I
am on vacation this week and next, so I thought for today I would share with
you an article from a website I visit regularly and one that I would highly recommend
for you to go to as well. It provides a
wealth of information and teaching which is soundly based on scripture, and has
proven to be a wonderful resource for many believers in these times in which we
find ourselves.
http://gracethrufaith.com/end-times-prophecy/rapture-which-rapture/#more-46576
A
Bible Study by Jack Kelley
Among
Christians who believe there will be a rapture of the Church, the great
majority of us are convinced it will precede the end times judgments. This
position is commonly called the pre-tribulation rapture.
Those
who reject the pre-trib view are either mid-tribulation, post tribulation or
pre-wrath rapture advocates. In this study we’ll review these rapture positions.
The
Mid Tribulation Rapture
These
believers place the rapture at the end of the trumpet judgments, just before
the beginning of the Great Tribulation. Their justification for doing so comes
from equating the seventh trumpet of Rev. 11:15 with the last trump from Paul’s
description of the rapture in 1 Cor. 15:51-53. Also the mid-trib view does not
agree that the Seal and Trumpet judgments are manifestations of divine wrath,
which in their view consists only the Bowl judgments. For them, that makes the Bowls the time of
wrath the Bible says we are not appointed to suffer.
The
other two positions appear to be similar as far as the rapture is concerned
because they both claim to place the rapture of the Church after the Great
Tribulation. But as we’ll see, they are actually quite different.
A
few weeks ago, I was specifically asked to provide a concise explanation of
these two positions. You might ask why such a strong pre-trib believer as I am
would be asked to explain positions with which I disagree. The answer, which
I’ve recently confirmed for myself, is that many post-trib and pre-wrath
articles devote more time to refuting the pre-trib position than they do to
explaining their own.
Because
of that, people who are just looking for the Biblical support for these
positions so they can do their own evaluation have to sift through a lot of
anti pre-trib rhetoric to find what they’re looking for. It’s like having to
listen to someone’s opinion on why they don’t like Fords when the question you
asked was “Why do people like Chevrolets”.
So
what is the essence of these positions? It boils down to their interpretation
of Matt. 24. Both positions are based on the belief that Jesus was talking
about the Church when He mentioned “the elect” in Matt. 24:22, 24 & 31. And
they both agree that Matt. 24:29 marks the end of the Great Tribulation.
The
Post Tribulation Rapture
The
post trib position takes the view that the trumpet mentioned in Matt. 24: 31 is
the “last trump” of 1 Cor. 15:51-53 because it will be the last trumpet sounded
before the Lord’s return. With a loud trumpet call the Lord will command His
angels to gather His elect, who they believe to be the Church. At that time the
dead will rise and the living will be changed in accordance with 1 Thes. 4:16-17,
and together they will meet the Lord in the air to join Him in His return to
Earth in power and great glory.
As
you can see, the post trib position has the resurrection/rapture and the Second
Coming happening at the same time. They justify this by saying the Bible only
speaks of a first and second coming. Therefore, making the rapture/resurrection
a separate event would require a third coming. Post Trib believers also point
out that in John 6:39-40 the Lord promised to raise all believers up at the
last day, which they interpret to mean the day of His return.
The Pre-Wrath Rapture
The
pre-wrath position takes a decidedly different path to arrive at a post
tribulation rapture. They interpret Matt. 24:22 to mean that for the sake of
the Church, the Lord will cut the time of the Great Tribulation short. To them
this means the 6th Seal judgment marks the end of the Great Tribulation, with
the pre-wrath rapture coming at that time. To arrive at this conclusion, they
say Matt. 24:29, which speaks of the sun being darkened and the moon not giving
its light at the end of the Great Tribulation, describes the same event as Rev.
6:12, which has the sun turning black and the moon becoming blood red. To them,
the saints of Rev. 7:9-17, who are shown to be in heaven between the sixth and
seventh seals, are the raptured Church.
God’s
wrath will then follow in two parts, consisting of the Trumpet judgments, at
the end of which which the 2nd Coming will occur, and finally the Bowl
judgments, which will take place in the 30 days following the Lord’s return.
There
have been several adaptations of the pre-wrath view. The one I’ve outlined here
is the official position as it was originally set forth by those who developed
it.
What’s
Wrong With That?
First,
all these positions assume that because it appears in the New Testament, our
Lord’s explanation of the end times in Matt. 24 is meant for the Church. But
its appearance in the New Testament is the only justification for this
assumption. Nothing in the text of Matt. 24 requires a Church centered
interpretation and a careful examination shows it to be specifically oriented
toward Israel.
In
the first place, Jesus had only rarely mentioned the Church and had never said
that it would interrupt Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy, leaving one week
unfulfilled. As far as the disciples knew, they were 483 years into Daniel’s
490 year prophecy and were only 7 years short of the end of the age. That’s why
they were so surprised to hear Him say everything would be torn down without
one stone left standing upon another.
And
even as He was explaining how the end of the age would unfold, He never
mentioned the Church. Had He done so, they wouldn’t have asked Him if He was
going to restore the kingdom to Israel while they were standing on the Mt. Of
Olives following His resurrection (Acts 1:6). This has led some experts to conclude
that all of Matt. 24 deals with Daniel’s 70th week from Israel’s perspective
alone.
It’s
Israel much more than the Church who has been and will be persecuted, put to
death, and hated by all nations (Matt. 24:9). It’s Israel who has to stand firm
to the end to be saved (Matt. 24:13). Israel is warned to flee into the
mountains of Judea when they see the abomination of desolation (Matt.
24:15-16). Israel has to pray their flight won’t take place on the Sabbath
(Matt. 24:20). Israel has to be wary of false Messiahs (Matt. 24:23-24).
The
Elect
Also,
there’s no mention of the Church being “the elect” in the gospels. In the only
times the Lord mentioned the Church at all (Matt. 16:18 and Matt. 18:17) He did
not use any form of the Greek word for “elect”. The first clear description of
the Church as the elect did not happen until Romans 8:33 which Paul wrote over
20 years later. On the other hand, Jesus was called God’s elect in Isaiah 42:1,
Israel was called God’s elect in Isaiah 45:4, 65:9, 65:22, and angels were
called His elect in 1 Tim. 5:21.
In
my opinion, to think that the disciples would have understood the Lord to be
referring to the Church in Matt. 24:22, 24, 31 is an unwarranted assumption.
The
Time And Duration Of God’s Wrath
A
plain sense reading of the Book of Revelation tells us that the time of God’s
Wrath begins with the seal judgments (Rev. 6:16-17) and ends with the Bowl
judgments (Rev. 15:1). The fact that mid-trib and pre-wrath believers don’t
accept that means they haven’t accepted God’s word as written.
The
Seventh Trumpet of Rev. 11:15
This
trumpet is never called the last trump in the Bible, as in 1 Cor. 15:51-53, or
the trumpet call of God, as in 1 Thes, 4:16-17. It is simply the final trumpet
in the series of Trumpet judgments. It’s not blown on Earth but in Heaven.
Also, there is no connection between the seventh trumpet and the second coming.
Rev. 11:15 tells us in Heaven the seventh trumpet signals that the Lord has
taken command of the kingdoms of the world, but His return to Earth doesn’t
begin until Rev. 19:11-16.
The
Trumpet of Matt. 24:31
This
can’t be the last Trump of 1 Cor. 15:51-53 either because it’s the Lord’s
signal to His angels to round up the elect in heaven. At the rapture the
trumpet call of God is to alert believers on Earth. Also he’s sending angels, plural, to do this.
In 1 Thes. 4:16-17 only the archangel is mentioned in connection with the
trumpet call of God. And finally, in Matt.24:31 the elect are already in
heaven.
To
be fair, Mark 13:26-27 tells us the angels will gather His elect from both
Heaven and Earth, but there no trumpet is mentioned at all. This means while
the trumpet will not be heard on Earth, there will be members of His elect
still on Earth. These are people who will have survived the Great Tribulation
and became believers in the process. But it doesn’t mean they are part of the
Church.
Third
Coming?
The
idea that the separation of the rapture/resurrection from the second coming
would require a third coming does not stand up under scrutiny for several
reasons. First, at the rapture the Lord doesn’t come to Earth to get us, we go
up in the clouds to meet him.
Second,
if every time he left heaven to come to earth was a “coming” then his second
coming would have taken place on the day He was resurrected. In the morning He
told Mary not to cling to Him because he had not yet ascended to His Father
(John 20:17). Hebrews 9:11-12 tells us He was going to sprinkle His blood on
the altar in the tabernacle in Heaven. But that afternoon He was back on Earth
where He met two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-16). Who knows how
many times He’s been back and forth since then.
Third,
the Second coming is a particular event where He publicly descends to Earth in
power and great glory to take His position as King of the whole Earth. The
number of times He’s been here and back in the mean time is irrelevant.
John
6:39-40
“And
this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has
given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that
everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and
I will raise them up at the last day.”
The
phrase “last day” appears twice in these verses. The Greek word “last” means to
be the last in time or place. It often refers to the last one in a series of
events. The first resurrection, the resurrection of believers, is such a
series. Jesus was the first fruits. Then we have the Church (1 Thes. 4:16-17)
then the tribulation martyrs (Rev. 20:4) and the Old Testament believers
(Daniel 12:2). These are all part of the first Resurrection, which is not a
single event, but a single type, those who are resurrected to eternal life.
There is no requirement that they all have to happen on the day of the Lord’s
Coming. In fact only the tribulation martyrs are specifically indicated to be
resurrected on that very day. Jesus could very easily have been referring to
Old Testament believers, some of whom were no doubt standing before Him as He
spoke, who will also be resurrected at the time of the second coming. The point is you can’t use John 6:39-40 to
prove a post trib rapture of the Church.
Those
Days Will Be Shortened
“If
those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of
the elect those days will be shortened” (Matt. 24:22).
John,
who heard the Lord speak these words first hand on the Mt. of Olives, also
heard the duration of the Great Tribulation described by the Lord again as
being 42 months long (Rev. 11:2) 1260 days long (Rev.12:6) and, 3 ½ years long
(Rev. 12:14). Using 360 day years these are equivalent times.
There
are only two possibilities here. Either John made a mistake or the Lord didn’t
mean He would shorten the duration of the number of days. The Great tribulation
is one of the most carefully measured periods of time in the Bible beginning
with Daniel 9:27, where it’s half of seven years, Daniel 12:7 where it’s time,
times and a half (3 1/2) and the three references in Revelation. They are all
the same.
Many
scholars have interpreted Matt. 24:22 to mean if the Lord didn’t put a stop to
the Great Tribulation at its appointed time but let it run it’s course no one
would survive, but for the sake of the elect He will bring it to a close at the
appointed time. This is consistent with the various measurements. Therefore the
assumption that the Great Tribulation will be shortened is not a good one to
serve as a cornerstone for the pre-wrath position.
Does
Matt. 24:29 Equal Rev. 6:12?
“Immediately
after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will
not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies
will be shaken” (Matt. 24:29)
Jesus
was quoting Isaiah 13:10 where the context is the effect of the day of the Lord.
I
watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun
turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood
red, and the stars in the sky fell to
earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind (Rev. 6:12-13)
John
was quoting Joel 2:31 where the context is a sign that the day of the Lord is
coming.
The
two verses are similar but not the same. Matt. 24:29 shows one of the results
of the day of the Lord. Rev. 6:12-13 is a warning that precedes the day of the
Lord. Later on in the book of Revelation the sun is so hot it burns people
(Rev. 16:8-9) but when the sun goes out in Matt. 24:29 it will never come back
(Rev. 21:23-24). The two verses do not describe the same thing.
Are
The Saints of Rev. 7:9-17 The Church?
They
are from every nation, tribe, people and language so they are of both Jewish
and Gentile origin. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, so
they’re saved believers. They will serve God day and night in His Temple, but
are not called priests, and they have no other responsibilities so they are not
Kings, so they are not the Church.
In
Rev. 7:14 one of the elders tells John they have come out of the Great
Tribulation, but the English translation is misleading. The Greek word
translated “out of” literally means out of both the time and place of the event
being referenced, in this case the Great Tribulation. This means they will have
been martyred during the Seal judgments. According to the pre-wrath view the
seal judgments are the Great Tribulation. But the Greek language says they’ll
be martyred before the Great Tribulation, which in a chronological reading of
the Book of Revelation begins on Earth in Rev. 13. So for these reasons the martyrs of Rev. 7
cannot be the raptured Church.
The
pre-wrath rapture uses terms that do not appear in the Bible (Man’s Wrath,
Satan’s Wrath, etc.) re-interprets parts of Matt. 24, and violates the
chronological order of the Book of Revelation. Of all the rapture positions
it’s the most difficult to justify from a Biblical standpoint. Personally, I
think it’s impossible.
The
Bible is not a book of multiple choices. There’s only one God, One Heaven, one
Earth, one Israel, one Church, one Savior, one way to salvation, and one
rapture of the Church. The only one that’s true to a literal, contextual
interpretation of Scripture is the pre-tribulation rapture, and it’s coming
soon. You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 08-30-14
