TheosGuy

Following are several arguments for the pretribulational rapture of the Church. They are my notes from J. Dwight Pentecost’s Things to Come.

1. The literal method of hermeneutics.
2. The nature of the 70th Week of Daniel.
3. The scope of the 70th Week of Daniel.
4. The purpose of the 70th Week of Daniel.
1. To keep the Church from the hour of temptation, as opposed to keeping her through it.
2. To prepare Israel for the return of their King.
5. The unity of the 70th Week of Daniel.
6. The nature of the Church.
7. The Church as a mystery.
8. The distinctions between Israel and the Church.
9. The doctrine of imminence.
10. The work of the Restrainer in 2 Thessalonians 2.
11. The necessity of an interval.
12. The distinction between the rapture and the Second Coming.
13. The twenty-four elders in Revelation.
14. The problem behind 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
15. The announcement of peace and safety.
16. The relation of the Church to governments.
17. The silence concerning the Tribulation in the Epistles.
18. The message of the Two Witnesses.
19. The destiny of the Church.
20. The message to Laodicea.
21. The times of the Gentiles.
22. The sealed 144,000 from Israel.
23. The chronology of the Book of Revelation.
24. The great object of Satanic attack.
25. The apostacy of the period.

Tags: Rapture

Pre-tribulationists are just “escapists” is often the cry. Yes! In Luke 21:36 Jesus in fact admonishes us,

Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. (Luke 21:36)

Jesus is telling us to pray to escape the tribulation, which He had just described. Why would He tell us to do this if in fact we could not escape it? He would not! So it is possible to escape the tribulation period.

Tags: End Times, Rapture

There are some who say that the rapture and the Second Coming in Glory (the Glorious Appearance) are the same event. They say the first half of the this same event is when He is coming for His saints (i.e., the rapture) and it happens halfway down from Heaven to earth. Then Christ continues, coming with His saints to the earth (i.e., the Glorious Appearance). This is to somehow explain away the different Scriptures that state He is coming with His saints and others that say He is coming for His saints.

However, this theory would seem to be refuted by Revelation 19. Revelation 19:14 tells us that Jesus’ Second Coming in Glory is accompanied by armies in fine white linen. Who are these armies? Revelation 19:8 states that the fine white linen is the righteous work of the saints. So these armies are the believers (both those who have slept and been raptured). Why does it have to be both sets of saints, because in Revelation 19:7-8, it tells us that this group of saints are the Bride of Christ.

This refutes the idea of just one event split in half, because the saints, who are the Bride of Christ, begin with Christ in heaven prior to the coming in glory. The saints are already with Christ in heaven, because the rapture occurred prior to the Second Coming in Glory.

Tags: End Times, Rapture