Category: Book Review
DEALING SPECIFICALLY WITH MIDTRIB. POST TRIB. AND PREWRATH.
MIDTRIB. & POSTTRIB. Views arose in the late 1950’s early 1960’s. In debates the were soundly refuted and abandoned! Both fail to recognize the distinction between God’s program for Israel and God’s program for the NT church.
The same is true for the new PREWRATH Rapture view. But it still has become popular in this Laodicean Age. It was first espoused by Marvin Rosenthal in, The Prewrath Rapture of the Church 1990. His view divides the 70th week of Daniel into 3 parts (The only division in Scripture is half, “in the midst of the week” Dan. 9:27, “time, times and the dividing of time” (or 3.5 years) Dan. 7:25 and forty and two months 3.5 years) Rev. 11:2 & 13:5) and has the last quarter as the wrath of God. (Hence, it is sometimes called, “The 3/4 rapture view”).
The basic thesis of the book is that the Church will be removed from the earth by the rapture just before the fourth quarter of the 70 th Week of Daniel. Rosenthal divides Daniel’s 70 th Week into three distinct periods: “The Beginning of Sorrows,” lasting 3 ½ years, the “Great Tribulation,” involving the first half of the last 3 ½ years or 21 months, followed by the Day of the Lord, spanning the second half of the 3 ½ years or final 21 months. Rosenthal belabors the point that the rapture will be after the Great Tribulation and before the Day of the Lord, the time of God’s wrath, which begins with the opening of the sixth seal (Rev. 8:1, pp.60, 61).
In Rosenthal’s scheme, the Church must endure Antichrist, the Great Tribulation, and after 64 months into the 70 th Week, it will be raptured.
On page 161 he has Elijah preaching for only 21 months, Scripture says 42!
Post-trib. And Prewrath proof texts:
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: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:29-31)
Jesus here speaks of what follows after the tribulation of those days. Verse 31 is believed to be the rapture. His elect, here, are said to be Christians.
Christians ARE said to be elect. There are TWO elect bodies! The Bride AND Israel.
To some, since Jew and Gentile are one then ONLY one elect group exist.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)
They are one elect body only when they are in Christ. Does a gentile/Greek outside of Christ stop being a Gentile? No. A Jew and a Gentile when they are in Christ make a new Creation called a Christian.
Israel (Jews) outside of Christ are also an elect body!
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. (Romans 11:25-29)
How do we know which group is being referred to in a passage of Scripture? Context!!!
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) (Matthew 24:15)
DANIEL’S PROPHECY IS ABOUT HIS PEOPLE ISRAEL! NEITHER DANIEL NOR HIS PEOPLE ARE IN CHRIST!
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: (Matthew 24:20)
CHRISTIANS DO NOT KEEP SABBATH!
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30)
TRIBES refer to the tribes of Israel!
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: (Matthew 24:32)
FIG TREE REPRESENTS ISRAEL!
Prewrath advocates assert that The wrath of God is different that the other judgments of Revelation! Their view is that THE wrath of God does not begin until the opening of the 6th seal Rev 6, because verse 17 says, For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Revelation 6:17)
Verse 17 is the concluding verse of chapter 6 and follows after the opening of the 6th seal. However, this is a chapter concluding statement not a beginning statement! “Is come…” is a past tense in the Greek NOT future tense!
Prewrathers say that the first seals are “the wrath of Satan and man” and not the wrath of God. (Marvin Rosenthal, Prewrath Rapture of the Church 1990).
But who is unleashing the wrath of “Satan and man”? The Lord Jesus Christ!
The prewrath view becomes problematic considering 1 Thess 5:3; For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3). Peace is taken from the earth with the SECOND seal!!
The wrath of God MUST begin with the opening of the FIRST seal!
THE LAST TRUMP:
Since 1 Cor. 15:52 says, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump… (1 Corinthians 15:52) Posttrib. And Prewrathers assert that the last trump is the seventh trumpet judgment of revelation 11:15.
Rosenthal is confused when he says the 7 trumpets and the 7 bowls are the wrath of God, but then says the 7th trumpet is the “rapture”. Without realizing that would put Christians through 6 trumpets worth of God’s wrath!!!
First trump and trumpet are not the same thing. Trump is a verb trumpet is a noun! A trump is a sound a trumpet is an instrument.
Next, The trump in 1 Cor. Is referring to Rosh Hashanah or the FEAST OF TRUMPETS. In the 7 Feasts prophecies it is BEFORE THE DAYS OF MOURNING (Yom Kippur) and The Feast of Tabernacles (The Lord shall tabernacle with His people (Millenium).
Paul would not be referring to Revelation because it had not yet been written and no one to whom he was writing to would know what he is talking about!
On the other hand, the last tump (of several) blown during Rosh Hashanah would have been well known to his readers.
NOAH AND THE FLOOD.
But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew 24:37-39)
According to Rosenthal the day that Noah and his family entered the ark, on the same day God’s judgment fell (p. 196 &220). However, Scripture says they were in the ark for 7 days before the rains began! (Gen 7:4 &10)
PREWRATHERS GREAT TRIBULATION IS DIFFERENT FROM THE DAY OF THE LORD’S WRATH!
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. (Matthew 24:21-22)
Here is a time so unprecedented that there never was nor ever will be a day like it! Yet the rapture the wrath of God supposedly comes AFTER IT!
Prewrath and Post-tribbers claim Matt. 24:31 is the rapture of the Bride of Christ.
First See reasons above as to why the elect is Israel.
That this is the ingathering of Israel people fulfilling the Feast of Tabernacles prophecy is shown in the following scriptures:
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem. (Isaiah 27:13)
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. (Isaiah 11:11-12),
THOUGHTS ON PREACHING
Preachers and other Christians who know that, “the very best way for you to be spending your leisure, is to be either reading or praying,” desire books to read in compliment to the Scriptures. As Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:13, “…bring with thee…the books, but especially the parchments. (Scriptures)” Spurgeon continues, “Some of our very ultra Calvinistic brethren think that a minister who reads books and studies his sermon must be a very deplorable specimen of a preacher. How rebuked are they by the apostle He is inspired, and yet he wants books He has been preaching at least for thirty years, and yet he wants books He had seen the Lord, and yet he wants books He had had a wider experience than most men, and yet he wants books He had been caught up into the third heaven, and had heard things which it was unlawful for a men to utter, yet he wants books He had written the major part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books The apostle says to Timothy and so he says to every preacher, ‘Give thyself unto reading.’ You may get much instruction from books which afterwards you may use as a true weapon in your Lord and Master’s service. Paul cries, ‘Bring the books‘— join in the cry.”
Reading books is important but is more important to read the best books, because as the Book of Ecclesiastes says, “...of making many books there is no end…” and not every book is worth reading. But how do we know before we read it? The best way is to ask someone who has read it if it is any good. That’s why many preachers and Christian readers are always asking, ”What are you reading?” That is why I’m starting this section to say what books are on my desk.
I have discovered a great resource for older (and usually better) books is PDF files which can be found at places like www.archive.org or www.ccel.org . However I also suffer from what some folks call the Piccard syndrome. Piccard was the commander of the Enterprise in the 1980′s Star Trek tv show. In the age where everything is on the ship’s computer, Piccard could be found reading a hard bound book. Those PDF files are wonderful but there’s nothing like a real book. I even like them used and musky. Ahh, Bring the musky smelling books!
Always on my desk is the Bible. I still have the Bible I used in college back in the 80′s, a Cambridge turquoise center column reference, King James Version of course and a New Pilgrim Bible KJV, which is a study Bible like the old Scofield Reference Bible.
So what are you reading?
Pastor Ty
WHY REVIVAL TARRIES – LEONARD RAVENHILL Thursday, February 17, 2011 posted by Ty Blake
I have read and reread Ravenhill’s book many times. When I have taught in Bible colleges I said (and still say) that this is a must read for anyone who believes they are called to preach!
This book is as old as I am as it was published in the same year that I was born (I know you never dreamed I was that old). However, it is still up-to-date, just change his references of “Communists” to “Islamic terrorists” and it’s timely.
Consider some of these quotes from Why Revival Terries:
On prayer he writes: “Prayer is profoundly simple and simply profound…a Niagara of burning words does not mean God is either impressed or moved.”( p-24) ” We may preach and perish but we cannot pray and perish” (p-20).
On Spiritual warfare: “Do we count in hell? I mean would demons ever say, ’Jesus I know and Pastor ______ I know!’ Or, as we preach do they say, ‘But who are ye?’” (p-50). “The Word, Like the Lord, was immutable. Paul’s anchor was cast in the depths of God’s faithfulness. His battleaxe was the Word of the Lord; his strength was faith in that Word. So the Spirit alerted Paul to the coming strategy of the devil. Paul was not ignorant of his devices; therefore hell suffered.” (p-164). Unfortunately I fear most Christians today ARE ignorant of Satan’s devices (schemes/plots) and want to remain so!
Writing to preachers, Ravenhill says, “Brethren, if we will do God’s work in God’s way at God’s time with God’s power, we shall have God’s blessing and the devil’s curses. When God opens the windows of heaven to bless us, the devil will open the door of hell to blast us…Mere preachers may help anybody and hurt nobody; but prophets will stir everybody and madden somebody. The preacher may go with the crowd; the prophet goes against it. A man freed, fired, and filled with God will branded unpatriotic because he speaks against the nation’s sins; unkind because his tongue is a two-edged sword; unbalanced because the weight of preaching opinion is against him. The preacher will be heralded; the prophet hounded.” (p-39) Writing of the preaching of the Apostle Paul he says, “He upset synagogues, had revivals and riots—either one or the other, sometimes both. (We seem to have neither.) “(p-119).
After mentioning briefly about “…the evil geniuses of Moscow…” (Here replace this with “Islamic Terrorism”) Ravenhill continues: “Behind follows the purple pageantry of Papal Rome. Moreover, the devil has substituted reincarnation for regeneration, familiar spirits for the Holy Spirit, Christian Science for divine healing, the Antichrist for the true Christ, and the Church of Rome for the true Church. Against the twin evils of Communism (terrorism?) and Romanism, what has the Church to offer? Where is the supernatural?… Even Rome does not call us Protestants anymore; we have just the juiceless name of non-Catholics! Significant, isn’t it? Hell hath no fury like that of this “Mother of Harlots” when she is stirred. But who now “earnestly contends for the faith once delivered to the saints?’ “(p-20).
Let me share two more choice quotes from this incredible book: “We must alter the altar, for the altar is a place to die on. Let those who will not pay this price leave it alone!” (p-58) In a chapter called AS THE CHURCH GOES, SO GOES THE WORLD he writes, “The church began with these men in the ‘upper room’ agonizing—today it is ending with men in the supper room organizing. The church began in revival; we are ending in ritual. We started virile; we are ending sterile. ”
In this 168-page book published in 1959 at Bethany House, it seems to me that Ravenhill asks and answers Why Revival Tarries.
Pastor Ty