The Rapture Question
The timing of the rapture is an
extremely emotional issue. Those who hold to the pre-tribulation
position are so adamant; nothing can change their mind. If you have
looked into this issue, you may have your mind made up but try and stay
open. There is a lot of good literature on the subject and I am going
to refer you to a couple of different websites, as well as recommend
some books. Again, I am not into arguing or changing anyone’s mind.
Only God can do that and we all answer to Him alone. The only problem
is, if you are a Christian and believe in the pre-trib rapture, you
won’t ever be a “Tribulation saint”… that is, unless, possibly, you are
wrong….
For those who are new to this, there are
different positions on the “rapture of the church.” Some think it will
occur before the tribulation (generally considered although not
technically the last seven years), some at the midpoint prior to the
Great Tribulation and some at the end. So we have the pre, mid and
post-tribulation positions. There are other variations, including those
who don’t believe in the rapture at all. The pre-tribulation rapture
was popularized by Hal Lindsey in “The Late Great Planet Earth” and later by “The Left Behind” series
of novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. The basic idea is that God
can’t allow the church to be judged so it will rapture before the
tribulation begins, leaving the world in chaos for the antichrist to
take over.
There are a couple of problems with this
theory, not the least of which is that no sooner do Christians leave,
there are new ones being “born again” and suffering tribulation. I fail
to see the distinction between them and me other than timing. I also
somehow fail to understand what the modern church has done so well to
deserve anything less than tribulation. The second major problem with
this theory is that they confuse the “tribulation” of the saints who are
suffering the wrath of Satan and the unbelievers with God’s wrath.
That is why I would highly recommend Marvin Rosenthal’s book on “The Pre-Wrath Rapture”
where he points out that the church raptures at the end of the
Tribulation before God judges the earth when the final trumpet sounds.
Also see various books by Dave MacPherson, one of the foremost authorities and researchers on the subject.
I’m going to give you a number of places for you to continue your research:
These are but a few examples. There are
many. Bottom line, conventional wisdom may lead to deception. Please
be careful. I used to think the rapture issue didn’t matter. The only
problem with that line of reasoning is that one is true and the other a
false doctrine.
If you believe in a pre-tribulation
rapture, the study of last days prophecy may become just another
interesting and academic exercise for the Christian who is convinced
this is the case. It also sets that person up for deception because if
prophesied events occur such as the Gog Magog War and the Treaty between
the antichrist and Israel (more on that later) and they are still here,
it may be rather difficult to recognize what is really happening. If
the pre-tribbers are correct, I’m very happy and have an “early out.”
But if they are wrong and it occurs at the end of the Tribulation, I’m
going to prepare for it and be looking for events.
Frankly, all of the arguments for a
pre-trib rapture are based on reading things into the Scripture that do
not square with the straightforward reading of Scriptures. I challenge
anyone to just read Matthew 24:1-31 to read that and see anything else
happening but the saints being caught up to meet the Lord in the air as
the last trumpet sounds. Again, I refer you to the books and articles
referenced for the details. There is one other persuasive argument,
which we will deal with later, and that is the matter of the Two
Witnesses, which we believe to be the church (the two lamp stands) and
the nation of Israel (the two olive trees). In other words, two
corporate Witnesses (God’s physical and spiritual peoples) are needed
before the trial and judgment of the earth.
The weight of scripture should all point
in the same direction. Scripture reinforces scripture. Those who
argue for a pre-tribulation rapture use circular reasoning, obscure
verses and parables to prove their position.
I would like to compare two descriptions and timelines of Daniel’s 70th week.
1. Matthew 24:5 and Revelation 6:1-2 talk about the First Seal rise of the Antichrist who conquers by deception.
2. Matthew 24:6-7a and Revelation 6:3-4 discuss the Second Seal, the wars and rumors of wars.
3. Matthew 24:7b and Revelation 6:5-6, the Third Seal, brings famines.
4. Matthew 24:7c-8 and Revelation 6:7-8, the Fourth Seal, brings earthquake, death and pestilence.
5. Matthew 24:9 and Revelation
6:9-11, the Fifth Seal, reveals a faithful remnant who are killed for
the sake of their testimony.
6. Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:24-25, Luke 21:25 and Revelation 6:12-13 all talk about the same thing - immediately
after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened and the
moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven and
the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. We quote from Matthew but they all say essentially the same thing - there are these specific signs in the heavens. Then,
7. Matthew 24:30-31, Mark 13:26-27,
Luke 21:27, Revelation 6:14-17 All three accounts say essentially the
same thing. Matthew says, “and then the sign of the Son of Man will
appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of earth will mourn, and
they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power
and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet
and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one
end of the sky to the other.” In Revelation, the nations mourn for the wrath of God is come.
It is clear from these verses that there
are these cosmic disturbances and the trumpets followed by the return
of the Lord and the rapture. Rather than going into detail, I am going
to give you the verses in the Old and New Testament that refer to the
“Day of the Lord.” (Joel 1:15, 2:1-2, 10-11,30-31, Amos 5:18-20, Isaiah
13:6-13, Zeph. 1:14-2:3). Each one of these verses refers to the same
cosmic disturbances, the darkening of the sun, a day of clouds and thick
darkness, a time of divine wrath, destruction, etc. It is clear that
our Lord comes on the “Day of the Lord” and this is clearly at the end of the 70th week as noted in Matthew 24 and Revelation 6.
Now, we go to I Thessalonians 5:1-3
”Now as to the times and epochs,
brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you
yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a
thief in the night. While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then
destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman
with child, and they shall not escape.
See also II Peter 3:10-12 for another verse on the day of the Lord. We
see another thing the verses above have in common - trumpets. Joel 2:1
begins to announce the day of the Lord with a trumpet. I Corinthians
15:51-52 places the rapture “at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed.” So we see the cosmic disturbances, the trumpet and the Lord’s return - all on the same day.
One of the major rapture passages is II Thessalonians 2,
“Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him” (verse 1)
Please note. This is one of the main
“rapture” verses. There are no indications that there is a seven-year
period between these two events. In fact, the verses that follow deals
with the question of when. It warns us not to listen to people who tell
us the day of the Lord has come if these events have not occurred. We
continue,
“that you may not be quickly shaken
from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a
letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and
the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes
and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so
that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being
God. (verses 2-4). The passage goes to say that the Lord will take care of the Antichrist by “the appearance of His coming.” (verse 8)
What will not come? What is “it”? It
should be clear from these passages that the rapture cannot occur until
after this event which is referred to in other passages as the
Abomination of Desolation. Just as an aside, most think this refers to
offering sacrifices in the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, and that may be
but we believe it may refer to the ultimate desecration of the true
temple - man.
I would like to conclude this brief discussion of the rapture by a quote from Marvin Rosenthal’s excellent work, The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church.
“Perhaps here is the ultimate error of pretribulation rapturism. It holds out the false hope of imminent rapture, instead of the true hope of expectant rapture. By expectant
rapture it is meant that every generation since the first century would
have been the generation that entered the seventieth week to experience
the Rapture. Only the generation that actually enters the seventieth
week will know the general time period. To that generation the Lord
says, ‘So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things (events of the
seventieth week) know that it (His return) is near, even at the doors’
(Matt 24:33) A careful appeal to verses said to teach immanency (no
prophesied events must occur before the Rapture) will reveal that what
they actually teach is expectancy.” (Marvin Rosenthal, The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church, p. 282).
He points out that a pre-tribulation position negates the “God-given” warnings and admonitions to the church.
I see nothing in the modern “Church”
which would somehow exempt her from the suffering saints down through
the ages have paid for their faith. In fact, there may be some very
good reason for judgment to begin at the “house of God.” But the
biggest difference is that we see this as the churches finest hour, its
most glorious moment.
What are We Really Made of?
Tribulation is and always has been the
ultimate test for the church. When the church looks no different than
the society it is a part of, something is wrong. The divorce rate in
the church exceeds the divorce rate in America. So how many of
America’s churches are really solid Bible believing churches. Let me
ask you some questions:
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How many Churches believe in the basics of the faith and the Bible as the inspired Word of God?
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What percentage of those that attend are really committed versus nominal, cultural Christians?
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How many are just going through the motions?
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How many really experience the presence of the Lord, get into the Word, and let Him speak to them?
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How many have the maturity to stand in the face of adversity?
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How many put the Lord first in terms of their time? Their energy? Their money?
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How many have the clear practical priority that our Lord and His kingdom are the most important things in their life?
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How many radiate the love and joy of the Lord to people around them?
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How many preach the gospel in season and out - regularly?
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How many Christians are discipling at least one other young Christian?
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How many Christians would willingly give up all their possessions,
their bank accounts, their retirement and everything they have ever
accomplished in this world to stand for their faith?
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How many Christians are willing to suffer criticism and rejection
from other “so called Christian friends and relatives who seem to be
going along with the main stream?
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How many are willing to turn off their TV to spend time with the Lord?
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How many are willing to put off their fishing trip to help a brother move?
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How many are minoring in being a Christian and majoring in something else? (a career, family, etc.)
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How many are paying the price today so that they will be ready tomorrow?
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How many Christians really think these are the last days? How many even care?
Again Rosenthal says:
“Many who name the name of Christ
want the church to provide entertainment, not worship. They want the
church to provide a hedged-in, antiseptic, country-club atmosphere, not a
Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in”
philosophy (Luke 14:22). Apart from some notable exceptions, at the
present hour the church is splintered, polarized, carnal, materialistic,
humanistic and impotent. The world is burning, and the church is fiddling (ibid., p. 295)
To say that the Lord can’t possibly
allow the lukewarm, pleasure loving, self-loving, self absorbed, carnal,
materialistic, humanistic “Church” to suffer a little persecution is an
affront to God and every Christian who has given his life for their
Savior.
When Will the End Come?
I am not some fanatic to say the world
is going to end and the Lord will be back by such and such a date. But
anyone, including Herod, could and did read the Old Testament, and knew
the approximate time of the arrival of the Messiah. The Lord upbraided
His generation for being able to forecast the weather but not understand
the signs of the times. We are told we won’t know the “day or the hour”
the Lord returns, so we use that as an excuse for ignoring the
obvious. The Lord upbraided the religious establishment for not reading
the signs of the times.
Many Christians felt betrayed when the last days
- the last seven years, didn’t begin in 1988, exactly 40 years after
the founding of the nation of Israel. But the Bible says Jerusalem
would be trodden down of the Gentiles until the end…and when you see the
fig tree bloom - Jerusalem restored - know that this generation would
not pass away until all these things come to pass (this is in the
context of Matthew 24, the Tribulation and the return of the Lord).
Jerusalem was restored to Israel in 1967 and officially became the
capital of Israel in 1981… so the 40-year countdown would begin until
one of those dates. This is not my opinion but the observation of many
evangelical leaders today. This would put the beginning of the
tribulation at 2004 and the return of the Lord t 2011. This is but one
theory. The Gog Magog War and the Treaty between the antichrist and
Israel will herald the beginning so we have not seen either of these
events as yet.
It seems that Christian leaders would
like to protect us from these prophecies lest we become frightened.
They want us to be assured that the Rapture will take care of
everything. They tell us not to worry. - just trust them. Is this
really wise? No, these prophecies were written for us to read and
understand. There is a special blessing for us in Revelation 1:3, for
those who read, understand and heed. But if we ignore the clear warning
of God, we do so at our own peril. If I am a last days Christian,
there is nothing more important for me in the whole world than to
understand and pay close attention to prophecy. If these are the last days,
then these prophecies were meant for you and me. They weren’t that
relevant to a Christian living 200 years ago. But they are to us! In
the last chapter of Daniel, he says that these prophecies concerning the
last days were sealed until the end and then they will be revealed to us who really “need to know.”
So many Christians, even some close to
me, say “we don’t need to worry. Everything will be okay. When the
time comes, the Lord will take care of us.” If that were so, then why
did He bother to warn us? Why is so much of the Bible “last days” prophecy?
Why bother to warn us there would be a great deception?… that even the
elect will be deceived?… that there will be an apostate church?… that we
won’t be able to operate on the surface financially without taking the mark of the beast…
and that we will suffer the worst persecution the church has ever
seen? I don’t understand why Christians don’t see that this is very
important information to them personally.
So we have three groups of evangelicals:
1. The old-line evangelical says not to worry - the church will rapture before the Tribulation.
2. The “new” evangelical - believes the church is to take dominion over the earth before the Lord can come back - as a prerequisite to his return.
3. There are a few voices crying in
the wilderness like ours. We are basically old line in our beliefs, but
feel the doctrine of the pre-Tribulation rapture is dangerously in
error. This is not a doctrine of the church fathers but was “discovered” a little over 150 years ago. Please see books by Dave MacPherson for thoroughly researched details.
This is not a trivial point as some would say they are “Pan Rapture” - that everything will “pan”
out in the end. This is a serious Biblical question with tremendous
personal implications. It didn’t matter to Paul, or Martin Luther or
Dwight Moody. They are gone. But it may matter to you and me. We are ignoring at least one fourth of the Bible - prophecy that applies specifically to the last days Christians and Jews.
Most modern evangelical eschatologists (people who study the last days)
such as Dwight Pentecost, John Woolvord, etc, agree that the two things
must precede the Tribulation (the Gog Magog War and the “Treaty of Hell
and Death” between the Anti-Christ and Israel), so the Rapture could
not occur until then. But if those two events occur, and we are still
here, it may be too late. The Church may be too far gone in its
apostasy. Individual Christians may not be ready - either spiritually
or practically. And anyone aware of current events knows, these two
political events could happen at any moment.
All we are saying is that we must take
prophecy seriously. Don’t take my word for it. Read it yourself. Let
the Lord speak to you. Study the Word. Then ask yourself, if I am a last days Christian, what
should I do to get ready? How do I spend my last few years? What can I
do to help the bride be ready? What are my priorities?
I have had to wrestle with these
questions again and again but I can’t stop the sound of the clock
ticking down - in Israel…in the world. I’m no different than you. I
can easily get caught up in the world and in the cares of life. I can
ignore the ticking for a while but then the gentle (and sometimes not so
gentle) nudging of the Spirit reminds me. I gave my life to the Lord
many years ago but there have been wasted years. I have not always
walked in His perfect will - far from it. And I know that in eternity
my greatest regret will be those years, those lost opportunities, those
misplaced priorities. With time about to run out, what kind of people
should we be? As Jim Elliott, the famous missionary martyred by Auca
Indians in Ecuador, said “What shall it profit a man if he gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose?” The time has come to make that decision and let it work through our lives in very practical ways.
The point is this. I believe God is
speaking to us, the last generation of saints to live on the earth
before His return. He is going to need our undivided love, attention
and obedience like never before in history. We are an integral part of
His great plan and purpose. We are His testimony on the earth. We are
living proof that the Creator came down, paid the price for our sin and
rebellion, and now indwells us, and transforms us into a corporate
testimony - as the world declares “Behold how they love one another.”
(John 15: ) Above all, we are to be His witnesses - in our personal
lives, in our families and in our Christian communities. God can’t
witness for Himself but needs two witnesses to try and judge the world.
He needs the corporate testimony of the Church and Israel. But if
Christians and Jews continue to harden their hearts to God, will He not
judge both? We are dreaming if we think God will apply a lower standard
to His physical and spiritual people. Most Jews and so-called
Christians are in the world and in unbelief. His righteous nature
demands judgment of His people before He can judge the world.
What sense do you get of the times that
are approaching when you read Matthew 24? Read it now. It is not just
of foreboding because of the horror, but also of the glory before us.
You and I are being called to the Church’s finest hour.
It is time to come out of the closet as Christians, to come out of the
world, to warn people, to preach the gospel, to be built up closely with
one another. It is time to forsake all distractions and ask the Lord
to purify us and free us from the power of the age. It is time to ask
the Lord to open our eyes to prophecy, to our true spiritual condition
and the condition of the world and the church. This is an Army you must
volunteer for. God is calling you, but if you don’t respond, He will
move on to someone else. In Revelation 12:11, he declares of the last day’s believer that “we overcame by the blood of the lamb, by the word of our testimony and we loved not our lives even unto death.” The “last days” Church will find its glory in martyrdom.
We Have a Glorious Reward.
I’m sorry if this scares you, but it
isn’t my idea. I have people say to me - “that isn’t my blessed
hope! My God will never allow the church to suffer.” These people
may be in for a rude awakening. Besides, I don’t understand their
objection. To me, this will be the church’s finest hour with a special
blessing for those involved. The Bible says that the Great Tribulation will be the worst tribulation the church has ever seen (Matthew 24:21). But do you also realize that there is a special blessing for those last days Christians that go through and even give their lives during the Tribulation. Revelation 20:4 says, “And
I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them. And I saw the souls of
those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus, and
because of the word of God and those who had not worshipped the beast or
his image and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon
their hand, and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Can you imagine that? “The rest of
the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.
This is the first resurrection. (Revelation 20:5). All of the other saints have to wait until the after the millennium but the “tribulation saint”
who overcomes or even gives his life, rules and reigns with Christ for
the thousand years!!! Now that is a promise worth being excited about.
So for those who worry about a little suffering during the Tribulation,
not only do we have an important role to play as God’s witnesses in the
trial of the world, we have the greatest reward - to reign with Christ
in the Millennium! Sorry, the pre-tribulation rapture would rob us of
the most wonderful opportunity ever given to a saint! Saints and angels
down through all ages envy our opportunity. Can’t you just see them
now?
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