This study begins with the best eschatological question ever asked:
“Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be
the sign of your coming
and of the end of the age?" - Matthew 24:3
This study is
not meant to look at the entire events of the end times, but only the timing
and events of the rapture, so let's skip to verse 21.
Then there will be great
tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and
never will be. And if those days had not
been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There
he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs
and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you
beforehand. So, if they say to you,
‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If
they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from
the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven,
and the powers of the heavens will be
shaken. Then will appear in
heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of
Man coming on the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory. - Matthew 24:21-30
Let's look at a similar
verse in Revelation 6, look at the similar wording and identical time markers.
When he opened the sixth
seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became
like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to
the earth as the fig tree
sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the
rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves
in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” - Revelation 6:12-17
Look at the similarities,
the coming of the Son of Man will be as lightning in the sky in Matthew 24, in
Revelation 6 the sky vanishes. This event is directly preceded in both passages
by the sun and moon and stars being greatly changed, and the earth quaking. The
tribes of the earth will mourn, they will see Jesus, and they will not want to.
I hope and trust that you see that these
describe the same event. Only Matthew adds one more event, look at verse 31,
the rapture verse:
And he will send out his angels with a
loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. - Matthew 24:31
This event is on the Day of
Wrath, the day of Christ's return, the visible return of Jesus to the whole
world. These angels come and remove Christ's elect, there is no indication in
this passage of any sort of disappearing or secrecy. Now let's compare some
other verses that give us the timing and events of this rapture and see if they
agree.
For the Lord himself will
descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the
voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet
of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. - 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
and
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. - 1 Corinthians 15:51
These passages clearly show
the rapture happens at the last trumpet, at the return of Christ. The dead are raised first, the believers are
caught up immediately afterwards, to meet Christ as he descends, and be with
him forevermore.
And I tell you beloved,
this means there is a very good chance you may live through this tribulation,
or any number of smaller, though not small, tribulations. There is no room in
these passages or any passage for a secret and/or pretribulation rapture. Many
of the elect will face the ruler of the world and die terrible deaths for it,
being called to have endurance and faith in the Sovereign God who ordained all
things (Revelation 13:7-10). Fear not, for Christ endured more for your soul at
the hands of his Father, and he promises to never leave you nor forsake you.
I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after
that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear
him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you,
fear him! - Luke 12:4-5
Additional
Resources:
Our Appointment with Death and Christ's Return
Our Appointment with Death and Christ's Return
2 comments:
A book on end times prophecy is being written, and is looking for Christian scholars to contribute their studies on eschatology!
http://www.diditinchrist.com/berean-writing-contests.html
[Hi Canyon. Found this hot article on the web. Any reaction?]
PRETRIB RAPTURE STEALTH !
Many evangelicals believe that Christ will "rapture" them to heaven years before the second coming and (most importantly) well BEFORE Antichrist and his "tribulation." But Acts 2:34, 35 reveal that Jesus is at the Father's right hand in heaven until He leaves to destroy His earthly foes at the second coming. And Acts 3:21 says that Jesus “must” stay in heaven with the Father "until the times of restitution of all things” which includes, says Scofield, “the restoration of the theocracy under David’s Son” which obviously can’t begin before or during Antichrist’s reign. ("The Rapture Question," by the long time No. 1 pretrib authority John Walvoord, didn't dare to even list, in its scripture index, the above verses! They were also too hot for John Darby - the so-called "father of dispensationalism" - to list in the scripture index in his "Letters"!)
Paul explains the “times and the seasons” (I Thess. 5:1) of the catching up (I Thess. 4:17) as the “day of the Lord” (5:2) which FOLLOWS the posttrib sun/moon darkening (Matt. 24:29; Acts 2:20) WHEN “sudden destruction” (5:3) of the wicked occurs! The "rest" for "all them that believe" is also tied to such destruction in II Thess. 1:6-10! (If the wicked are destroyed before or during the trib, who'd be left alive to serve the Antichrist?) Paul also ties the change-into-immortality “rapture” (I Cor. 15:52) to the end of trib “death” (15:54). (Will death be ended before or during the trib? Of course not! And vs. 54 is also tied to Isa. 25:8 which Scofield views as Israel's posttrib resurrection!) It's amazing that the Olivet Discourse contains the "great commission" for the church but not even a hint of a pretrib rapture for the church!
Many don't know that before 1830 all Christians had always viewed I Thess. 4’s “catching up” as an integral part of the final second coming to earth. In 1830 this "rapture" was stretched forward and turned into an idolized separate coming of Christ. To further strengthen their novel view, which evangelical scholars overwhelmingly rejected throughout the 1800s, pretrib teachers in the early 1900s began to stretch forward the “day of the Lord” (what Darby and Scofield never dared to do) and hook it up with their already-stretched-forward “rapture.” Many leading evangelical scholars still weren’t convinced of pretrib, so pretrib teachers then began teaching that the “falling away” of II Thess. 2:3 is really a pretrib rapture (the same as saying that the “rapture” in 2:3 must happen before the “rapture” ["gathering"] in 2:1 can happen – the height of desperation!). Google "Walvoord Melts Ice" for more on this.
Other Google articles on the 183-year-old pretrib rapture view include “X-Raying Margaret,” "Margaret Macdonald's Rapture Chart," "Pretrib Rapture's Missing Lines," "Edward Irving is Unnerving," "The Unoriginal John Darby," "Catholics Did NOT Invent the Rapture," "The Real Manuel Lacunza," “Thomas Ice (Bloopers),” “Wily Jeffrey,” “The Rapture Index (Mad Theology),” “America’s Pretrib Rapture Traffickers,” “Roots of (Warlike) Christian Zionism,” “Scholars Weigh My Research,” “Pretrib Hypocrisy,” "Appendix F: Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Pretrib Rapture Secrecy," “Deceiving and Being Deceived,” "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty," "Famous Rapture Watchers," and "Morgan Edwards' Rapture View" – most by the author of the bestselling book “The Rapture Plot” (the most accurate and documented book on pretrib rapture history which is obtainable by calling 800.643.4645).
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