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The Position Of The Promised Rapture
The rapture of the church of Jesus Christ is a future event that is clearly set forth in such Bible passages as I Corinthians 15:50-54 and I Thessalonians 4:13-18. From these and other related Scriptural materials five basic facts about the position of the promised rapture are made known:
1. The rapture takes place at the sounding of the seventh, or "last" trumpet. Please read I Corinthians 15:51-52; I Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 10:7; and Revelation 11:15-18. Also, please note that no mention of any "seven year" time frame period is mentioned in any of these four passages. This is important to consider because so many modern end-time Bible prophecy theorists believe and teach that the rapture happens at the beginning of a future seven year great tribulation period. Since the New Testament never once mentions the existence of any such future seven year period of time to start with, how do they really know that? Honestly, friends, they don't know it from the New Testament. They think they know it based only on a surmise derived from somewhere outside the New Testament. Since all agree that Christian doctrines should be based squarely on the plain statements of the New Testament, this does indeed present a credibility problem for those who wish to based their theology on the Bible. Please read our "outlines" subject post The Length Of The Last Tribulation for more details.
2. The rapture of the church takes place "at the last day," not 1,007, 1,003 and 1/2, or even 1,000 years before that day arrives. Please read John 6:39-40, 44, 54; 11:23; and 12:48. Here is the simple logic: if "last" literally means "last," then what further measure of time can there possibly be after "the last day"? Yet Jesus places the resurrection of his followers clearly at this specified time, according to John's gospel. Dispensationalists claim that they interpret the Bible literally. Yet Jesus' plain and multiple statements that the rapture happens "at the last day" they refuse to take literally. Why? Because to do so would obviously pull the plug on their preconceived theory, that is why. Dispensationalists only take Scripture literally when they can twist it to agree with John Nelson Darby's Johnny-come-lately nineteenth century theory. When the plain literal statements of Scripture contradict Darby's theory, however, they are quite willing to ignore them every time. This is not honest Biblical interpretation, friends, so please don't be fooled by such false teacher's pretensions.
3. The rapture of the church comes after, not before, the tribulation has ended. Please read Matthew 24:29-32; Mark 13:24-27; and Luke 21:25-28. Again, please note that no seven year period of time is mentioned in any of these three passage. So how can folks teach a pre-seven year tribulation rapture of the church based on these texts that plainly talk about the Lord's coming "after" the tribulation?
4. The rapture of the church is one aspect of the general resurrection of all the dead that take place at the second coming of Jesus Christ. Please read Acts 24:14-15 and John 5:28-29. These texts are talking abut one resurrection event that issues in two separate eternal destinations, and not two resurrection events separated by 1,007, 1003 and 1/2, or even 1,000 years. None of these separating time frame indicators are mention in either of these texts. The attempt to differentiate between the so-called rapture and the so-called revelation is comparable to the case of the identical twins. One must be able to see both twins together in the same place at the same time in order to positively distinguish between them. Nowhere in the New Testament does the rapture and the revelation ever appear in full view together, side by side, in any one single contiguous passage of Scripture, so that we can actually tell that they were meant to be two separate distinct entities, and not merely one and the same event. The upshot of all this discussion is simply this: please don't be fooled by dispensational shallow thinkers and false teachers, who are always trying to posit a tribulation time frame of some kind between the rapture and the revelation, when, in fact, in no text of Scripture that they can produce does any such an intervening time frame period actually exist.This is not sound biblical interpretation, friends, it is pure fakery, and a handling of the Word of God deceitfully. The interpreter is reading his or her own preconceived idea into the text, and not listening to what the text itself actually has to say. Where does the New Testament ever mention a future seven year period of time with a "rapture" and a "revelation" clearly distinguishable on either side of that period? The simple fact of the matter is that it doesn't. So those who teach a "split-up" of the second coming into two or MORE stages, as in RAPTURE versus REVELATION, with some imagined intervening time frame sandwiched between them, are plainly teaching semantic delusionalism. End of story.
5. The resurrection/rapture event issues immediately in the great white throne judgment scene. Please read Matthew 25:31-46 and Revelation 20:11-15. Both of these texts describe what happens at the second coming of Jesus Christ. Both are clear to tells us that all the dead are raised, gathered before the throne of Christ, and judged together at one time--a time that comes "at the last trump," "at the last day," and "immediately after the tribulation of those days."
For more information on the position of the promised rapture please read the following articles posted on this site: