Pre-Tribulation Rapture: A Divine Imperative

[Marilyn C]

So true Ezra.

 

Marilyn.

[Diaste]

I have been around for quite some time. I have listened to many great teachers show me things about the End of the Age, the A of D, great tribulation, Wrath of the Lamb, Armageddon, 7 seals, trumpets and  bowls. I have read the books dealing with the entire 70th week. I have read the books concerned with the 'rapture'(a misnomer that cannot convey the reality of Jesus second coming). I have watched the youtube videos, sat in on hundreds of discussions, lectures, symposiums, and the like. 

I have seen some common themes concerning the 70th week throughout all the listening I've engaged in for nearly 3 decades.

 

1) Most all agree there is a 70th week.

2) Most all agree there is a 2nd coming.

3) Most all agree there is a millennial kingdom.

4) Most all agree there is a final battle(Armageddon). However,

5) Every teacher, lait, and believer firmly adheres to scriptural truth in part, but fails to include all the truth about the 70th week.

6) Every teacher, lait and believer has their own personal view of the events and players of the 70th week.("This is what I believe." has been spoken in literally every case. This is incorrect. "What I believe." is not synonymous with biblical truth.)

7) Biblical facts are ignored in favor personal theories. 

8) Instead of careful examination of presented biblical facts, turf is defended and truth is ignored.

9) No agreement is reached on the entire body of truth as spoken by the Lord.

It's like watching a bunch of kids in a sandbox fighting over toys.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Diaste

[Last Daze]

 

The Tribulation is a period of extreme distress – “great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people” with “men’s hearts failing them for fear” (Lk 21:23,26), but the Great Tribulation is unprecedented in the history of the world (Mt 24:21; Mk 13:19):  

Actually the verse from Mat 24 you alluded to explicitly puts the Rapture AFTER the tribulation. Matt 24:29-31 

"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. 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. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

Notice that here Christ sends His angels (plural) for the elect.  But at the Rapture He comes personally for the saints.  He descends from Heaven with a shout, and it is just one archangel who also shouts (1 Thess 4:16).  Therefore "the elect" in Mt 24:31 are the believing remnant of Israel after the Great Tribulation. 

 

Christ will gather all the Jews from around the world ("the four winds") and bring them to Israel to mourn, repent, and then be saved and restored to the kingdom of Israel.  The entire Olivet Discourse revolves around Israel, and the Temple, and Jerusalem.

 

 

The KJV version says this:

 

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.  Matthew 24:31

 

What version says "from around the world"?

 

Christ does come personally for those who are His.  He Himself will raise them immortal.  His angels then go gather them from one end of heaven to the other.  Gather them for.....supper....is my guess.

[Retrobyter]

Shalom, Last Daze.

 

 

 

The Tribulation is a period of extreme distress – “great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people” with “men’s hearts failing them for fear” (Lk 21:23,26), but the Great Tribulation is unprecedented in the history of the world (Mt 24:21; Mk 13:19):  

Actually the verse from Mat 24 you alluded to explicitly puts the Rapture AFTER the tribulation. Matt 24:29-31 

"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. 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. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

Notice that here Christ sends His angels (plural) for the elect.  But at the Rapture He comes personally for the saints.  He descends from Heaven with a shout, and it is just one archangel who also shouts (1 Thess 4:16).  Therefore "the elect" in Mt 24:31 are the believing remnant of Israel after the Great Tribulation. 

 

Christ will gather all the Jews from around the world ("the four winds") and bring them to Israel to mourn, repent, and then be saved and restored to the kingdom of Israel.  The entire Olivet Discourse revolves around Israel, and the Temple, and Jerusalem.

 

 

The KJV version says this:

 

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.  Matthew 24:31

 

What version says "from around the world"?

 

Christ does come personally for those who are His.  He Himself will raise them immortal.  His angels then go gather them from one end of heaven to the other.  Gather them for.....supper....is my guess.

 

 

In your discussion and your usage of the Olivet Discourse, it is important to note that Matthew's “from one end of heaven (Greek: ouranos) to the other” is explained/qualified better by Mark’s account: 

 

Matthew 24:31

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 (Greek: ap’ [apo] akroon ouranoon heoos [toon] akroon autoon).

KJV

 

 

Mark 13:27

27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven (Greek: ap’ [apo] akrou gees heoos akrou ouranou).

KJV

 

Don’t think horizontally; think VERTICALLY! It’s from the lowest point of the sky (or earth) to the highest point of the sky.