator. DeepL. https://www.deepl.com
Grammarly. (n.d.). Grammarly: AI grammar assistance. Grammarly. https://www.grammarly.com
Meyers, R. (2000). e-Sword X [Computer software]. https://www.e-sword.net/
Microsoft. (n.d.). Microsoft Translator [Computer software]. Microsoft. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/translator
OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT: AI-powered language assistance. https://openai.com
THE GROANING OF THE CHURCH BEFORE THE RAPTURE
Pastor Gabriel Ferrer and Yolanda Rodríguez
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Romans 8:23 (AKJV)
The Bible teaches that, in the end times, just before the Rapture, the Church must groan together with creation (Rom. 8:22-23). What is this groaning? Are the churches groaning at these end times? What is preventing the Church from groaning?
These are some of the questions we will address in this article, with the aim of awakening believers who have fallen asleep, so that their hearts may tremble, and they may rise from the spiritual lethargy into which the Perverse[1] (the old man) and Satan have plunged them.
The only way the Church can groan now is by knowing with certainty that the time of the Rapture has already come and that the day and hour are drawing near, for the Lord said that the Church would see that the day approaches (Heb. 10:25)[2]. However, the churches among the nations are not groaning; instead, they are marrying and giving in marriage, buying and selling, eating and drinking, celebrating festivals every month and every week-like birthdays (Mat. 24:38; Lk. 17:26-28).
The Church has become rooted in this world because she has been convinced by three lies of the evil servant (Mat. 24:48):
-
The Lord is delaying his coming.
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The time, the day, and the hour of the Lord's coming for His Church will never be known; He may come in many years, even in a thousand or two thousand.
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The Lord Jesus is coming as a thief in the night and will take the holy Church by surprise[3].
These are lies of the Perverse and of Satan, which have infiltrated churches that are asleep. They have refused to grow in the knowledge of the Lord, rejected the teaching and voice of the Holy Spirit, and have not allowed themselves to be led by Him into the truth. As a result, they have failed to understand the eternal promises and the Eternal Kingdom[4].
The Lord declares in Scripture that He will not delay (Heb. 10:37). He affirms that His holy Church will know the time, the day, and the hour of the Rapture, for it is made up of faithful servants - children of light and children of the day - and Christ's coming will not take them by surprise (1 Thes. 5:1-5). The dead Church, by contrast, will not recognize the hour; and the evil servant is the one who does not watch for the day or the hour because he does not know them (Mat. 24:50; Rev. 3:3).
God has always revealed His prophetic calendar to His people. He did so with Israel when He brought them out of Egypt, and again during the judgment of the exile, when He disclosed to Daniel the prophecy of the seventy weeks (Lev. Ch. 23; Dan. 9:24-27).
Within that calendar, the Church's program lies inside the sixty-ninth week, which has been paused and extended in time since it began in Acts 2 and continues to this day[5]. The Lord promised that the Holy Spirit would reveal to the Church the things to come and guide her into all truth (Jn. 14:26; 16:13). The Church, for her part, had to listen to the Spirit's voice (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:13, 22); therefore, she would be able to discern and understand the end-time calendar — the events, the day, and the hour of Christ's coming to bring her to the New Jerusalem in the Rapture.
For this understanding, the Lord established a method that is also a command: look, watch, and pray[6]. In Mark 13:33, He says, "Take heed [Gr. ἵστημι (histēmi): look at], watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is." The Lord explains why the Church must watch and pray: because she does not yet know the time. The purpose, however, is not that she should never know and be taken by surprise, but that through watching she may come to understand it. In Mark 13:33, the Lord is telling the Church that, by looking at the signs and persevering in watching prayer, the Holy Spirit will reveal the calendar, the events, the time, the day, and the hour of the Rapture. This is confirmed in Revelation 3:3b: "Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you." Here, the Lord makes it clear: the Church that does not watch will not recognize the hour of His coming for her. Watching and praying, therefore, are directly linked to understanding the prophetic calendar - the appointed time, the day, and the hour.
The command to watch is repeated in Luke 21:36: "Watch at all times, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand [Gr. ἵστημι histēmi] before the Son of Man." This verse places the act of watching in the end times, just before the Rapture, for it speaks of the moment when true believers stand before the Lord. There are two purposes for constant watchfulness before the Rapture: (1) to escape the Tribulation described in the verses just before Luke 21:36; (2) to stand before the Lord.
The Greek verb ἵστημι (histēmi), besides meaning "to remain," also carries the sense of "to present oneself, to stand before." In this way it is used in Acts 16:9; 17:22; 24:20; and Revelation 20:12, among other passages.
The command to watch is reiterated in Luke 21:36: "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand [Gr. ἵστημι histēmi] before the Son of Man." This verse places the act of watching in the end times, just before the Rapture, because it speaks of the moment when true believers will present themselves before the Lord. There are two purposes for constant watching before the Rapture: (1) to escape the Tribulation described in the verses just before Luke 21:36; (2) to present oneself before the Lord.
The Greek verb ἵστημι (histēmi), besides meaning "to stand before," also means "to present oneself, to be." In this sense it is used in Acts 16:9; 17:22; 24:20; and Revelation 20:12, among other passages.
Let us now dwell on the third order: pray. There is a specificity to this and that is praying while groaning. Why would the Church groan before the Rapture? Because the Holy Spirit would cause her to feel deeply the physical absence of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result, the Church would seek Him, longing to see Him, to find Him, and to go with Him to the New Jerusalem. This is the longing of the bride described in the Song of Solomon.[7]
Concerning this physical absence that the holy Church would experience, the Lord Jesus spoke in John16:19-20: "19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’?20 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy…"
The Church that feels the Lord's physical absence is the one that groans. At present we cannot be in His bodily presence because of the sin and death that dwell in us; we have been subjected to futility, to what is corruptible. But the Lord is eternal; He has life in Himself[8], and there is nothing corruptible in Him, for He is glorious. As 2 Corinthians 5:6 declares: "So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord."
God's mercy and love are so great that He has prepared for us a dwelling place not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens. He has granted us an everlasting heavenly home — our redeemed, glorified body, transformed into the likeness of Christ's own body.[9] 2 Corinthians 5:1 states: "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
It is because of this powerful, incorruptible body — this heavenly dwelling — that the Church should now be groaning, longing for the mortal to be swallowed up by life; for now, more than ever, our redemption is near. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:2-4. Paul says:
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
The apostle teaches that we, being fully aware of the mortal tent in which we live - where the Perverse (the sin nature, the old self) still dwells — groan in longing to be clothed with the eternal, glorious body the Lord has promised us. We do not wish to remain absent from His physical presence, far from His dwelling place, the heavenly City; rather, we already long to depart to the New Jerusalem, for we know that the day of the Rapture is at hand. As 2 Corinthians 5:7-8 declares: "7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."
How can we confirm that, just before the Rapture, the Church is meant to groan for the glorified body to be with the Lord? We know this because Scripture clearly declares it. Romans 8:18-23 confirms it; let us read:
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
The apostle Paul is speaking about this time of the end, just before the Rapture, not merely about his own days. This is a hallmark of biblical prophecy: the prophets often addressed their contemporaries as if the message were for them, while God was, in fact, speaking to future recipients. Such is the case with Romans 8:18-23, which applies to this final hour before the Rapture, because Paul highlights three key facts:
(a) The creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God - those who will be glorified, the first to rise, never to die again.
(b) The creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. This will happen at the Rapture, when there will be human beings without sin and without death: eternal, incorruptible. It will no longer be one single Adam to whom God entrusted everything, who then sinned and lost the promises.
(c) Paul speaks of the groaning that God's children must make in this end times, for the apostle says, "eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8:23b) - a reality about to be fulfilled in these very last days.
Sadly, most churches throughout the world are not groaning for the coming of Christ or for the redemption of the body; this answers the question raised at the beginning of this blog: Are the churches groaning in this end times? The causes are clear:
- The apostasy that has penetrated them for many years - a fulfillment of the Lord's prophecies (2 Thes. 2:1-3).
- The spiritual sleep into which many have fallen, deceived by apostates who have taught them a corruptible gospel, focused on earthly things.
These causes are part of the answer to the question: What is preventing the Church from groaning?
However, the Church that God will raise up at the Rapture will groan, because He has determined it. It is not the apostate Church, which was already cut off in the judgment of helplessness executed in 2021[10]. The sleeping Church is the one the Lord is going to awaken. How will He do this? We will explore it in the next article on our blog.
Notes
[1] To understand why the Perverse is the old man, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Perversa. La naturaleza de pecado [The Perverse. The nature of sin]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; and Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). La Perversa. El misterio [The Perverse: The mistery]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[2] For more on this topic, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The end of stopped time: the Church will see that the Day of the Rapture approaches. The sign. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog; and: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023, June 25). The day and the hour [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/59IMlomDSqQ?si=BDVlB5sNidwP_mY5
[3] For a more detailed discussion of this topic, see chapter 1, Las claves interpretativas para los Hechos de la Iglesia en el tiempo del fin [The Interpretative Keys for the Acts of the Church in the End Times], in: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Los Hechos de la Iglesia del tiempo del fin: El Calendario [The Acts of the Church in the End Times: The Calendar]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[4] Learn about the messages that the Holy Spirit would speak to the End-time churches, in: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Santidad escucha la voz del Espíritu Santo [Holiness listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros. The oral preaching in this series is available in Spanish on the YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2xb9peCdEMntaCoSxNGrz9HRdsjBam9v&si=mUmKHjzNq2tJZd4L
[5] To learn more about how God stops and extends time in his perfect Kairos, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). Why Israel's generation will not pass away: God stopped the prophetic time in 2022. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog; Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). El Yâsaph. El tiempo de la paciencia y las maravillas del Rey [The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; and: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, October 30). The Yâsaph: the time of patience and the wonders of the King [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/a2ugo2VWfLg?si=4oDo6jEbHAIB5KOg
[6] To learn about this and other prophetic commands that the End-time Church had to fulfill, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025, January 25). Los mandatos proféticos para la Iglesia del tiempo del fin [The Prophetic Commands for the End-Time Church] [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/kjCIncimooI?si=fDzzY_6UmMZoWBcU
[7] For a complete study on what the bride's daydream is, see: Ferrer, G., Rodríguez, Y. & Hernández, I. (2023). The Church in the End Times: The Church that waits for her Lord. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; the chapter 7: El ensueño de la Iglesia, la desposada [The Dream of the Church, the Bride], in: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Los Hechos de la Iglesia del tiempo del fin: El Calendario [The Acts of the End-Time Church: The Calendar]. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; and: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, July 3). The daydream of the Church in the end times [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/eUAuRihhfK8?si=-iQ6rpwD5W_5ZGSY
[8] To learn more about God's attribute of Life, see chapter 3, The Biblical Covenants and the Attributes of God, in: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). The Eternal Kingdom: Descendants, New Earth, and Government. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/el-reino-eterno; and steps 104 to 121 of the discipleship: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2021). The King's Eternal Promises. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/discipulados-berea
[9] For a complete study on this topic, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La redención de nuestro cuerpo [The redemption of our body]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; the oral preaching of this series is available in Spanish on the YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2xb9peCdEMlEELIsOZhdrf33Tfx-MdZE&si=tZ06YhjJ1eS_iR8d
[10] For a complete study on the judgment of forsakenness, and how God executed it with a 50-day countdown, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). El juicio del desamparo sobre la Iglesia apóstata [The judgment of forsakenness upon the apostate Church]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
References
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La redención de nuestro cuerpo [The redemption of our body]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Santidad escucha la voz del Espíritu Santo [Holiness listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023, June 25). The day and the hour [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/59IMlomDSqQ?si=BDVlB5sNidwP_mY5
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, July 3). The daydream of the Church in the end times [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/eUAuRihhfK8?si=-iQ6rpwD5W_5ZGSY
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The end of stopped time: the Church will see that the Day of the Rapture approaches. The sign. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025, January 25). Los mandatos proféticos para la Iglesia del tiempo del fin [The Prophetic Commands for the End-Time Church] [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/kjCIncimooI?si=fDzzY_6UmMZoWBcU
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2021). The King's Eternal Promises. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/discipulados-berea
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). El juicio del desamparo sobre la Iglesia apóstata [The judgment of forsakenness upon the apostate Church]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Los Hechos de la Iglesia del tiempo del fin: El Calendario [The Acts of the Church in the End Times: The Calendar]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). The Eternal Kingdom: Descendants, New Earth, and Government. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/el-reino-eterno
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Perversa. La naturaleza de pecado [The Perverse. The nature of sin]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). El Yâsaph. El tiempo de la paciencia y las maravillas del Rey [The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, October 30). The Yâsaph: the time of patience and the wonders of the King [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/a2ugo2VWfLg?si=4oDo6jEbHAIB5KOg
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The attribute of the existence of God and immutability related to the eternally multiplied descendants. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The tree of life: The hope the Church forgot. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). To deny the eternally multiplied offspring is to deny all the attributes of God. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). Why Israel's generation will not pass away: God stopped the prophetic time in 2022. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). La Perversa. El misterio [The Perverse: The mistery]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., Rodríguez, Y. & Hernández, I. (2023). The Church in the End Times: The Church that waits for her Lord. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
References (AI and digital tools)
DeepL SE. (n.d.). DeepL Translator. DeepL. https://www.deepl.com
Grammarly. (n.d.). Grammarly: AI grammar assistance. Grammarly. https://www.grammarly.com
Meyers, R. (2000). e-Sword X [Computer software]. https://www.e-sword.net/
Microsoft. (n.d.). Microsoft Translator [Computer software]. Microsoft. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/translator
OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT: AI-powered language assistance. https://openai.com
THE END OF STOPPED TIME: THE CHURCH WILL SEE THAT THE DAY OF THE RAPTURE APPROACHES
THE SIGN
Pastor Gabriel Ferrer and Yolanda Rodríguez
…not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
(Hebrews 10:25 NKJV)
In the previous post of our blog[1] we talked about the sign of the Fig Tree, referring to the rebirth of Israel as a nation in disobedience, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Ezekiel 20:33-37 to be judged by the Lord in the time of Jacob's trouble (Jeremiah 30:7), the 70th week of Daniel, or the seven prophetic years of Tribulation (Daniel 9:27). From the moment that the prophecy of Israel's return to its land was fulfilled, to be judged by the Lord, the counting of the years had to be made based on the weeks of years of Daniel 9.
The Lord gave a precise temporal reference point in Psalm 90:10 about the generation of Israel, before entering that period of judgment; this coordinate is between 70 and 80 years old ("the days of our lives" and "by reason of strength"). Israel was given to the Church as a sign and as an example (Romans 11; 1 Corinthians 10; Hebrews 3 and 4).
Within this time, between the 70 and the 80 years of the generation, the Tribulation judgment events or the 70th week of Daniel must take place, because Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place"; and the Lord adds, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" (Matthew 24:34-35). It is evident that Jesus is reiterating that His prophecy about the generation will be fulfilled. The only way for the Word of the Lord to be fulfilled is for Him to stop time, which is not impossible for Him, because He is the wise, omnipotent, and sovereign God, who changes the times and the seasons (Daniel 2:20-22).
What event had to take place when Israel turned 70 years old on the prophetic calendar?
The Lord fulfilled the prophecy of the return of the Jews to their land to judge them, so that they might enter the New Covenant and be saved. However, first, the Bible teaches that judgment would begin at the house of God[2], the Church, because of apostasy, of trampling the Son of God underfoot, counting His blood a common thing, and insulting the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 10:26-31; 1 Peter 4:17). Furthermore, the book of Revelation describes the judgment over the churches, five apostates (Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea) and two saints (Smyrna and Philadelphia). Chapter 1 describes the Day of the Lord, which begins with the judgment against the Church. Jesus is the Judge, and the ones judged are the pastors (angels and stars) (Revelation 1:10-20). In chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, we find the charges of judgment against the end-time churches, before the Rapture and the Tribulation judgment, which begins with the first seal of Revelation 6:1-2.
The Lord compared Israel with the Church, prophesying that the Church would apostatize as Israel did; therefore, He warned her several times not to fall into the sins of Israel (1 Corinthians 10:1-26; Hebrews Chs. 3 and 4). However, the Church did not obey and sinned worse than the Jewish people, since she entered the New Covenant, while Israel did not, but remained in the Old Covenant. Thus, in Hebrews 10:29, the Lord speaks of the terrible sin of violating the New Covenant.
In 2019, the 70 prophetic years of the generation of the budding fig tree, Israel, were fulfilled; the prophetic clock of Psalm 90:10 was activated, and the time lapse between 70 and 80 years began. In that year, 2019, the Day of the Lord began[3], with the judgment against the Church, because He prophesied it that way in the Scriptures, and it had to happen before the Rapture and the Tribulation. Within this time lapse, the Lord stopped time when Israel turned 73 years old, because the generation could not pass and, before that, the Tribulation must occur.
How would the Church know when God would stop time not to pour out the wrath of the Tribulation judgment upon Israel and the nations?
She would know, counting wisely the days of the generation of the fig tree (Israel), considering the 70 and 80 years of Psalm 90:10, and adding within this time lapse the seven years of the Tribulation. The Church was to count the prophetic years of 360 days from May 14, 1948, the date of the birth of Israel (the Fig Tree) as a nation. She also had to consider the counting of years from the Gentile calendar until the generation reached 70 years old. In 2019, Israel reached 70 prophetic years, and in 2018, the generation reached 70 years old, but on the gentile calendar.
Now, when the 70 years were fulfilled, the Church had to heed to the events; precisely, in 2018, Jerusalem was recognized by the United States as the capital of Israel and the embassy of this country was inaugurated in that city. Throughout history, the Lord has always used three places as prophetic signs: Israel as a people, the temple, and the city of Jerusalem.
When Israel reached the age of 70, the Church was to add up the remaining years so that, by adding the seven years of the Tribulation, the counting of the generation would not exceed 80 years, and the prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ would be fulfilled. Therefore, there is a limit year, and it was 2022, in which Israel turned 73 prophetic years. In that year, the 70th Week of Daniel, Jacob's time of trouble, was to begin, but it did not happen. The Church should ask herself, "What happened?", and not discard the prophecy of Psalm 90:10 and Matthew 24:34-35. The answer is that God stopped time, stopped the vessels of wrath, and gave, first to Israel, but also to humanity, a Yâsaph[4], an added, prolonged time, to show that He is slow to anger and abounding in mercy, to show that He is patient, because He does not want that any should perish [5].
Table 1
The Generation of the Budding Fig Tree and the Yâsaph
How can the holy Church know that this stopped and prolonged time is about to end?
God gave in the Scriptures the answer to this question: the holy Church would know that the stopped time would be over, through the execution of the judgment over the apostate Church found in Revelation 2:23. This verse says that the Lord will send physical and eternal death upon the children of Jezebel who are apostates: "I will kill [Gr. ἀποκτείνω, apokteinō] her children with death [Gr. Θάνατος, thanatos], and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works."
In Revelation 2:23 the Lord speaks of Jezebel and her children, and of a terrible judgment upon them[6], which is a sign for the Church before the Rapture, because this passage says that all the churches will know that Christ is He who searches the minds and hearts; that is, He will show who the apostates are, the sons of Jezebel, who disguise themselves as sheep, but are ravenous wolves. I consider this judgment to be the last sign for the Church to know that the coming of Christ for the holy Church is at the door.
When Revelation 2:23 says that all the churches of the world will know that Jesus is the One who searches the minds and hearts, it means that He will expose the sins of the apostates. The judgment of death upon them is not only a local judgment in one church; rather, it is a universal sign: "all the churches shall know..." This indicates a visible and overwhelming act of Christ in the history of the Church, just before the Rapture, to expose the false ones and purify the true flock. For all believers will see this judgment, they will be moved to repentance to sanctify themselves.
The slaughter over the apostates, executed by the living God, is the last sign before the Rapture that will show the holy Church that the coming of Christ is at the door. Thus, Hebrews 10:25 is fulfilled: "and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.[7]" In other words: Christ will reveal who His sheep really are and who are ravening wolves, so that the glorified Church may enter without spot or wrinkle.
2 Thessalonians 2:1 says, "Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you..." Which refers to the coming of Christ for His holy Church, that is, the event of the Rapture. In verse 3 it says (HCSB), " Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first..." The verb "come" is " ἔρχομαι, erchomai;" this Greek verb also has a sense of "to manifest," meaning that "come" implies something that is shown to be recognized; this relates to Revelation 2:23, where it is prophesied that the Lord will expose apostasy.
There are verses where the verb ἔρχομαι (érchomai) has as its basic meaning "to come, to arrive, to appear, to go, to become present, to manifest, to become visible," which implies "to be shown;" some verses where we find this verb with these senses are:
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John 3:20–21 (KJV): "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh [Gr. ἔρχεται, erchomai] to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh [Gr. ἔρχεται, erchomai] to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." Here, "coming" implies being exposed, manifested, coming to light.
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John 5:43: "I have come [Gr. ἐλήλυθα, elēlytha from ἔρχομαι, erchomai] in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me…"
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John 8:42: "... for I proceeded forth and came [Gr. ἥκω, ἐλήλυθα, hēkō elēlytha] from God..." → It implies "having appeared on the scene" sent by the Father.
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Matthew 24:30: "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven…and they will see the Son of Man coming [Gr. ἐρχόμενον, erchomenon] on the clouds…" Here, it refers to the glorious revelation.
To conclude, when Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 (HCSB), "... For that day will not come unless the apostasy comes [Gr. ἔλθῃ, elthē, from ἔρχομαι, erchomai] first..." He’s not only talking about a chronological arrival of apostasy, but he is also implying that apostasy will appear publicly, manifests itself, becomes evident; this fits with Revelation 2:23, where the Lord reveals and exposes who the false are, the children of Jezebel: apostasy unmasked; and this also fits with 2 Timothy 3: 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.
The use of the Greek verb ἔρχομαι (érchomai) in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 supports the idea that apostasy will not only "appear" in the time, but will visibly manifest itself, it will come to light, for the Church to recognize it; this coincides with the method the Lord employs through His prophets: before acting, He makes visible what He is going to judge (Isaiah 49:9-10). Thus, apostasy in the End Times will not be hidden; it will be public, evident, and manifested as a sign for the sleeping Church, so that she will wake up. However, the Lord has a method for awakening her and preparing her for the Rapture. We will see this in the next blog.
Notes
[1] To read the previous blog’s article post, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). Why Israel’s generation will not pass away: God stopped the prophetic time in 2022. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
[2] The Word Yâsaph appears in Isaiah 38:5 and indicates the time that God granted to King Hezekiah: ""Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add [heb. יָסַף yâsaph] to your days fifteen years." For an in-depth study on God’s judgment upon the apostate Church and His charges against it, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). God is the Judge over all Earth: The judgment over the apostate Church. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[3] To explore this topic further, see pages 30-42 of: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). God is the Judge over all Earth: The judgment over the apostate Church. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; and: Ferrer, G. y Rodríguez, Y. (2024, June 1). Book God is the Judge over all Earth: The judgment over the apostate Church [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/oVKgKEt_330?si=577ze2e4yO7Kbdcv
[4] For a comprehensive study of this powerful topic, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). El Yâsaph. El tiempo de la paciencia y las maravillas del Rey [The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[5] We affirm that God has “stopped” prophetic time, but also that He has “extended” it (Yâsaph). These two images - suspension and extension - actually express one and the same divine act: the halting of the prophetic countdown in order to add an additional time of mercy. In other words, God interrupted the prophetic clock to add (Yâsaph) a time of grace, an extra delay, thus manifesting His patience and His desire that no one should perish. There is therefore a close connection between stopping and adding.
[6] To learn more about the judgment against Jezebel and her children, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025, March 14). El juicio contra Jezabel y sus hijos de Apocalipsis 2: 21-23 [The Judgment against Jezebel and her children in Revelation 2:21-23] [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/aTeTyqxyiX0?si=elwQRcR38-qnv39T; and: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025, March 23). Juicio contra Jezabel y sus hijos parte 2 [Judgment against Jezebel and Her Children, Part 2] [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/qvWSaTfgqkI?si=3FamgivIfd-rh3cb
[7] To learn about other reasons why the holy Church will know the day and the hour of Christ’s coming in the Rapture, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023, June 25). The day and the hour [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/59IMlomDSqQ?si=BDVlB5sNidwP_mY5
References
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). God is the Judge over all Earth: The judgment over the apostate Church. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023, June 25). The day and the hour [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/59IMlomDSqQ?si=BDVlB5sNidwP_mY5
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025, March 14). El juicio contra Jezabel y sus hijos de Apocalipsis 2: 21-23 [The Judgment against Jezebel and her children in Revelation 2:21-23] [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/aTeTyqxyiX0?si=elwQRcR38-qnv39T
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025, March 23). Juicio contra Jezabel y sus hijos parte 2 [Judgment against Jezebel and Her Children, Part 2] [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/qvWSaTfgqkI?si=3FamgivIfd-rh3cb
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). El Yâsaph. El tiempo de la paciencia y las maravillas del Rey [The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, June 1). Book God is the Judge over all Earth: The judgment over the apostate Church [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/oVKgKEt_330?si=577ze2e4yO7Kbdcv
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The attribute of the existence of God and immutability related to the eternally multiplied descendants. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The tree of life: The hope the Church forgot. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). To deny the eternally multiplied offspring is to deny all the attributes of God. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). Why Israel’s generation will not pass away: God stopped the prophetic time in 2022. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
WHY ISRAEL’S GENERATION WILL NOT PASS AWAY: GOD STOPPED THE PROPHETIC TIME IN 2022
Pastor Gabriel Ferrer and Yolanda Rodríguez
20 Daniel answered and said: / “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, / For wisdom and might are His.
21 And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings; / He gives wisdom to the wise / And knowledge to those who have understanding.
22 He reveals deep and secret things; / He knows what is in the darkness, / And light dwells with Him.
Daniel 2: 20-22 (NKJV)
In the discourse on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21), the Lord Jesus Christ gave two powerful signs for the Church to know the time of the Rapture: (a) The budding fig tree, which is Israel (Hosea 9:10); and (b) the generation that will not pass away, the one that would be born when Israel became a nation again.
It is prophesied that the people of Israel would return to their land in disobedience to be judged by God, referring to the judgment of the Tribulation. Ezekiel 20:24-35 says, "34 I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. 35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face." The prophetic sign of the budding fig tree is seen in the phrase "the wilderness of the peoples," which refers to the land of Israel, for God gave it to the nations as a judgment and it became a wilderness[1], in fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah 1:7, Jeremiah 9:10-11, and Hosea 2:3, among other passages.
God gave the measure of generation through Moses in Psalm 90, which is prophetic: "10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten [seventy years]; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years [eighty years], yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath." (KJV). Here, Moses establishes a measure of generation for the people of Israel (our years) between 70 and 80 years. Verse 11 refers to the judgment of the Tribulation when the wrath of God will be poured out upon the whole Earth.
The generation of the budding fig tree began in 1948. It is the prophetic fulfillment of the sign given in Psalm 90:10; this year 2025, Israel is 77 years old in the human chronos, and if we added 7 years of the Tribulation judgment, the budding fig tree generation would reach 84 years at the Second Coming of Christ. However, Jesus affirmed with authority that “this generation will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:34; Mark 13:30; Luke 21:32). The limit of this generation is 80 years (Psalm 90:10), and before that, all the events of the Tribulation must take place, for the Lord Jesus said, "till all these things take place." The only biblical explanation, confirmed by the Scriptures, is that God stopped prophetic time in 2022[2].
This powerful revelation enlightens the divine kairos in which we live: the time of patience, judgment, and preparation for the Rapture (Romans 8:25; 9:22; Hebrews 6:12; 10.36; James 5:7-8; 2 Peter 3:4, 15).
No one has talked about this explanation for the generation that will not pass. Theologians have proposed the measurement of the generation from Psalm 90:10; however, they did not discern the prophetic year (of 360 days), which is crucial, for we are still in the 69th week of Daniel's calendar. Israel was already born as a nation and returned to its land, but in disobedience, fulfilling the prophecy of Ezekiel 20:33-34. This fulfillment demonstrates that the end of the 69th week is about to arrive, and that the 70th week is about to begin[3].
That is why we must count the years not according to the Gentile calendar, but from the prophetic year, which can be confirmed by Revelation 11:2-3. Psalm 90 is prophetic and speaks of what would happen to Israel before and during the Tribulation. The Lord told Moses to write this psalm to show the measure of the generation that Jesus would give as a prophetic sign. In this year, 2025, Israel is 76 prophetic years (of 360 days) and 77 in the Gentile calendar (of 365 days); if we sum the 7 years of the Tribulation the total would be 83 or 84 years, respectively, which would imply that the generation, whose limit is 80 years, would pass away (Psalm 90:10). Nevertheless, the Lord determined that the generation will by no means pass away (Matthew 24: 34). Therefore, the only explanation is that God stopped the time, and He does not count the years that have passed since 2022, when Israel reached the 73 prophetic years. This is the wonderful way God counts time, in His perfect kairos!
Is this possible? Of course! Because in the Bible, God did not count 93 years while Israel was in apostasy, in the time of the Judges. This can be confirmed by comparing 1 Kings 6:1 with Acts 13; in the first, 480 years are counted starting with Israel’s exodus from Egypt and ending with the building of the first temple. In Acts 13, Paul makes a list of events starting with Israel’s exodus from Egypt and ending with David. If we add the reign of Solomon to these events (as mentioned in 1 Kings 6:1), we obtain a total of 573 years. So, there is a difference of 93 years compared to the 480-year count. The Bible never contradicts itself. The correct explanation is that God did not count those 93 years because He did not consider Israel as His people during this period of apostasy, when He abandoned them to the hands of their enemies[4].
Another example is found in Matthew 1, in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, where God does not count the generations of the royal line of succession corresponding to kings Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah, who were under the judgment against Jezebel[5]. Matthew says, "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations." (Matthew 1:17).
Thus, the reasons why God no longer counts the years since 2022, when Israel reached 73 prophetic years, are as follows:
(1) The Lord repeated three times in the Gospels that the generation of the budding fig tree will by no means pass away. The Word of God must be fulfilled, for it never fails.
(2) The Lord exercises His patience with Israel: First, to not pour out the judgment of the Tribulation (the time of Jacob's trouble), and second, to not pour out His wrath yet over the nations that have not entered the New Covenant, like Israel. In this patience, God fulfills His Word, as evidenced by Psalm 86:15, 103:8, 145:8, and Romans 9:22. God has granted a prolonged time, which is the Yâsaph (Heb. יָסַף); this term means "to add" (Is 38:5).
(3) The Lord fulfills the prophecy about the fullness of the Gentiles (Romans 11:25), a promise that He has foretold, and that would be fulfilled after the judgment of forsakenness, as is described in Romans 11:18-22; this judgment was already executed on the apostate church.
Figure 1
The Generation of the budding fig tree: Israel between 70 and 80 years
How does Scripture explain the three reasons described above? How can the Holy Church know that this stopped and prolonged time is about to end? We will see the answers in the following text of our blog.
The 69th week has stopped and prolonged: it is God's wonderful time. We are still in the 69th week[6]. The day of Pentecost has stopped and prolonged: it is the wonderful time of the Lord. We are still living on the day of Pentecost that began on Acts 2. Israel's generation, which will not pass, stopped in 2022, when it reached 73 prophetic years. Time is being extended. This is the wonderful time of our Almighty God! Hallelujah!
Notes
[1] Hananya (2024) says: “When Jews first returned to their ancient homeland en masse, they faced a region that was more barren than blessed. The land of Israel was, by and large, a desert and swampland, filled with soil that seemed more suited for rocks than roots.” GreeninIsrael (s.f.) affirms: “This was the nail in the coffin of Israel’s land destruction. It seemed like the desolation and desertification that started with the Romans was now beyond the point of no return.” In 1867, Mark Twain wrote : ““The further we went, the hotter the sun got – and the more rocky and bare, repulsive and dreary the landscape became… There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”
[2] To expand on this powerful topic, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). El Yâsaph. El tiempo de la paciencia y las maravillas del Rey [The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, October 30). The yâsaph: the time of patience and the wonders of the King [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/a2ugo2VWfLg?si=4oDo6jEbHAIB5KOg; and Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025, January 21). La línea de tiempo del calendario profético: cómo saber que el día de la eternidad se acerca [The timeline of the prophetic calendar: how to know that the day of eternity is approaching] [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/9knbaEBzRcQ?si=hUuw5G_4Fn1isLqc
[3] For an in-depth study of this subject, see pages 34–36 of: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Los Hechos de la Iglesia del tiempo del fin: El Calendario [The Acts of the End-Time Church: The Calendar]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[4] To expand on this subject, see the full study on pages 12 and 13 of: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). El juicio del desamparo sobre la Iglesia apóstata [The judgment of forsakenness upon the apostate Church]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; and on page 161 of: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Los Hechos de la Iglesia del tiempo del fin: El Calendario [The Acts of the End-Time Church: The Calendar]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[5] God did not count these three generations because these kings were descendants of Jezebel and Ahab: Ahaziah was the son of Athaliah, daughter of Jezebel. God applied the Law according to which He punishes the iniquity of the fathers on the children up to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him. Joash was the son of Ahaziah, and Amaziah was the son of Jehoash (third generation). Therefore, in the genealogy of Christ, Matthew goes from Joram, the son of Jehoshaphat, to Uzziah (Matthew 1:8). In Matthew 1:11, the kings Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim (the father), Jehoiachin (the son), and Zedekiah (the uncle) are not included, because God had established a limit up to Josiah for the judgment of Judah.
See the full explanation of the uncounted generations in the genealogy of Jesus Christ in: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, October 30). The yâsaph: the time of patience and the wonders of the King [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/a2ugo2VWfLg?si=4oDo6jEbHAIB5KOg; and Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). La Perversa. El misterio [The Perverse: The mistery]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[6] For a complete study of this topic, see pages 418–420 of: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Los Hechos de la Iglesia del tiempo del fin: El Calendario [The Acts of the End-Time Church: The Calendar]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
References
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). El juicio del desamparo sobre la Iglesia apóstata [The judgment of forsakenness upon the apostate Church]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). The Acts of the Church of the End Times: The Calendar. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). El Yâsaph. El tiempo de la paciencia y las maravillas del Rey [The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024). The Yâsaph: The time of patience and the wonders of the King. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, October 30). The yâsaph: the time of patience and the wonders of the King [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/a2ugo2VWfLg?si=4oDo6jEbHAIB5KOg
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). La Perversa. El misterio [The Perverse: The mistery]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The attribute of the existence of God and immutability related to the eternally multiplied descendants. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The tree of life: The hope the Church forgot. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). To deny the eternally multiplied offspring is to deny all the attributes of God. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025, January 21). La línea de tiempo del calendario profético: cómo saber que el día de la eternidad se acerca [The timeline of the prophetic calendar: how to know that the day of eternity is approaching] [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/9knbaEBzRcQ?si=hUuw5G_4Fn1isLqc
Hananya Naftali. (nov 13, 2024). From Desert to Bloom: How Israel Became a Global Leader in Agriculture. https://www.hnaftali.com/post/from-desert-to-bloom-how-israel-became-a-global-leader-in-agriculture
The Remarkable Story of Israel's Tree Planting Efforts: Just as My Ancestors Planted for Me. https://www.jnf.org/jnf-blog/jnf-wire/jnf-wire-stories/just-as-my-ancestors-planted-for-me
March 12, 2022. From desolation to restoration. Israel throughout history. https://greeningisrael.com/a-story-of-the-restoration-of-israel/
TO DENY THE ETERNALLY MULTIPLIED OFFSPRING IS TO DENY ALL THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
Pastor Gabriel Ferrer and Yolanda Rodríguez
1 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever;
With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness
to all generations.
(Psalm 89:1)
For many years, theology and the evangelical churches have denied the promise of holy offspring multiplied for eternity. In the first post of our blog[1], we demonstrated that to deny this promise is to deny the self-existence of God. In this message, we will see that denying this promise also involves denying all of God's attributes.
The Bible teaches that God has the attribute of life[2], which was manifested from the beginning, since Genesis 1 narrates the explosion of eternal life in all beings He created; death had not entered creation.
God created Adam, breathed into him the breath of eternal life, and then made with him the Edenic Covenant, within which He gave him the command to be fruitful and multiply life eternally in his descendants (Genesis 1:28). Nevertheless, Adam sinned, and death entered all creation (Romans 5:12, 14, 17; 1 Corinthians 15:21), preventing the fulfillment of the commandment of life that God had given him. Consequently, God established the Adamic Covenant, based on the promise of the coming of the Seed, Christ (Genesis 3:15), to remove the curse under which the eternal promises remained: the descendants, the New Earth, and the government.
Mankind has never witnessed the multiplication of life in the eternal descendants, but rather the multiplication of descendants marked by sin (the Perverse[3]) and death. The Church has denied the holy, living descendants, multiplied for eternity, which means that she has denied the attribute of life that belongs to God; His Words are spirit and life, and Jesus is the resurrection and the life (John 5:26; 6:63; 11:25; 14:6).
God is omnipresent and eternal, for He is not limited by space or time (Isaiah 57:15; 2 Chronicles 2:6; 6:18). He is exalted, glorious in holiness, incomparable, worthy of praise, and He is the High One (1 Chronicles 29:11; Psalm 89:27; 97:9; 113:4; 138:6; Exodus 15:11; Psalm 68:34; 93:1; 96:6; 104:1; 145:5; Jeremiah 32:19; Isaiah 40:12-31; 43:7; 57:15). Everything God does is eternal, including all His covenants He made with man, within which He granted the promise of holy descendants multiplied eternally, in order to form nations and families in holiness, from generation to generation for His glory (Psalm 145:1-7). To deny the holy descendants eternally multiplied is to deny that God deserves all glory, worship, and praise multiplied forever and ever[4].
To guarantee the fulfillment of the spread of life, through the promise of holy descendants multiplied for eternity, God acted by applying His attributes of omniscience, foreknowledge, wisdom, truthfulness, and grace, establishing immutable covenants. The Lord knew beforehand that man was going to sin from the beginning, before he procreated; therefore, God included the eternal promises within His covenants, which are interrelated, for their complete fulfillment.
Satan longed to be like God and coveted praise and glory (Isaiah 14:13-14). Through this sin, the Perverse was conceived in him – iniquity (Ezekiel 28:14-18). The devil targeted the head of the covenant, Adam, by deceiving the woman. She disobeyed the commandment of the Lord and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, leading man to do the same. Adam's disobedience caused the Perverse (sin) and death to enter him. Therefore, all his offspring have been born with the Perverse (sin) in their entire being, body, soul, and spirit. In His wisdom, God ratified the eternal promises in the Noahic Covenant and the Abrahamic Covenant, under oath, especially the promise of the descendant (Genesis 9:1, 7; 15:5; 22:15-17; Hebrews 6:13-20).[5]
God also applied His wisdom in how He preserved the promises in the Law Covenant, whose commandments describe the Perverse with her works, which brought condemnation to man. However, God's wisdom was again manifested in the ratification of the promises in the Davidic Covenant, mainly the promises of the eternal descendants and the everlasting government (2 Samuel 7:16, 27-29; Psalm 89:1-4). God's wisdom reached its fullest expression in the New Covenant, with the last Adam, Christ, who conquered death and condemned sin, brought life to light by the resurrection of the dead (Romans 8:3; 2 Timothy 1:10). The Lord performed this mighty work to restore the human being to his initial state, holy, pure, immortal, and eternal, just as when He created man in Eden, so that the eternal promises might be fulfilled and, for the first time, the holy, living, blessed, fruitful, and multiplied offspring might spring forth for eternity.
In His love, God decided to make the Edenic Covenant to have mercy on man, pour out His grace, prevent the destruction of humanity, and guarantee that in the future there will be holy and pure nations, eternally multiplied. The promises of that covenant are preserved in the New Covenant, in which God showed His attributes of love, grace, and mercy, for the Father so loved the world that He fulfilled the promise of the coming of the Seed of the Adamic Covenant and the Abrahamic Covenant through Christ, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
God's grace and mercy are evidenced in how He did not reject man when he sinned; instead, the Lord kept His eternal promises to him. For us to obtain them, Christ took our place and obtained the eternal inheritance to bestow them to us when we are glorified (Romans 8:17; Colossians 1:12; 3:24; Ephesians 1:18; Hebrews 9:15; 1 Peter 1:4). Christ saves us from Hell by putting the sin away, which prevented us from being in the glory of His presence and receiving the eternal promises, because mortal and sinful beings can never obtain those promises that are imperishable, unfading, holy, and glorious. Therefore, Paul says in Ephesians 3:8, "To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ…"
These unsearchable riches of Christ are part of the wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained for the Church, before the beginning of human chronological time, before creation, they are the things that eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him; these things are revealed by the Holy Spirit, who removes the veil of earthly things and unbelief, opens and enlightens the understanding of those who have reached maturity (gr. τέλειος teleios). The Holy Spirit guides into all truth and teaches all things (1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Ephesians 1:17-23; Hebrews 5:14; John 14:26; 16:13).
Most of the churches on Earth have become dull of hearing, they did not want to progress to become teachers, due to apostasy and spiritual sleep; this prevented them from progressing beyond the foundations of the doctrine of Christ[6] to the better things that belong to salvation (Hebrews 5:11-14; 6:9), among which is the promise of the holy descendants eternally multiplied that the Lord explains in Hebrews 6:13-20[7].
The attribute of truthfulness upholds the promise of holy descendants eternally multiplied; Hebrews 6:18 says, "...that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us." The author of the book of Hebrews refers to the promises God made to Abraham under oath, in the covenant He made with him, as described in Genesis 12, 15, and 17 – a covenant recalled throughout the Scriptures. The author states that these promises are for us, the Church, because he affirms that we have a strong consolation, we who have fled for refuge to Christ to receive the hope of the covenant.
The attributes of God's faithfulness, mercy, and omnipotence also sustain the promise of holy descendants multiplied for eternity. The Scriptures teach that we will sing the Lord's mercy forever, for He has given us the eternal descendants and government (the reign, the throne, and the priesthood), for eternity, from generation to generation: "1 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; / With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. 2 For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever; / Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.” 3 “I have made a covenant with My chosen, / I have sworn to My servant David: 4 ‘Your seed I will establish forever, / And build up your throne to all generations.’ ” Selah" (Psalm 89:1-4).
God ordained that the sure mercies of David be fulfilled through the New Covenant, in the redemptive work of Christ. Isaiah 55:3 says: "Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; / And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David." These mercies refer to the promises of eternal descendants and government, which are ratified in the New Testament (Acts 13:33-35).
Finally, the multiplication of holy offspring for eternity is possible by God's omnipotence. Therefore, the Lord reveled Himself as the Almighty (el Shadday) when He spoke with Abraham and ratified to him the perpetual covenant and the promise of the holy descendants, whose eternal multiplication is confirmed, because the Lord told Abraham that He would give the land to him and to his descendants after him (Genesis 17:1-8). It is evident that this promise will be fulfilled when Abraham is resurrected, for he never received this promise (Acts 7:5; Hebrews 11:13, 39).
To affirm that there will never be descendants multiplied for eternity is to say that God is not almighty, that He lacks wisdom, that He is unfaithful, - for it would mean He will not fulfill His covenants or His promises. To argue that eternal offspring will never be multiplied is to call God a liar; it is to assume that He has no mercy or love, and that He changes His decrees, His decisions, and His promises. But God is almighty, immutable, omniscient, glorious, faithful, and true. Therefore, He will fulfill His promise to multiply the offspring from generation to generation, eternally, so that they may sing His praise and His mercy forever and ever. Hallelujah!
[1] Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The tree of life: The hope the Church forgot. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
[2] For a detailed explanation of the attribute of life, see pages 152 to 153 and pages 442 to 478 of the book: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). The Eternal Kingdom: Descendants, New Earth, and Government. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[3] To find out why the Perverse is sin, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Perversa. La naturaleza de pecado [The Perverse. The nature of sin]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[4] To access this explanation, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023, June 25). The Day and the Hour [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/59IMlomDSqQ?si=DA9t1PZPmMllyeEm
[5] For an in-depth and detailed study of the origin of the Perverse nature of sin and her works, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Perversa. La naturaleza de pecado [The Perverse. The nature of sin]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros; and: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). La Perversa. El Misterio [The Perverse. The mystery]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
[6] For an in-depth study on the foundations of the doctrine of Jesus Christ, see: Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). Discipleship: The Foundations of the Doctrine of Christ. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/discipulados-berea
[7] For this explanation, see: Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The attribute of the existence of God and immutability related to the eternally multiplied descendant. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
References
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). The Eternal Kingdom: Descendants, New Earth, and Government. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). La Perversa. El Misterio [The Perverse. The mystery]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The attribute of the existence of God and immutability related to the eternally multiplied descendant. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2023). La Perversa. La naturaleza de pecado [The Perverse. The nature of sin]. Ediciones Berea. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). Discipleship: The Foundations of the Doctrine of Christ. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/discipulados-berea
Ferrer, G., & Rodríguez, Y. (2025). The tree of life: The hope the Church forgot. Berea Barranquilla Ministries Blog. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/blog
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023, June 25). The Day and the Hour [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/59IMlomDSqQ?si=DA9t1PZPmMllyeEm
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023, June 25). The promise of the descendants [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/8bkQ2RCbW_E?si=eRJibec6ENsPqbm7
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, April 16). Book the story of God's love: The story of the eternal promises [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/hj--yd72qHQ?si=E60LZdpKprO8eEf1
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, July 3). The daydream of the Church in the end times [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/eUAuRihhfK8?si=-iQ6rpwD5W_5ZGSY
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, November 22). The history of eternal promises [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/nKTipzv0Wp4?si=3XpAQM5CAV5pSkip
THE ATTRIBUTE OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD AND IMMUTABILITY RELATED TO THE ETERNALLY MULTIPLIED DESCENDANTS
Pastor Gabriel Ferrer and Yolanda Rodríguez
18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God we might have strong consolation, who have fled for
refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
Hebrews 6:18
God exists by Himself and in Himself, unlike man, who was created. God makes all things depend on Him. Because He has existence in Himself, God can give man the assurance that He will be eternally the same in relation to His people, that is, God does not change. John 5:26 confirms this: "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself..."
God is totally and absolutely independent from His creation and from His creation and all His creatures; therefore, nothing and no one can give Him orders or make Him change in His decisions, works, plans, and purposes; nothing and no one can hinder or frustrate what He has determined. The Lord is independent in:
- His thoughts for eternity (Psalm 33:11; Isaiah 55:8-9)
- His designs, plans, and purposes (Ephesians 1:11; 3:11; Romans 9:11; 2 Thessalonians 1:11; 2 Timothy 1:9)
- His good, pleasing, and perfect will (Daniel 4:35; Isaiah 60:10; Romans 9:19; Ephesians 1:5, 11)
- His actions, works, in all He does (Isaiah 40:21-26)
- His power (Job 42:2; Psalms 89:9)
- His decisions and His choices (1 Kings 11:13, 34)
This attribute of self-existence of God is applied to the covenants whose fulfillment depends solely on Him, and there is an assurance that they will be fulfilled exactly as He has planned and promised. God bases His covenants on oaths by Himself (Hebrews 6:13), that is, on His very own existence. Consequently, His covenants are unshakable.
One of the promises contained in all His covenants is that of an eternally multiplied offspring. This is confirmed in Genesis 22:16-17:
16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—
17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
In this passage, God swore by His own existence that He would bless Abraham and multiply his offspring. This servant treasured these promises by faith, but he did not receive them (Hebrews 11:13, 39). However, the children of Abraham — we, the Church —will receive the promises the Lord gave to this servant.
This powerful promise of the multiplied offspring is reaffirmed and confirmed to the Church in Hebrews 6:13-18:
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,
14 saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”
15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
16 For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute.
17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath,
18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
In this passage, the Lord reminds us of the powerful promises He made to humanity, for they have not yet been fulfilled. The blessed and eternally multiplied offspring is the central promise, which God has never changed, and, therefore, it must be fulfilled. Hebrews 6:13-18 strengthens this certainty through the following expressions:
- "He swore by Himself."
- "Surely."
- "An oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute."
- "The immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath."
- "Two immutable things."
- "It is impossible for God to lie"
In these expressions, God confirms the assurance we have: God will fulfill what He has promised - the holy, eternal, and multiplied offspring, forever and ever - Because He swore forever, that is, by His own existence!
The attribute of immutability also supports this promise. It is written in Hebrews 6:17-18:
17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath,
18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
This passage says that God decided to show His heirs, that is, us, the immutability of His decision, His decree concerning the promise of the multiplication of the descendants for eternity (Hebrews 6:14; Genesis 22:17). In verse 18, the Lord reaffirms that the blessing and the multiplication of the offspring are two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie.
The attribute of immutability guarantees the fulfillment of this powerful promise, which theology and churches have denied due to tradition and the teaching of human commandments disguised as biblical doctrine. This tradition has blinded churches and hardened the hearts of pastors who have preached the multiplication of death and denied the multiplication of worship in descendants who will be born without sin and death in the Eternal Kingdom, to praise God from generation to generation, for the ages and the ages1. Hallelujah!
Let us celebrate our God for His infinite mercy, just as David praised Him when the Lord granted him this promise, recalled in Psalm 89:29 (NASB):
29 So I will establish his descendants forever,
And his throne as the days of heaven.
Hallelujah! Glory to God! Let us say to our almighty God what David declared to Him (1 Chronicles 17:26-27):
26 And now, Lord, You are God, and have promised this goodness to Your servant.
27 Now You have been pleased to bless the house [heb. זֶרַע zera‛: family] of Your servant, that it may continue before You forever; for You have blessed it, O Lord, and it shall be blessed forever.”
References
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez. Y. (2023). The Eternal Kingdom: Descendants, Earth, and Government. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, November 22). The history of eternal promises. [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/nKTipzv0Wp4?feature=shared
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023, June 25). The Promise of the Descendants [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/8bkQ2RCbW_E?feature=shared
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. Book The Story of God's Love: The Story of the Eternal Promises. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G. y Rodríguez, Y. (2018). Cristología Doctrina de la Persona y Obra de Cristo [Christology: Doctrine of the Person and Work of Christ]. Sello Editorial Universidad del Atlántico. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/libros
https://editorial.uniatlantico.edu.co/index.php/catalog/catalog/book/65
THE TREE OF LIFE
THE HOPE THE CHURCH FORGOT
Pastor Gabriel Ferrer and Yolanda Rodríguez
7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat
from the tree of life, which is in the midst
of the Paradise of God.”
Revelation 2:7
God planted the tree of life in the middle of the garden, in Eden, so that Adam might eat from it, as well as from the other trees, except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Tree of Life represented the family tree of the holy, sinless, and deathless descendants that God had planned for Adam and his wife and for all mankind that would multiply eternally from them. However, this divine purpose was never fulfilled because of Adam's sin that introduced death to all his descendants.
The consequence of Adam's disobedience, who preferred to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was the multiplication of the descendants with sin and death; that is, the family tree of death, as is shown in Genesis chapter 5, where the expression "and he died" is repeated over and over again.
But the first human beings to eat from the Tree of Life will be the children of God, the resurrected and glorified members of the Church, whom the Lord Jesus Christ will take to Paradise, to the Third Heaven, to the New Jerusalem, in the glorious event of the Rapture. At the Judgment Seat of Christ, this glorified Church will officially receive the first promise that corresponds to the eternally multiplied descendants, which means to bear holy, pure, sinless fruit, as God established it before the foundation of the world, and ordained it from the beginning in Genesis 1:28: " Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Therefore, in Hebrews 6:13-20, the Lord says that the promises He gave Abraham under oath, which are, "I will bless you and multiply you," are immutable: "... that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us." (Hebrews 6:18). We, the holy Church, have this hope as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. Hallelujah!
Traditional theology has never taught this hope of the immutable promise of eternally multiplied descendants. On the contrary, theological books and churches have affirmed that there will be no descendants or multiplication in eternity. This teaching, contrary to Scripture, directly attacks God's attributes: His immutability, His faithfulness, His truthfulness, His omnipotence, His wisdom, His goodness, and all the other attributes of our Almighty and Eternal God.
God has never changed His eternal promises, for they have never been fulfilled because of man's sin and death. But God has determined to fulfill His eternal promises, which He gave in Eden and confirmed in all his covenants, especially in the New Covenant, because the Lord Jesus was incarnated, died, rose in glory, and ascended to the Third Heaven to give us the necessaries requirements to receive the eternal promises that Adam lost; these requirements are: the holiness and eternity of our body, soul, and spirit. Romans 15:8-12 says:
8 Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, 9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: / “For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, / And sing to Your name.” / 10 And again he says: / “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!” / 11 And again: / “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! / Laud Him, all you peoples!” / 12 And again, Isaiah says: / “There shall be a root of Jesse; / And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, / In Him the Gentiles shall hope.”
We are the gentile Church, which formerly belonged to the nations, and we were not a people, but Christ forgave us, sanctified us, and reconciled us to God the Father by His infinite love and mercy. Therefore, we will receive, for the first time in the history of mankind, all the eternal promises, especially the main one, which is the descendants who will multiply forever because we will eat from the Tree of Life, as God promised in Revelation 2:7.
7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”
We and our holy descendants, eternally multiplied like rivers, will worship God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit forever and ever, from generation to generation. We will praise God, glorify Him, and worship Him. Hallelujah!
References
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez. Y. (2023). The Eternal Kingdom: Descendants, Earth, and Government. Berea Editions. https://www.ministeriobereabarranquilla.com/en/libros
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, November 22). The history of eternal promises. [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/nKTipzv0Wp4?feature=shared
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, July 3. The daydream of the Church in the end times [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/eUAuRihhfK8?feature=shared
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2023, June 25). The Promise of the Descendants [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/8bkQ2RCbW_E?feature=shared
Ferrer, G. & Rodríguez, Y. (2024, April 16). Book The Story of God's Love: The Story of the Eternal Promises [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/hj--yd72qHQ?feature=shared
Ferrer, G. y Rodríguez. Y [Berea Films Barranquilla]. (2020, september 20). ¿YA LO SABÍAS? - El Libro De La Vida (Promesas eternas) [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/p2vQzHq2S0E?si=yxr7NGOou_ZUDTRE