This has been posted before, but I made few modifications.
Ok, for starters, in Revelation in the letter to the church in Philadelphia Jesus says, Revelation 3:10 "Because you have kept my commands I will keep you from the hour of trial that will come upon the whole earth". The letter to the Philadelphia church is the only letter that has no words of condemnation only commendation. This is why scholars know them as the Faithful Church. The "hour of trial" is the tribulation period. If you read verse 8 of the same letter you see this, "I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an opened door, which no one can shut, because thou hast a little power, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name". This takes some connect the dots, so bear with me.
Remember, Philadelphia was the only Church with no harsh words directed at them, they are faithful. If you skip ahead to chapter 4 and verse 1 you would read this, Revelation 4:1 After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard as of a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show thee the things which must take place after these things. After this, the definitive statement. Remember, the FAITHFUL CHURCH, was told they had an open door in heaven. So after the voice from inside the door said Come up here John saw everything from then on from above the Earth. Implying that he was no longer on Earth, correct? John, St. John or John the Divine, it doesnt matter, John was the picture of the faithful. The phrase come up here, would signify, well, come up here. 95% of the Revelation of St. John is prophecy, so it is safe to say that come up here is a picture of the Rapture. Also, the term Rapture is never found in the Bible, but the term caught up is. Rapture means, to be caught up, so if St. John was told to come up here he was caught up.
The prophecies about the Rapture are not confined to Revelation or even the New Testament. But for now we will stay in the red words of Jesus. Matthew 24:38-41, For as they were in the days which were before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day on which Noah entered into the ark, and they knew not till the flood came and took all away; thus also shall be the coming of the Son of man. Then two shall be in the field, one is taken and one is left; two women grinding at the mill, one is taken and one is left. Watch therefore, for ye know not in what hour your Lord comes. We do not know when the Lord will come, but when he does come there will be two standing side by side, the one will look over and his friend will be gone. By Jesus saying it will be like in the days of Noah before the flood he implies there will be peace and happiness. With the Post and Mid-tribulation theory the tribulation starts first, so how could there be peace in the tribulation? The word tribulation is mentioned all throughout scripture and implies just what it says, tribulation. So, once again if there is great peace, and then 1 of 2 is gone, there must be a pre-Tribulation Rapture.
So we have looked at Revelation 1, 3 and 4, and also Matthew 24 and we see that there will be great peace and then there will be disappearances. A pitcher will pitch the ball to the batter, but before the ball reaches the plate the batter is gone, half the crowd is gone, the umpire is gone, and all hell breaks loose. Ok, so in Revelation 3 we see that the faithful have an open door in Heaven that no one can shut. Later in chapter four we see that a voice comes from an open door in Heaven saying, Come up here. And in Matthew 24 we see there will be peace and then we (believers) will be gone, so a post-tribulation rapture cannot fit. But this is not all.
Like I have said before, the prophecies of the rapture are not confined to the New Testament. They are all over the Hebrew Scriptures; the clearest one I have found is in Isaiah chapter 11. In Isaiah we will see that the Lord will set his hand and recover the remnant of his people. Isaiah 11:11-12 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to acquire 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 lift up a banner to the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Ok, in this verse we see that the Lord God will spread out his hand and recover the remnant of his people. Verse twelve of Isaiah is almost exactly what Revelation says, with the exception of small differences in wording.
Revelation 7:1-8 And after this I saw four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth, holding fast the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor upon any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the sunrising, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it had been given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, until we shall have sealed the bondmen of our God upon their foreheads. And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel: out of the tribe of Juda, twelve thousand sealed; out of the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Aser, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Nepthalim, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Zabulun, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand sealed. This is eerily similar to Isaiah 11:11-12. The outcast of Israel and Judah are gathered from the four corners of the earth by the four angels given charge over the elements. The angels will seal the believers on their forehead, I do not think they will convert them with there words. Most likely different preachers and evangelists will play a part in this. In both Isaiah and Revelation the dispersed are gathered from the four corners of the earth. I dont know if you see it, but I do.
The prophecies of the rapture can even bee seen as early as Genesis. In Genesis we see a man named Enoch, who is taken away by God into heaven. Genesis 5:24 And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methushelah. And Enoch walked with God after he had begotten Methushelah three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. We know from Revelation 3:8 that those who are faithful will be spared from the tribulation. Enoch walked with God, this implies he was a faithful man. Why would a genealogy mention a simple walk in the park with God and then just say God took him? This is a prophecy about how those who walk with God will be taken away into Heaven, the Rapture. As Revelation says in chapter 3, the faithful will be kept from the hour of trial, Enoch walked with God. He was faithful, I doubt he literally walked side by side with the King of The universe.
In the end times we can all agree that there will be an Anti-Christ. We also agree that there have been many anti-Christs. One of the biggest may well have been Hitler, but he was not THE anti-Christ. I say this in light of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-7, Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. Concerning our gathering to Christ Paul says that that day will not come until he is out of the way. The he the Paul speaks of is the Holy Spirit. We know this because the he spoken of restrains the lawless one, Anti-Christ. So if the HE restraining the lawless one has to be out of the way before the man of evil is revealed there must be something that would force the Holy Spirit out. We know God is all powerful and cannot be forced to do anything, so he would have to choose to take his Spirit out of the world. We also know that believers are filled with the Holy Spirit and have been since that day in the upper room. So if we are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and he must be out of the world before the Anti-Christ can be revealed, then we cannot be here. Also the order in which Paul lists the verses given is key. He says that the Holy Spirit must be removed then the anti-Christ will come and then Jesus will destroy anti-Christ with the breath of his mouth. This account perfectly matches the account given in Revelation 20:7-10, And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be loosed from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth, that is, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city; but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
1 Thessalonians 1:10, For they themselves report concerning us what a welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Paul was perhaps the most inspired person who ever lived, he says that Jesus will deliver us from the wrath to come. If Jesus were to leave us here during the Tribulation he would not be keeping his promise that he constantly made. We will be kept from the hour of trial that will come upon the whole earth. Jesus made a very comforting promise with a comparison to Noah. For as they were in the days which were before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day on which Noah entered into the ark, and they knew not till the flood came and took all away; thus also shall be the coming of the Son of man. Then two shall be in the field, one is taken and one is left; two women grinding at the mill, one is taken and one is left. Watch therefore, for ye know not in what hour your Lord comes. I received a comment on this verse that needed clarification. So to kill any confusion I will explain. The comment was made by ps139, he said, It seems Noah was the one left behind. I have since clarified this with him via PM. But the point I made to him was that the faithful will be spared the great wrath that will come upon the whole earth. The flood was meant to punish everyone who dwelt on the earth. Noah however found righteousness in Gods eye, as a reward he was spared the flood by a warning. Now although a warning is not a snatching up, it is helping to spare a person. As I have emphasized, Revelation chapter 3 says that those who are faithful will be spared the wrath. The example Jesus gave was that it will be like in the days of Noah. Peace then wrath. We can all agree that Noah was spared the wrath, we will receive the same reward. It is clear.
I have covered the clearest prophecies regarding the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. I have heard a few of the posters on this board say that God would test us by having us endure the tribulation. I tend to disagree based on the scriptures. I have heard that the prophecies have started to be fulfilled, this cannot be since the tribulation could not have begun. Why? The promises of God must take place and will take place, God promises us that we will be spared like Noah.
Ok, for starters, in Revelation in the letter to the church in Philadelphia Jesus says, Revelation 3:10 "Because you have kept my commands I will keep you from the hour of trial that will come upon the whole earth". The letter to the Philadelphia church is the only letter that has no words of condemnation only commendation. This is why scholars know them as the Faithful Church. The "hour of trial" is the tribulation period. If you read verse 8 of the same letter you see this, "I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an opened door, which no one can shut, because thou hast a little power, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name". This takes some connect the dots, so bear with me.
Remember, Philadelphia was the only Church with no harsh words directed at them, they are faithful. If you skip ahead to chapter 4 and verse 1 you would read this, Revelation 4:1 After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard as of a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show thee the things which must take place after these things. After this, the definitive statement. Remember, the FAITHFUL CHURCH, was told they had an open door in heaven. So after the voice from inside the door said Come up here John saw everything from then on from above the Earth. Implying that he was no longer on Earth, correct? John, St. John or John the Divine, it doesnt matter, John was the picture of the faithful. The phrase come up here, would signify, well, come up here. 95% of the Revelation of St. John is prophecy, so it is safe to say that come up here is a picture of the Rapture. Also, the term Rapture is never found in the Bible, but the term caught up is. Rapture means, to be caught up, so if St. John was told to come up here he was caught up.
The prophecies about the Rapture are not confined to Revelation or even the New Testament. But for now we will stay in the red words of Jesus. Matthew 24:38-41, For as they were in the days which were before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day on which Noah entered into the ark, and they knew not till the flood came and took all away; thus also shall be the coming of the Son of man. Then two shall be in the field, one is taken and one is left; two women grinding at the mill, one is taken and one is left. Watch therefore, for ye know not in what hour your Lord comes. We do not know when the Lord will come, but when he does come there will be two standing side by side, the one will look over and his friend will be gone. By Jesus saying it will be like in the days of Noah before the flood he implies there will be peace and happiness. With the Post and Mid-tribulation theory the tribulation starts first, so how could there be peace in the tribulation? The word tribulation is mentioned all throughout scripture and implies just what it says, tribulation. So, once again if there is great peace, and then 1 of 2 is gone, there must be a pre-Tribulation Rapture.
So we have looked at Revelation 1, 3 and 4, and also Matthew 24 and we see that there will be great peace and then there will be disappearances. A pitcher will pitch the ball to the batter, but before the ball reaches the plate the batter is gone, half the crowd is gone, the umpire is gone, and all hell breaks loose. Ok, so in Revelation 3 we see that the faithful have an open door in Heaven that no one can shut. Later in chapter four we see that a voice comes from an open door in Heaven saying, Come up here. And in Matthew 24 we see there will be peace and then we (believers) will be gone, so a post-tribulation rapture cannot fit. But this is not all.
Like I have said before, the prophecies of the rapture are not confined to the New Testament. They are all over the Hebrew Scriptures; the clearest one I have found is in Isaiah chapter 11. In Isaiah we will see that the Lord will set his hand and recover the remnant of his people. Isaiah 11:11-12 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to acquire 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 lift up a banner to the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Ok, in this verse we see that the Lord God will spread out his hand and recover the remnant of his people. Verse twelve of Isaiah is almost exactly what Revelation says, with the exception of small differences in wording.
Revelation 7:1-8 And after this I saw four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth, holding fast the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor upon any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the sunrising, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it had been given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, until we shall have sealed the bondmen of our God upon their foreheads. And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel: out of the tribe of Juda, twelve thousand sealed; out of the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Aser, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Nepthalim, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Zabulun, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand sealed. This is eerily similar to Isaiah 11:11-12. The outcast of Israel and Judah are gathered from the four corners of the earth by the four angels given charge over the elements. The angels will seal the believers on their forehead, I do not think they will convert them with there words. Most likely different preachers and evangelists will play a part in this. In both Isaiah and Revelation the dispersed are gathered from the four corners of the earth. I dont know if you see it, but I do.
The prophecies of the rapture can even bee seen as early as Genesis. In Genesis we see a man named Enoch, who is taken away by God into heaven. Genesis 5:24 And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methushelah. And Enoch walked with God after he had begotten Methushelah three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. We know from Revelation 3:8 that those who are faithful will be spared from the tribulation. Enoch walked with God, this implies he was a faithful man. Why would a genealogy mention a simple walk in the park with God and then just say God took him? This is a prophecy about how those who walk with God will be taken away into Heaven, the Rapture. As Revelation says in chapter 3, the faithful will be kept from the hour of trial, Enoch walked with God. He was faithful, I doubt he literally walked side by side with the King of The universe.
In the end times we can all agree that there will be an Anti-Christ. We also agree that there have been many anti-Christs. One of the biggest may well have been Hitler, but he was not THE anti-Christ. I say this in light of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-7, Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. Concerning our gathering to Christ Paul says that that day will not come until he is out of the way. The he the Paul speaks of is the Holy Spirit. We know this because the he spoken of restrains the lawless one, Anti-Christ. So if the HE restraining the lawless one has to be out of the way before the man of evil is revealed there must be something that would force the Holy Spirit out. We know God is all powerful and cannot be forced to do anything, so he would have to choose to take his Spirit out of the world. We also know that believers are filled with the Holy Spirit and have been since that day in the upper room. So if we are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and he must be out of the world before the Anti-Christ can be revealed, then we cannot be here. Also the order in which Paul lists the verses given is key. He says that the Holy Spirit must be removed then the anti-Christ will come and then Jesus will destroy anti-Christ with the breath of his mouth. This account perfectly matches the account given in Revelation 20:7-10, And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be loosed from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth, that is, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city; but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
1 Thessalonians 1:10, For they themselves report concerning us what a welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Paul was perhaps the most inspired person who ever lived, he says that Jesus will deliver us from the wrath to come. If Jesus were to leave us here during the Tribulation he would not be keeping his promise that he constantly made. We will be kept from the hour of trial that will come upon the whole earth. Jesus made a very comforting promise with a comparison to Noah. For as they were in the days which were before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day on which Noah entered into the ark, and they knew not till the flood came and took all away; thus also shall be the coming of the Son of man. Then two shall be in the field, one is taken and one is left; two women grinding at the mill, one is taken and one is left. Watch therefore, for ye know not in what hour your Lord comes. I received a comment on this verse that needed clarification. So to kill any confusion I will explain. The comment was made by ps139, he said, It seems Noah was the one left behind. I have since clarified this with him via PM. But the point I made to him was that the faithful will be spared the great wrath that will come upon the whole earth. The flood was meant to punish everyone who dwelt on the earth. Noah however found righteousness in Gods eye, as a reward he was spared the flood by a warning. Now although a warning is not a snatching up, it is helping to spare a person. As I have emphasized, Revelation chapter 3 says that those who are faithful will be spared the wrath. The example Jesus gave was that it will be like in the days of Noah. Peace then wrath. We can all agree that Noah was spared the wrath, we will receive the same reward. It is clear.
I have covered the clearest prophecies regarding the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. I have heard a few of the posters on this board say that God would test us by having us endure the tribulation. I tend to disagree based on the scriptures. I have heard that the prophecies have started to be fulfilled, this cannot be since the tribulation could not have begun. Why? The promises of God must take place and will take place, God promises us that we will be spared like Noah.