Yes the Rapture will happen...but When?

As owner and developer of the 4 Gospels Christian Network I am sometimes reluctant to post things that may be controversial. This has opened my eyes to something that has bothered me for some time. Many of our church leaders may also be victims of the same reluctance.

I was raised believing in something that was taught to me by men of faith. I respected these men for their call to preach the Gospel and still do. For many years I believed that in the end days His church would be taken out of this world before the great tribulation period. I believed it 100%, I had no doubts. One day a few years back I was ask by someone to show them scripture that supported the pre-trib rapture belief. When asked I first thought that this would be easy. After all it is being taught from the pulpits of America every day by men of faith. But not really, some simply avoid the subject the way I have. The Rapture WILL happen. The question is when?

I began to study scripture searching for the proof of a pre-trib Rapture. I studied all scriptures pertaining to the Rapture of the church. I just thought you may be interested in the results of the study. Please read all that is written here.

Any serious study of the Rapture must start with the verses in 1 Th 4:13-18.

1 Th 4:13-18
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
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.
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:
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.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
KJV

The event described here by Paul is an event that WILL happen. It doesn’t matter what you call it. This event will happen. And nothing in this scripture suggest a silent…in secret event!

• Paul talks about those that “sleep in Jesus” and “dead in Christ”
• Paul talks about “we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord”
• “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout”
• “with the voice of the archangel’
• “with the trump, (which is the last trumpet, 1 Cor. 15:52) of God”
• “the dead in Christ shall rise first”
• “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air”

It doesn’t matter when you believe this tribulation begins, it ends for His church at the event described in 1 TH 4:13-18, “and so shall we ever be with the Lord”. So, when is this event going to happen, (not the date on the calendar but the timing of the event in relation to other events)?

The scriptures of 1 TH 4:13-18, do not say much about the timing but they do give us important clues. There will be a resurrection.

• The scriptures here talk about a resurrection of the dead in Christ.
• It plainly says this resurrection will happen first. It will precede the ones alive being caught up.

When does the Bible speak about the “First Resurrection”?

Rv 7:9
9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
KJV

Rv 7:13- 14
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
KJV

Here John is witnessing the after effects of the rapture; he is seeing the results of it, (Paul saw it). However, a question is asked and the elder answers John by saying, “These are they which came out of great tribulation”

Rev 20:4-6
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
KJV

Here again, in these scriptures, John is seeing the results of the “first resurrection” not the actual resurrection, (Paul saw it). But he described the souls as “souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands” At this point John has witnessed the results of all that were part of the “first resurrection”, then he gives it a name, “This is the first resurrection.” If this is the first resurrection then there has not been another before it.


Mt 24:29-31
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
KJV

His second coming:

Rv 16:15
15 Behold, I come as a thief . Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
KJV

1 TH 5:2-6
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
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.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
KJV

He will come as a “thief in the night”, without warning to the lost. We should “not sleep…watch and be sober”. If the gathering up of his elect was done at anytime before His Second Coming, His Second Coming would not be a surprise. People disappearing from cars, a church pew, even unborn children from wombs is not going to be something that will be secret and unnoticed. A thief does not call you on the phone and warn you that he will be breaking into your house soon.

Rv 19:11-14
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. (power and glory)
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
KJV

The marriage of the lamb:

Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come (the time is at hand), and his wife hath made herself ready( by withstanding the fiery darts of Satan…Eph 6:11-17).
Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Why is it so hard for the human mind to believe that our God that created heaven and earth by His spoken word, can not Rapture His church, prepare them for battle, and clothe them in white linen in a twinkling of an eye?

When you put all the scriptures together they describe the events below.

• “Immediately after the tribulation of those days” (Mat 24:29)
• “the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready” (Rev 19:7)
• And “called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev 19:9)
• ‘And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven” (Mat 24:30)
• “with the trump, (which is the last trumpet, 1 Cor. 15:52) of God”
• “the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Th 4:16)
• “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air”, (1Th 4:17)
• “corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality”, (1 Cor. 15:54)
• “she should be arrayed in fine linen” (Rev 19:8)
• “heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war…And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”, Rv 19:11-14)
• All this “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”, (1 Cor 15:52). “As thief in the night.” (1 TH 5:2)
• Satan and his army will be caught unaware. They are totally defenseless against an army of immortals. They are easily defeated.
• “And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; 18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.” Rev 19:17-18.
• “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet…These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.” (Rv 19:20)
• “and so shall we ever be with the Lord”, (1Th 4:17)

“There exists at least one 18th century and two 19th century Pre-Tribulation references, in a book published in 1788, in the writings of a Catholic priest Emmanuel Lacunza in 1812, and by John Darby himself in 1827. However, both the book published in 1788 and the writings of Lacunza have opposing views regarding their interpretations, as well.

The rise in belief in the "Pre-Tribulation" rapture is sometimes attributed to a 15-year old Scottish-Irish girl named Margaret MacDonald (a follower of Edward Irving), who in 1830 had a vision that was later published in 1861.” (Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Macdonald_%28Prophecy%29

The link above goes to an article in Wikipedia that contains the text of Margaret’s letter about her vision. I actually could not really see anything in the letter that would clearly described a pre tribulation rapture of the Church. Actually quite the contrary, I found the statements listed below:
• “This is the fiery trial which is to try us. --- It will be for the purging and purifying of the real members of the body of Jesus; but Oh it will be a fiery trial. Every soul will be shaken to the very centre. The enemy will try to shake in every thing we have believed”
• “Now shall the awful sight of a false Christ be seen on this earth, and nothing but the living Christ in us can detect this awful attempt of the enemy to deceive.”
• “The trial of the Church is from Antichrist. It is by being filled with the Spirit that we shall be kept.”

What confused me after reading Margaret’s letter is that it actually didn’t seem to indicate that the church would be Raptured before the tribulation. The letter did speak of us meeting Christ in the air, but it went on to describe the church being here during the tribulation. She did describe what the sign of the coming of the Son of God would be like. But she never indicated that we would be taken away before the tribulation. It makes me think that it really wasn’t her vision so much as it was the interpretation of it that vision.

This, (not scripture) gave birth to the pre-trib Rapture doctrine. The person who interpreted her letter must have already believed the pre-trib doctrine before they read it. Then twisted her vision to fit in the same way the scriptures have been twisted.

The pre tribulation belief of the Rapture of the church sells a lot of books and Hollywood loves it, but is it really scriptural.

Some say it doesn’t matter when it happens because I’m a believer and will be a part of it whenever it happens. However, what you believe about the timing could effect how you prepare spiritually. I’ll give an example.

If a recruit enters army boot camp today he knows there is a very good chance of being sent to Iraq as soon as he completes his training. Therefore he will take his training more seriously and prepare himself as well as he can for what he is likely to face soon.

However; a recruit going through boot camp in peace time will possibly not take his training as serious. Then if he is suddenly unexpectedly caught up in a war soon after he completes boot camp, he may fail to meet the challenge of his trials.

Satan will use any trick he can to put us in a vulnerable position. The recent events around the world are with out a doubt related to end-time prophecy. If the pre-trib Rapture fabrication is actually true, then the rapture should have already happened. Many world events match the prophecies of the tribulation.