Defense of the Pre-Wrath Rapture

[iamlamad]

One of the biggest problems with the prewrath position is that this theory must rearrange much of the book of Revelation. They must put the days of great tribulaton before the church is seen in heaven in chapter 7. In other words, they SEPARATE the wrath of Satan and the wrath of God. The days of GT are the wrath of Satan and from chapter 6 onward, we see the wrath of God. (THEIR theory, not Paul's or John's)

 

How strange then, that John put the Beast that will cause those days of GT in chapter 13, far past chapter 6.

 

Why does prewrath rearrange much of Revelation? It is because of the signs in the sun and moon.

 

^{Joel 2:31} The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

 

^{Matt. 24:29} “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

 

So these cosmic signs must come immediatly after the tribulation of those days but come before the great Day of the Lord.

So where in Revelation do they see this?

 

^{Rev. 6:12} I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.

 

Therefore, prewrath MUST put the days of great tribulation before this verse in Rev. 6.

 

But, IS THIS THE INTENT OF THE AUTHOR?

 

Prewath went wrong in not identifying that these signs in the sun and moon HAPPEN TWICE, first as the sign of the Day of the Lord and next as the sign of Jesus coming, and they are different signs.

 

^{Joel 2:31} The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

 

The cosmic signs in this verse are CLEARLY identifying the coming of the DAY, and is a parallel to:

 

^{Rev. 6:12} I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.

 

Note here that in both verses the moon appears blood red. In the last verse pretaining to the 6th seal, John wrote, "the day of His wrath has come." It is clear that these two verses are speaking of the same event; the coming of the Day of the Lord.

 

Joel 3

¹⁵ The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness.
¹⁶ The Lord also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the Lord will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel.

 

Now, compare this verse with Matt. 24: In both of these verses, the Lord is coming back. In Joel He will roar from Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem. In Matthew they will SEE his coming. Also note that in NEITHER verse does the moon appear blood red. In both of these verses, the signs in the sun and moon are a warning of HIS COMING, not of the Day of the Lord.

 

Matt. 24

²⁹ “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

 

Knowing that these signs will appear twice, and be slightly different, there is NO NEED to rearrange Revelation.  The Day of the Lord will start right where John said it will, at the end of chapter 6. The 70th week actually begins with the 7th seal, and ends with the 7th vial, and the 7th trumpet marks the exact midpoint. So we see the trumpet judgements are in the first half of the week, and he vials of wrath in the last half of the week.

 

Where then, are the seals?

 

If we understand the CONTEXT of the first seal, it will show us where the seals are. If you notice in the vision of the throne room, when John first look, Jesus was NOT at the right hand of the Father, when we have a dozen verses telling us that is where He should be. This is clue #1. Next, we see a search was made for one worthy to break the seals, and that search ended IN FAILURE. That is why John was weeping much. "NO MAN was found." This is clue #2. Next, we see in chapter 4 that the Holy Spirit is there IN the throne room, when Jesus said He would send Him down as soon as He went up. So this is clue #3.

 

WHY was Jesus not there? WHY was "no man found?" WHY was the Holy Spirit still in the throne room? It is because JOhn was seeing a vision of the throne room BEFORE JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD. Jesus was not at the right hand of the Father, because He was on the earth. "NO man was found," because Jesus had not yet risen. And the Holy Spirit was there because Jesus had not risen and ascended to the throne.

 

Now, if we keep reading, ANOTHER search was started as soon as the one John watched had ended in failure. And this time A MAN WAS FOUND! Hallelujah! WHY success this time? Because Jesus had just RISEN from the dead, and was immediately found worthy, because He had conquered death and become the Redeemer. Then, as soon as Jesus finished telling Mary not to hold onto Him, He ascended, and John got to see in this vision the VERY SECOND Jesus entered the throne room. Notice that the instant He arrived the Holy Spirit was sent down. This proves the timing. It is the moment that Jesus ascended and the Holy Spirit was sent down.

 

What did Jesus do the moment He arrived? He took the scroll from the Father and began breaking the seals! Therefore, the first seals were broken about 32 AD. The first seal is to represent the CHURCH sent out to make disciples of all nations. OF COURSE this will need conquering and overcoming, for the nations belong to Satan. Then, the Red, the Black and the Pale ride together to STOP the advance of the church - but God limited their theater of operation to 1/4 of the earth. We can be sure, that 1/4 will be centered on Jerusalem. 

 

Finally we get to the 5th seal, the martyrs of the CHURCH AGE. It had to be broken early, for Stephen was one of the first martyrs, along with others that Paul put to death. They wanted to know how long it would be before their deaths would be avenged. Think for a moment: if these were 70th week martyrs, why would they ask this question? They would KNOW they only had to wait to the end of 7 years. No, these are church age martyrs. They are told they must wait for the very last martyr to be killed as they were - AS CHURCH AGE martyrs. (John was not talking obout how they died, for many would meet death in different ways.) So WHAT would make the very last church age martyr? Of course the END of the church age. What will END the church age? Of course the pretrib rapture of the church.

 

So what is John's very next event? It is the 6th seal, the signs for the DAY of the Lord. What did Paul write just three verses after His classic rapture verse? "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." How amazing then, that the 6th seal is the signs for the DAY! JOhn and Paul are in perfect agreement. So WHEN is the rapture in Revelation?

 

To answer this, we must refer to Matt. 27. There we find "the earth did quake...and the graves were opened." We also note that when the two witnesses were raised there was a great earthquake. When God raises those long dead into resurrection bodies, it will CAUSE a great earthquake. Imagine, those saints that rose when Jesus rose, could have been dead for almost 4000 years. If some were from before the flood, some of the atoms of their bodies could have been separated by hundreds of miles - but they came together in ONE INSTANT. Of course that would cause an earthquake. When the dead in Christ rise, some of them have been dead for nearly 2000  years. Again, this resurrection will cause a great, worldwide eathquake, for the dead in Christ are around the world. So WHERE to we find the first earthquake in Revelation? It is the first event of the 6th seal. I submitt then, that the rapture comes as a SUDDENLY when people are saying "peace and safety," and those in Christ get "salvation" [rapture] and get to "live together with Him," [heaven] while those in the dark get SUDDEN DESTRUCTION. What is this SD? It is the worldwide earthquake caused when the dead in Christ rise. NO wonder then, John saw the church in heaven around the throne in the next chapter. Make no mistake, this great crowd without number IS the raptured church, raptured BEFORE the Day of the Lord and BEFORE the 70th week of Daniel begin. Don't be distracted by the two words, "great tribulation." John has not yet even started the 70th week, much less got to the midpoint, and to the abomination when those days of GT are to begin.

 

Therefore, what John is telling us is that at the time of the rapture, people will be being put to death for their testimony around the world. It is that way in half the world today, and it will get worse. Notice also, just these two words, "great tribulation" were NOT ENOUGH for Jesus to describe those days following the abomination. No, He had to add more word, saying there has never been such a terrible time on earth before and never would be again.

 

We see then, Paul and John in perfect harmony. Paul teaches that the rapture will be the trigger for the Day of the Lord, and John confirms it. And John does not get to the midpoint of the week and the days of GT until much later in the book.

 

I find then, prewrath is just not scriptural. Any theory that must rearrange John's God given chronology is immediately suspect and WILL be proven wrong.

 

Finally, notice that Paul's speaking of the wrath is in the same passage as the rapture and the start of the Day of the Lord, in 1 Thes. 5.

 

⁹ For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

 

What is the wrath Paul is speaking of? Of course just what John wrote, "the day of His wrath has come." How do those in the light escape His wrath? It is by way of "Salvation" which in this case is the rapture of the church. (We live together with Him.)

 

Where is Satan's wrath? It begins when He is cast down at the midpoint of the week, and continues on to the image and mark being established, and then the murder of countless millions of saints. Where is God's wrath in comparison? God's wrath begins with the first trumpet, where all the grass is burned up and 1/3 of the trees. It is the beginning of the destruction of the earth and the sinners in the earth. His wrath then, continues on from chapter 8 all the way to chapter 16 and the 7th vial that ends the week. But JESUS, the King of Kings is still angry at the battle of ARmageddon. Therefore, it is IIMPOSSIBLE to separate God's wrath from Satan's wrath, for they run concurrently.  Lamad

Edited July 16, 2013 by iamlamad