Dear Saints, I wish to present you with a different look of the second coming of our Lord, or what has become the rapture of the Church. Due to its length, I will probably have to list it under parts on and two. Thanks
INTRODUCTION
Revelation 1:1. "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John." This is saying the Father gave Jesus "The revealing of Jesus" to show His servants (us) things which must shortly come to pass. Then Jesus sent His angel to show it to His servant, the Apostle John. Now, to help us understand coming events it will be necessary to understand who or what this angel is. And to fully understand your opinions I must ask who you think this angel is. Many times we build our doctrines without taking things like this into the equation.
One other thing to consider is the time the Apostle John received this revelation. I have no idea when John received this book of Revelation, but I have the date of the writing of it as 95 A.D. Wikipedia Encyclopedia tells us that John returned to Jerusalem for the Apostolic Council in about 51 A.D. Sometime after that in
Revelation 1:9 we find that he is confined to the Isle of Patmos for testifying of the word of God, and Jesus Christ. Thus things shortly to come to pass must happen after that time.
I want to begin by showing you how doctrines of a pre-tribulation rapture are built, and how scripture is aligned with that. If I just go ahead and tell you that the bride of Christ is the four beasts of
Revelation 4:6, I might as well ask you now how that can be, and since you know Revelation you can tell me. If all you want is someone to tell you that they believe in the pre-tribulation or post-tribulation rapture of the Church without hearing what they have to say so you can then claim it isn't true, have at it. One other thing, I do not want to go into the argument that there are no seven years of tribulation because that has been debated over and over on different threads. This post is showing scriptures based upon seven years of tribulation yet to come upon the world.
Without scripture if I say there is a rapture of the 24 elders, you won't believe it, if I tell you there is a rapture of the great multitude that will be servants, you won't believe it, and then that there is a rapture of the 144,000, I reckon you don't believe that also. In the book of Revelation in Chapter 4 we see the 24 elders and the four beasts with Jesus in heaven; how did they get there? In Revelation Chapter 7, John sees the great multitude in heaven; how'd they get there? In Revelation Chapter 14 there are 144,000 with the Lamb singing a new song before the throne. Where's the throne, and then how'd they get there? Brethren, without ears to hear and rightly dividing the word of truth you will always have trouble understanding these things and be challenging them.
I will set up my views of a pre-tribulation rapture, though I am not limited to pre-tribulation rapture only, but I will present these scriptures and thoughts first. Next, I am not here to argue or fight with anyone, but will attempt to answer your questions, or give opposing scripture and views if helpful to interpretation, and above all to glorify God.
1 Corinthians 15:52. "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." The thing I want to see here is that if there is a last trump, we can assume there are prior trumps. Notice and keep in mind that this verse does not mention any alive being raised; only the dead in Christ. For those not familiar with the term rapture, this word "raised" or in other places "caught up" is what we're talking about. Another thing about this is that this fits the being raised at the end time where death has been done away with, and
1 Corinthians 15:55 says; "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" And that's because we also read in
Revelation 20:14 where death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is truly a post-tribulation rapture. Notice one other thing about this verse is that we do not see The Lord descending from heaven here.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. "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." Here again in this verse we read of the dead in Christ being raised, but in the very next verse we read 17 "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Are there any that doubt that these verses in
1 Corinthians 15:52, and
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 present two different events?
And last in this introduction let's look at this.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-2. "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." But we read in
Revelation 1:7. "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." Now do these two verses contradict one another? If there is but one rapture, how is it that Jesus appears as a thief in the night to one company of saints, and then in another appearance He comes where all eyes shall see Him. One last thought here is that if there is more that one rapture, there ought to be scripture showing it, and I hope to bring those out.
09-10-2008, 09:12 PM
Pre-Trib Rapture & Ranks of the Resurrection - Part One
