The
Pre-Tribulation Rapture Teaching --- Why I Question it.
The following are some
reasons which cause me to question the pre-tribulation rapture teaching:
1. Jesus said the wheat and the weeds (tares)
are to grow up together until the harvest (Matthew 13:30). Jesus defined the timing of the harvest as
the end of the age (Matthew 13:39, 49).
He not only presented the parable, but He explained it. I don’t understand how anyone could think
that this simple teaching of Jesus can be overruled by a teaching that says in
exact opposite that the wheat and the tares do not have to grow up together
until the harvest. Why do we concoct
elaborate teachings that attempt to prove what Jesus said does not apply to us?
2. Jesus said those of His disciples who endure
to the end will be saved. The end He
was talking about was the end of the age, because His disciples were asking Him
what would be the sign of His coming and of the end of the age (Matthew 24:13).
3. Jesus warned His disciples that they would
“see” the antichrist (Matthew 24:15).
4. Jesus said that “after the tribulation of
those days”, He would gather His elect. The elect are defined not as natural
Israel, but as the elect and chosen in Christ (Matthew 24:29, Romans 11:7). Elect and chosen are from the same Greek
root word. So when we read of the
“elect” and the “chosen” in the gospels, we are not reading about natural Israel
but we are reading about the elect and chosen in Christ, a new creation of Jew
and Gentile. And when we read of His
warnings to His disciples (His elect), we know we are not reading teachings
directed to natural Israel but to His elect.
What then? What Israel is
seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and
the rest were hardened (Romans 11:7).
5. Jesus said the great tribulation would be
cut short for the sake of the elect --- not for the sake of Israel --- but for
the sake of the elect. (Matthew 24:22).
It is cut short for the elect because they are in the great tribulation.
6. The harvest is presented in the book of
Revelation as taking place just before the final bowls of God’s wrath are
poured out. This agrees with Paul’s
teaching that our gathering would take place at the last trumpet, and that we
would be rescued just before God’s wrath is poured out. The Bible says Christians are not appointed
to wrath. The saints are seen in heaven
before the first bowl of wrath is poured out (Revelation 14:14-15:2).
7. Paul teaches that our gathering and rescue
would take place on the day of the Lord, and that day would not come until
after the abomination of desolation (the antichrist) is revealed (2
Thessalonians 2:1-5).
8. Peter teaches that we are to look forward to
the day of the Lord and speed its coming (2 Peter 3:10-12).
9. The day of the Lord is said to be coming
upon all those who dwell on the face of the earth. The things that we are counseled to escape are the bowls of wrath
of God which begin right after our rapture on the day of the Lord.
"Be
on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and
drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly
like a trap; for it will come upon all
those who dwell on the face of all the earth. "But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may
have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place,
and to stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:34-36)."
10. The church at Thyatira is told by Jesus that
those who do not repent will be thrown into great tribulation (Revelation
2:22). Clearly some of the church
enters into great tribulation. Jesus
will not allow any other conclusion.
11. Purified saints are seen coming out of Great
Tribulation. Out of great tribulation
comes a great multitude who have washed their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:9-15).
Some of these are surely members of the church at Thyatira.
12. Jesus warns His disciples that they will be
delivered into great tribulation (Matthew 24:9).
13. Saints are encouraged to endure and
persevere during the great tribulation reign of the antichrist (Revelation
13:10).
14. Saints are turned over to the antichrist
system for the last 3-1/2 years of the age (Revelation 13:5-7).
15. Saints overcome satan and his antichrist
system by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and by loving not
their lives unto death (Revelation 12:11).
16. The great tribulation, or the time of the
reign of antichrist, is portrayed in Revelation as a time of great battle
between satan and the saints of Christ (Revelation 12:17).
17. God’s eternal purpose in Christ and the
reason He created all things is to demonstrate His wisdom through the church
(Ephesians 3:9-11). This is what is
happening in Revelation chapters 6 though 19.
The final battle between good and evil is being fought between satan and
the church. This glorious destiny and
final victory cannot be fulfilled if the church is not present.
18. The book of Revelation is written to the
churches and for the churches (Revelation 1:4, 22:16). To argue that the church is not in view
because the word “church” is not used is to use an argument of silence. There are plenty of people groups in view in
Revelation 6 through 19 which fit the description of the church. They are identified by their relationship to
Jesus.
19. The bride is not ready until Revelation
19. This is after great tribulation and
after most of God’s wrath has already been poured out (Revelation 19:7). It has taken this long for her to get ready
because some of the bride was undergoing purification in great
tribulation. When these saints emerge
from great tribulation with their whitened robes, then they qualify as part of
the bride company.
20. Regarding the great commission, Jesus said
He would be with His disciples until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Consequently the Holy Spirit will be with
the disciples until the end of the age.
21. Jesus said on this earth we would have
tribulation and He counseled us to overcome through it (John 16:33; Revelation
1:9, 2:9-10; Romans 2:9, 5:3, 12:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:6).
22. Jesus asked the Father not to remove us from
the earth, but to protect us from the evil one (John 17:15, 2 Thessalonians
3:3).
23. The church at Philadelphia, which was
promised to be kept from the hour of testing, was not raptured. Being kept from the hour of testing does not
prove or even imply rapture (Revelation 3:10).
24. The souls of those who live during the reign
of the Antichrist and refuse his mark and are martyred for the witness of Jesus
and the word of God are raised at the first resurrection. And that first resurrection slightly
precedes the rapture of the living who joint the resurrected dead in the air.
“Then I saw thrones, and
they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of
their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not
worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead
and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand
years. The rest of the dead did not
come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first
resurrection. Blessed and holy is the
one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has
no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him
for a thousand years (Revelation 20:4-6).”