Well said. I thought I would add this as it's the real origin of the pre-trib rapture:
1Th 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
He shouldn't even have to speak of these things because he would have told them in person when he was with them but for some reason he decides in fact to re-tell them this:
1Th 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
This is it. The idea that Christ could come suddenly without any warning before the tribulation and Antichrist etc is what started the Pre-trib concept. This one sentence will be misunderstood and the idea that Christ could come at any time, even before the tribulation happens, is born. The facts are that Christ cannot and will not just suddenly appear because there are major events that have to take place first before he arrives but those who are unsaved and spirtually blind won't know this and so the second coming will surprise them without warning as a thief in the night but not those who are awake and watching for the right signs.
1Th 5:3 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.
1Th 5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
And this is the part that was missed or ignored. Christ only comes suddenly, without any warning to those who are deceived, in darkness, and are worshiping a false god in the tribulation. Christ's actual appearance will be sudden and shocking to them! But not to us!
1Th 5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
1Th 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
1Th 5:7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night
So the confusion about Christ appearing suddenly at any moment reached Paul and he wrote a second letter to explain what he meant in the first one!
2Th 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2Th 2:2 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.
He is saying DO NOT BE WORRIED THAT CHRIST CAN JUST SUDDENLY RETURN AND SURPRISE YOU!
Look at his words:
1. by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
That is the second coming!
2. and by our gathering together unto him
That is the rapture!
3. 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.
Don't be worried that the second coming and the rapture "is at hand" meaning they could happen right away instead of after the tribulation as Christ said in the gospels.
2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
There are major things that happen first which will let the faithful know the return of Christ is soon! That is mainly the Tribulation and Apostasy where essentially the whole world, all religions and even Atheists, will believe in this person who will claim and seem to be God! I believe he will claim to be Jesus Christ leading so many astray.
So Paul has just said don't be worried that the second coming and rapture can happen before the tribulation and the Apostasy led by the Antichrist! IE: a pre-trib rapture is not true, right from the mouth of Paul himself.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
Now he has to remind them...but some will never let go of this "any moment" doctrine that Christ can return suddenly to "rapture the Church away".
The doctrine of the rapture pre-trib is linked with other future Bible prophecies. The 7 year tribulation with the rise of Antichrist and the middle of the week the abomination of desolation is set up and the mark of the beast enforced. The various judgments coming down along with the two prophets doing their thing too. Eventually we have Armageddon at which time Jesus returns with all his saints and Satan is bound for 1000 years and Christ reigns for 1000 years. The Bible gives the count down date from the abomination of desolation to the 2nd coming of Jesus. So how can this be like thief in the night? Many who refuse the rapture also embrace that Revelation was fulfilled in 70 AD and that the church has replaced Israel and that there is no millennium. There is much more scripture supporting the futurist view of the 7 year tribulation, and the millennium than there is on the rapture.
Mathew 24 they asked Jesus a question. Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what
will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
In Lukes account of Jesus answer speaking of the end of the age Jesus said 34 “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. 35 For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Mathew 24 he brings up this day as being related to Daniels prophecy about the abomination of desolation. If we are to pray we are counted worthy to escape and be standing before the son of man we are not on earth during this time that is if we were counted worthy. You see Daniel 9 focuses on the 70 th week being separate from the other 69 weeks. Dan 9
“And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it
shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
This prince to come is future and in the middle of the week the sacrifice is stopped. Was this 70AD? Dan further says
5 Then I, Daniel, looked; and there stood two others, one on this riverbank and the other on that riverbank. 6 And
one said to the man clothed in linen, who
was above the waters of the river, “How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders
be?”
7 Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who
was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that
it shall be for a time, times, and half
a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these
things shall be finished.
8 Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, “My lord, what
shall be the end of these
things?”
9 And he said, “Go
your way, Daniel, for the words
are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10 Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.
11 “And from the time
that the daily
sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up,
there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed
is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.
13 “But you, go
your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.”
You see nothing happened in 70AD when the sacrifice was taken away. The abomination of desolation is still future. Hosea reminds us that the return of the sacrifice is related to the second coming and the beginning of the kingdom age.
4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or
sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days.
It is significant that Israel has prepared everything necessary to resume the daily sacrifices not done since 70AD. The tribulation is near and many do not believe we are heading towards this very destiny. Rapture or not we all share the same gospel and in that is the central message.
