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Biblical Rapture: Pre-Wrath
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The Shepherd of Hermas (95-150)
"You have escaped from the great tribulation on account of your faith, and because you did not doubt in the presence of such a beast. Go, therefore, and tell the elect of the Lord His mighty deeds, and say to them that this beast is a type of the great tribulation that is coming. If then ye prepare yourselves, and repent with all your heart, and turn to the Lord, it will be possible for you to escape it, if your heart be pure and spotless, and ye spend the rest of the days of your life serving the Lord blamelessly."
Victorinus ( Well known by 270 and died in 303 A.D.)
"And the heaven withdrew as a scroll that is rolled up." For the heaven to be rolled away, that is, that the Church shall be taken away. "And every mountain and the islands removed from their places intimate that in the last persecution all men departed from their places; that is, that the good will be removed, seeking to avoid persecution.
Victorinus refered to the tribulation as "the persecution." Notice he stated that this removal of the good is in context of the "last" persecution, what we would call the great tribulation.
Later, Increase Mather, pastor, scholar, and first President of Harvard College, stated:
"...that the saints would be caught up into the air beforehand, thereby escaping the final conflagration."
John Gill (1748)
"...He'll stay in the air, and His saints shall meet Him there, and whom He'll take up with Him into the third heaven, till the general conflagration and burning of the world is over, and to preserve them from it...."
None of these early writers described a pre-trib rapture dispite the attempts of those who support that view to claim they do.
The teaching of the Pre-Trib rapture is relatively new. You cannot find sufficient teaching on the pre-trib rapture prior to the early 1800's. Those who teach the Pre-Trib rapture can only lend a few ambiguous quotes supporting the Pre-Trib theory. In the early 1800's a young lady from Scotland, Margaret Macdonald, claimed she saw the Pre-Trib rapture in scripture and began teaching it to those around her. In the same timeframe (1825-1830) Plymoth Brethren pastor, Edward Irving, began teaching a Pre-Trib rapture. It slowly spread among the Plymoth Brethren and eventually made it's way into the Dallas Theological Seminary through the very dispensationalist teacher, C.I. Scofield. From there the teaching picked up steam as it spread through evangelical churches across the land.
In the late 1960's and in the early 1970's this teaching became sensationalized by prophecy conferences, television programs, books, and movies. Again we have seen the media play a major part in promoting this theory with the popular, 'Left Behind,' series of books, radio productions, and movie. You can be sure, the media will never teach the pure truth of God, especially if it means that American Christians will have to go through some of the tribulation just as the persecuted church goes through EVERY DAY.
So, what does this mean, Pre-Wrath Rapture? The end times will find the church in the tribulation period. God has never said Chritians would escape persecution or tribulation, but actually stated otherwise. Notice:
John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Acts 14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
2Cor. 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
But, God has promised that he would not subject believers to wrath,
1Thess 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
1Thess 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Before the time of Jacob's Trouble, the pouring out of God's wrath, Jesus will catch away (rapture) the believers, at the seventh (last) trump of the Revelation. This will be the end of the times of the Gentiles, the end of the mystery, the New Testament Bride of Christ, the church.
Rom 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rev 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
When the Gentile era is complete, and the mystery of the New Testament church has been finished, the Lord will catch his bride away in the rapture. The Old Testament records this event also. Notice what the Lord said through the prophet Isaiah:
Isaiah 26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
Isaiah 26:20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
Isaiah 26:21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
Notice that God's people, dead saints, and living are called out and told to enter into their chambers until the indignation be overpast. Did Jesus teach this?
John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
John 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also.
The Lord prepared a place for us and will call his children out as he prepares for the Great Day of the Lord, Armageddon. This time of God's wrath is a short time. Zechariah the prophet spoke of the brevity of this time.
Zec 11:8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.
Paul made it clear when the rapture would be, he said it would be at the last trump. If we will just compare scripture with scripture we will find that trumpet.
1Cor. 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Cor. 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.
1Thess 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Thess 4:16 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:
1Thess 4:17 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.
It only makes sense, if Paul said the rapture would be at the last trump, we should look in the Revelation for the last trump. We know of seven trumpets listed in the Revelation, and logic proves you have to have more than one for one to be refered to as the last trump. John recorded:
Rev 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
This same event is described in Rev. 14:14-16 and is refered to as the first harvest, notice:
Rev 14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
Rev 14:15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
Rev 14:16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
This is not to be mistaken for the "second harvest," because that is refered to the gathering of the grapes of wrath.
Rev 14:17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
Rev 14:18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
Rev 14:19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Rev 14:20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
This is the time of God's wrath.
So you see, there is no rapture at the beginning of the tribulation. The actual mark of the beginning of the tribulation is as follows:
2Thess. 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and [by] our gathering together unto him,
2Thess 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.
2Thess 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: [that day shall not come],except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Most pre-trib teaching places these events after the rapture, but this is not so. The bible clearly tells us that there will be a "falling away" first, then "the man of sin will be revealed."
This is going to deceive the shallow professors who know not Christ, and stun the true believers who have put all their stock in the pre-trib rapture. It does not take a great theologian to see that the falling away is happening now all around us. Most reading this have received invitations to "new churches" openning in their area offering a gospel without repentance, a security without change, and entertainment just like the world. The early church would have no problem calling this apostacy, why don't we?
I will be developing this page further shortly.
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