Tag: rapture
Road To Armageddon?
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),
WHY PRETRIB.
The different schools of thought of when the “rapture” occurs in relation to the 70th week are as follows:
PRETRIB. OR BEFORE THE 7 YEARS.
MIDTRIB. OR IN THE MIDDLE OF IT.
POSTTRIB. OR AT THE END.
AND THE COMPROMISE BETWEEN THE LATTER TWO: PREWRATH.
WHY BEFORE:
The event called the rapture is distinct from the 2nd coming! Christians are caught up to meet the Lord in the air and return WITH Him at the 2nd coming. This alone disproves post (after) the “trib” (or Daniel’s 70th week)!
The seventy weeks (sevens) deal with Daniel’s people (Israel) not the NT church!
Clearly, the Bible teaches us to expect Him to come for us at any moment. This is called the Doctrine of Imminency!
Promise of Rev. 3:10: kept from the hour of trial.
NT church is not the object of God’s wrath (Rev. 6:16, 1 Thess. 5:9)! (The wrath begins with Jesus opening the seals in Rev. 6!
Prewrath advocates argue that the first 5 seals are the wrath of man and Satan not of God. However, God’s wrath is unleashing Satan and evil men! When God was angry with Israel for wanting a human king, He gave them Saul. When God brought judgment upon Israel by David numbering the people, the Bible says it was both God and Satan that moved David to do it! (compare 2 Sam. 24:1 and 1 Chron. 21:1).
When war begins all Ambassadors are called home. (2 Cor. 5:20)
In John 14 Jesus illustrates the “rapture” with the Jewish wedding.
In Rev. chapters 2&3 refer to churches. Then 4:1 John is “caught up”! Christians are seen in heaven witnessing the opening of the seals. Church is never mentioned again until we see Jesus’ Bride returning with Him in Rev.19!
Matthew 24 And Daniel’s 70th Week
THIS PERIOD OF TIME (Daniel’s 70th Week) IS WHAT JESUS IS REFERING TO IN MATT. 24.
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
THE RAPTURE IS A DISTINCT EVEN FROM THE SECOND COMING (REVELATION) OF JESUS CHRIST!
The return of Jesus is pictured in Revelation 19. We see here He returns WITH His Bride.
In the Rapture passages listed above, the Bride is caught up to meet Jesus in the air, not on the ground!
WHEN THE RAPTURE WILL OCCUR IN RELATION TO THE “TRIBULATION”.
The “tribulation” has become a popular phrase to name the time of Jacob’s trouble or THE day of the LORD or THE day of Christ. It is not the most accurate, but we will use it.
- In Matthew 24:15-30 Jesus talks about this period of time that shall come. He refers to it as, “the tribulation of those days”.
- It is the time of Jacob’s (Israel’s) trouble: Jer 30:7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s (Israel’s) trouble (tribulation); but he (Israel) shall be saved out of it. (See also Romans 11:1-2, 5, 15, 25-29)
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 (Israel): (Romans 11:26)
- It is also known as THE day of the LORD or THE day of Christ.
- It’s Daniel’s 70th week: Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off (The crucifixion), but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (The man of sin) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he (the antecedent is, “the prince that shall come”!)shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (7 years): and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, (2Thess. 2:4)and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:25-27)
Week (shaw-boo’-ah Hebrew) means literally sevened.
The seventy weeks (sevens) deal with Daniel’s people (Israel) not the NT church!
To properly “rightly divide the word of truth” we must distinguish between Israel and the church! The final seven years of this prophecy is yet future.
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people (Israel): and there shall be a time of trouble (Tribulation), such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1)
THE “RAPTURE” QUESTION II
Critics have said, “The rapture is fake”. or “There is no rapture in the Bible”!
When you refer them to the rapture passages (listed below), they then respond, “I don’t see the word “rapture”!
The word “rapture” is not in the King James Bible because it’s a Latin word found in the Latin translation of 1 Thess. 4:17 “caught up”.
NT PASSAGES DEALING WITH THE RAPTURE:
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:2-3)
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up (harpazo, Greek) together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2)
- 1 Corinthians 15:51, tells us that it is a mystery (family [of God] secret). Something revealed only to the church not the public.
- Jesus spoke of it in John 14 in a private briefing (upper room discourse) only to the 11 Apostles after kicking out Judas!
- 2 Thessalonians 2 mentions it in the context of false teachers who were teaching that they were already in the “tribulation” or the time of Jacob’s trouble.
- 1 Thessalonians 4 contains the expression from which the word rapture comes from: (caught up/harpazo).
OTHER PASSAGES WHERE HARPAZO IS USED:
Mt 11:12 the violent take <harpazo> it by force <harpazo>.
Mt 13:19 and catcheth away <harpazo> that which was sown
Joh 6:15 ¶ take <harpazo> him by force <harpazo>,
Joh 10:12 the wolf catcheth <harpazo> them
Joh 10:28 neither shall <harpazo> any man pluck <harpazo> them out of my hand.
Joh 10:29 no man is able to pluck <harpazo> them out of my Father’s hand.
Ac 8:39 the Spirit of the Lord caught away <harpazo> Philip…
Ac 23:10 and to take <harpazo> him by force <harpazo> from among them
2Co 12:2 such an one caught up <harpazo> to the third heaven…
2Co 12:4 How that he was caught up <harpazo> into paradise…
Jude 1:23 pulling <harpazo> them out of the fire…
Re 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who …was caught up <harpazo> unto God…
THE “RAPTURE” QUESTION. PT. 1 INTRODUCTION
I will be starting a series of articles on the “rapture” question. There seems to be a lot of discussion on this topic nowadays. This one is an introduction to the subject of eschatology (Which is a highfalutin way of saying end-time prophecy). Some may accuse me of defending a denominational teaching, but you would not if you knew me! Some will say, “You just hold to that view because you’ve never had your view challenged.” Au contraire! That is to say, “Nothing could be further from the truth!” I have been a diligent student of the Bible for nearly 40 years and have gone through it all (tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine) and held to postmill. amill. and now hold to premill/pretrb.
BELOW IS AN OVERVIEW OF THE SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN ESCHATOLOGY
1st Preterism: This view holds that Daniel’s 70th week and most of the Olivet Discourse was fulfilled in in the first century. Prophecy for the most part is not to be taken literally but as poetry. For example, Matthew 24: 29&30,
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.
To the preterist this was fulfilled in A.D. 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem and simply means the fall of the old age and the beginning of the new age of Christianity. Origen is the origin of this view of prophetic poetry. He taught at the gnostic Alexandrian School in Egypt in the 3rd century. This is the view of the Roman Catholic church. In the Counter-Reformation, the Jesuit Luis de Alcasar promoted the preterist view among protestants. Preterists are either Amillennial (no future reign of Jesus for a literal 1000 years but the millennium is the church age) or Postmillennial (Jesus will return after the church has established a thousand years on earth).
Allis, Oswald T., Prophecy and the Church. (Eerdmans 1945)
Campbell, Roderick, Israel and the New Covenant. (Presbyterian & Reformed Pub. 1954)
Chilton, David, Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation. Ft. Worth Texas: Dominion Press (1987)
__________, The Great Tribulation. Ft. Worth Texas: Dominion Press (1987)
________, Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion. Ft. Worth Texas: Dominion Press (1987)
Gentry, Kenneth, The Beast of Revelation (Institute for Christian Economics, (1989)
_______, Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation (I.C.E.: 1989)
Hanegraaff, Hank, The Apocalypse Code. (Thomas Nelson, 2007)
Russell, J. Stuart, The Parousia (1878)
Next is Historic Premillennialism: Like preterism, this school believes the 70th week of Daniel was fulfilled in AD.70, but the millennium is future and literal and the Olivet Discourse and the Revelation is in continuous fulfillment. The major problem with H.P.is like Preterism, it fails to distinguish between God’s program for Israel and the N.T. church! Popular among the Protestant Reformers, but it is mostly promoted today by the Seventh Day Adventist cult.
R. Clouse (ed.), The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views. (Intervarsity, 1977)
Gundry, Robert H, The Church and the Tribulation. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973
Ladd, George Eldon, The Gospel of the Kingdom. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959)
________, The Blessed Hope. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980)
Smith, Uriah, Daniel and the Revelation (1897)
Finally, we have futurism, The distinguishing point about futurism is that it sees Daniel’s 70th week (7years) as a future event. This study of the “rapture” has to do with the rapture’s timing: pretri. midtrb. posttrib. Or prewrath.