Place of Safety Definition

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Some ministries and churches believe the Church will be raptured into a heavenly "place of safety" to escape persecution while the world endures the wrath of the devil during the Great Tribulation period. Others, however, believe some Christians will receive protection during the End Time by being miraculously whisked away to a special location somewhere on Earth.

A few preachers erroneously state that only those in THEIR church (either all of them or only 144,000) will be found worthy to deserve a place of safety so that they can be kept from the soon-coming trials to come upon all.

Because you have kept the word of My patience, I also will keep you from the time of temptation which is about to come upon the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth (Revelation 3:10, HBFV).

Petra is perhaps the most popular location often referred to as a (or the) place of safety. Some translations of the Bible mention the location by name in their text, such as the Douay-Rheims (Isaiah 16:1, 42:1), The Living Bible (Jeremiah 49:16) and the Vulgate (Judges 1:36). It was once the capital of Arabia Petraea. Today, however, Petra is a largely inhospitable, and almost uninhabitable, tourist attraction near Jerusalem.

The initial concept of a "place of safety" in the Bible came from Old Testament law. God commanded the Israelites to set aside six cities of refuge (Bezer, Golan, Hebron, Kedesh, Ramoth-Gilead, and Shechem) in the Promised Land for the purpose of protecting someone who accidently killed another human. These cities were to insure a person had their ‘day in court' and not killed himself or herself out of revenge.

And they shall be to you cities for refuge from the avenger so that the manslayer does not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment (Numbers 35:12, HBFV).

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