The Real Rapture -2
How Did This Grave Misunderstanding Come About?
As the signs of the coming world system are becoming more evident,the preaching of the secret rapture theory becomes more fervent as people are told to hurry up and get saved,so they will be raptured, before the effects of the world system(the beast) is felt.Herein lies the root of the deception;--escapism--- as Christians seek to escape not only from the trouble this system will cause them, but also escape they themselves being identified as being part and parcel of that system at this time.All this is aided by a lack of understanding of the scriptures which would cause
the secret rapture theory to be exposed as a deception.
Jesus, in instructing
His disciples on what to expect in the days after His ascension,spoke extensively about His second coming.These admonitions were recorded in;Matthew 24:3-51;Mark 13:1-37;Luke 21:6-36;and they show clearly,it is
after tribulations, afflictions and perplexities,that Christ comes for His elect.[Matthew 24:29-31;Mark 13:24-27;Luke 21:25-31]
With such clear instructions it is amazing how any one could formulate a teaching about a tribulation after a secret rapture of the saints.It should be noted that the warnings given by the Lord in Mark 13:33-36;Matthew 24:42-51;Luke 21:34-36;are echoed by Paul as he speaks to the saints at Thessalonica.They both encourage the saints to watch and be sober as the Lord will come as a thief in the night.[I Thessalonians 5:2-6] While many accept that the accounts given in the gospels speak of the Lord Jesus coming for His Church,others say the elect spoken of in these passages is not the elect of the Church but the elect of Israel.No one has been able to prove this from the scriptures and several areas of contradiction arise.(The studies,Matthew 24 and More on Matthew 24,to come later,gives further insight)
Why did Jesus not speak of the secret rapture of the Church to these men who are to be the foundation of the Church?
How could He leave out this important event which would occur before He comes for the "elect of Israel" and yet still mention His coming for Israel? N.B.Jesus had already introduced the concept of the Church to His disciples but had said the house of Israel was left desolate.[Matthew 16:18,19;18:15-17;23:37-39:Ephesians 2:19,20]
The fallacy of this argument is evident and should have put to rest any thought of a rapture,before tribulation theory,but other misunderstood scriptures are used to perpetuate this myth.
One of the main supporting reasons given,to sustain the secret rapture before tribulation theory,is that,because Christians are not appointed to wrath but to salvation,then,they have to be taken from the world before tribulation begins.
"For God hath not appointed us to wrath,but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ."[I Thessalonians 5:9;Luke 21:36]
One of the promises to the Church in Philadelphia also speaks of then being kept from the hour of temptation to come upon all the world.[Revelation 3:10:See also Romans 2:7-9]
This type of reasoning puts into question God's ability to protect,if Christians have to be taken from the world in order to be protected from tribulations(temptations),perplexities and distress.This is not supported by the scriptures.Jesus asked:
"I pray
not that thou shouldest take them out of the world,but that Thou shouldest
keep them from the evil."[John 17;15]
The apostle Paul added:
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man....,but will with the temptation also make
a way to escape,that ye may bear it."[I Corinthians 10:13;See also,II Thessalonians 3:3;Matthew 6:13;26:41;II Peter 2:9]
The promise of the Lord therefore is to keep us in the world but away from evil and to strengthen us to bear temptations,(tribulations) not for us to escape from the world in order to escape these things.Hence to be kept from the hour of temptation is to be enabled by God to bear it.To use the promise to the Church at Philadelphia as a support for a rapture before tribulation is misleading as this promise was made to a Church in Asia in the first century.Also the Church at Smyrna was told to expect tribulation.[See, Revelation 2:9,10]
The reason the Church at Philadelphia was singled out is because of the theory that the 7 Churches in Revelation refer to 7 historical stages in the Church's existence up to the coming of Christ.The Church of Philadelphia was thought to have existed in the 1800s and hence some persons taught that this was the time that the Church would be raptured.One writer of the time asserted that the Lord Himself is on the very eve of coming and that He should be expected every moment.Obviously this expected,imminent return of the Lord did not occur and apparently it was not even considered that,in putting forward such a theory,the Laodicean Church would have been left out of the rapture. It is theorised that we are now in the Laodicean stage by many who support the Church age theory and hence either the rapture has already occurred or the use of the promise to the Church at Philadelphia to support the Rapture/tribulation theory is totally out of line and was/is misleading.
The power of God to protect His people in any situation is clearly established in the scriptures and to ascribe to this reason of protection as a supporting argument for the Church to be secretly raptured before tribulations,perplexities and distress is denigrating to the power of God.The experiences of Israel in Egypt and Daniel and his colleagues in Babylon are legendary and shows how great God is at protecting His people.[See,Exodus 8:22,23;9:4,25,26;10:21-23;12:12,13;Daniel 3:19-28;6:16-24;
Ezekiel 9:1-6;I Peter 4:17;Revelation 7:1-3]
The Psalms which many use to call upon God for protection are looking forward to the times of trouble which will come upon the earth.
"A thousand shall fall at thy side,and ten thousand at thy right hand;but
it shall not come nigh thee....there shall no evil befall thee,neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.For He shall give His angels charge over thee,to keep thee in all thy ways."[Psalm 91:7,10,11;See,Psalm 91:7-16;46:1-11;Luke 21:25,26;Revelation 6:12-17]
N.B. The wrath spoken of, that is not for Christians,speak of the judgements of God and are not to be equated with tribulations.[See,II Thessalonians 1:7-9;Romans 2:8,9;Daniel 12:2;II Peter 2:9-15]
The Scriptures speak of Jesus coming with thousands of His saints,[Jude :14;I Thessalonians 3:13] and because of this, many claim Jesus must have come for His saints before He comes with His saints and hence this is another factor which proves the secret rapture then a 7 or 3 1/2 years tribulation for the world.But it is clear that in coming for His saints and then coming with His saints there is no time period mentioned and in fact it would not take 7 nor 3 1/2 years for the Lord to come with His saints after they had been caught up to meet Him,if the plain teaching about the nature of the Lord's coming is not ignored.The Lord will not come to the earth for the saints ,as they will be caught up into the air to meet Him.
"...and the dead in Christ shall rise first:Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet he Lord
in the air;and so shall we ever be with he Lord."[I Thessalonians 4:16,17]
Hence the dead in Christ, when resurrected, will meet the Lord on His journey towards the earth.The saints who are alive will be caught up to meet the Lord and the saints previously caught up.Hence those now being caught up will see the Lord coming with His saints.Those persons who remain on the earth will then also see the Lord
coming with all His saints ie., He; "..
cometh with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgement upon all..."[Jude:14,15]
Hence it is like a father returning home from work.He is me by one of his children 50 metres from home.(dead in christ)Another child runs to meet the father also,(they that are alive) and sees him coming with the first child,(the Lord and His saints) and joins them 40 metres from home.As the father and the two children(the Lord and all His saints) are about to reach home a third child would see them coming as he stands at the door.
It is clear that no tribulation period is needed for this to happen,
and the time between the saints being caught up and their coming with the Lord,is the time taken to journey to the earth, after the saints had met him in the sky.
The book of Revelation speaks clearly of the Lord Jesus' coming and of His bride being prepared to meet Him and also of the call to the marriage supper of the lamb,which represents the Church being called to Christ.[Ephesians 5:22-32;II Corinthians 11:2;
Hosea 2:19,20;Revelation 19:5-16]
Many persons ignore this allusion to the Church being called to meet the Lord and instead point to other passages in which they claim the Church is raptured,apparently straight up to the throne of God,although the scriptures speak of Christ coming for the Church.[I Thessalonians 4:16,17;Matthew 25:1-13;Matthew 22:2-14]
In order to escape the judgements/tribulations described in the book of Revelation,the rapture of the Church is said to take place at the moment John is told to, "come up hither".[Revelation 4:1]The 24 elders in this passage are said to represent the Church.Why would the 24 elders be used to represent the Church, when at another instant, the persons around the throne are numbered according to the amount present?[Revelation 4:1-5;7:9]Could the 24 elders be those who had been previously translated along with those resurrected after the resurrection of Christ?[Hebrews 11:5;II Kings 2:11;Matthew 27:52,53]
However,the apostle John was not actually caught up to heaven, but he was seeing these things in a vision, much in the same manner of Ezekiel, as he had similar visions about the throne of God.[Ezekiel 1:1,26-28;8:1-4;11:1-5;40:2,3;Daniel 8:1,2,27]
"...and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven,
and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem,to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north..."[Ezekiel 8:3]
It is not even considered by those who propose this theory that, in Revelation 17:1-3 John is told to come hither again, and is brought into the wilderness.Does this mean John (or the Church) was de-raptured?
The major reason, however, why this theory is not sustained by the book of Revelation,is because if this should be true, then the entire aim of the book would have been defeated.John told us the book was:
"The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto Him to show His servants things which must shortly come to pass:...blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy,and keep those things which are written therein:for the time is at hand."[Revelation 1:1-3]
This book is for the Church,not for the world and hence if the Church is raptured before the fullness of the prophecy has begun;then for what purpose was it given?Some may say it is only the messages to the 7 Churches which is relevant to Christians,but the angel of God ensured that we do not come to a wrong conclusion,as at the end of the book he said:
"...These sayings are faithful and true.And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel
to shew unto His servants the things which must shortly be done.Behold I come quickly:
Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book."[Revelation 22:6,7]
The Lord himself supports the angel:
"I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify
unto you these things in the Churches..."[Revelation 22:16]
Not just a portion of the book pertains to Christians,but all,and hence those who ignore certain portions of the book and say they pertain to Israel, or to some time after the "Church age",do so at their own peril.
To be continued,
safswan.