1. The state of being transported by a lofty emotion; ecstasy.
2. often raptures An expression of ecstatic feeling: raptures of joy.
3.
a. The transporting of a person from one place to another, especially to heaven, by supernatural means.
b. Rapture An event in the eschatology of certain Christian groups in which believers in Christ will be taken up to heaven either prior to or at the Second Coming.
~ from Thayer’s (New Testament Greek-English Lexicon)
In biblical numerology, 9 is the number of Divine Completion, Finality, and Judgment. Biblically speaking, there are 9 generations from Adam to Noah (cf. Genesis 5). Since the Flood judgment happened in Noah’s time, then the 9 generations from Adam to Noah indicate a cycle of finality. Similarly, there are 9 generations from Shem (Noah’s son) to Abraham (cf. Genesis 11:10-32). In the Word of God, there are 9 recorded special widows, 9 recorded stonings (stoning was standard biblical method of judicial execution), 9 recorded people afflicted with blindness, and 9 recorded people afflicted with leprosy. In Haggai 1:11, there are 9 recorded drought judgments on: the land, hills, grain, new wine, oil, what the ground brings forth, men and cattle, and all their labors. In Matthew 5:3-11, there are 9 beatitudes. The Lord died on the Cross at the 9th hour, which is 3:00 in the afternoon (cf. Matthew 27:46-50). In Galatians 5:22-23, there are 9 manifestations of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness (humility), and self-control (self-discipline). Lastly, in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 there are 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues.
Based on the above information about the biblical number 9, it is important to note here that major biblical events and chief biblical prophecies often have patterns that repeat themselves again and again until the original pattern ultimately is divinely fulfilled or divinely completed. Once again, the number 9 in biblical numerology symbolizes Divine Completion, Finality, and Judgment. This truth is why, no doubt, there also are 9 recorded Translations/Raptures that are in the Word of God, some of which have yet to take place. These 9 exclude Ezekiel, because he was not bodily transported from one place to another, but rather he was carried within the visions God gave to him, like when he still sat among Judah’s elders (cf. Ezekiel 8:1-3).
The 9 recorded biblical Translations/Raptures are as follows:
1. Enoch (Pre-Flood Translation/Rapture)
Hanokh walked with God, and then he wasn’t there, because God took him. ~ Genesis 5:24, CJB; Hanokh is Enoch.
By trusting, Hanokh was taken away from this life without seeing death — ‘He was not to be found, because God took him away’ — for he has been attested as having been, prior to being taken away, well pleasing to God. ~ Hebrews 11:5, CJB; Hanokh is Enoch.
2. Elijah (Translation/Rapture)
Suddenly, as they were walking on and talking, there appeared a fiery chariot with horses of fire; and as it separated the two of them from each other, Eliyahu went up into heaven in a whirlwind. ~ 2 Kings 2:11, CJB; Eliyahu is Elijah.
3. Jesus (Pre-Outpouring of Holy Spirit Rapture/Ascension)
‘But you will receive power when the Ruach HaKodesh comes upon you; you will be my witnesses both in Yerushalayim and in all Y’hudah and Shomron, indeed to the ends of the earth!’ After saying this, he was taken up before their eyes; and a cloud hid him from their sight. ~ Acts 1:8-9, CJB; epairo is the Greek word for “was taken up,” which is the passive voice, and passive voice means Someone other than Christ Himself is causing the Ascension—Someone else is doing the lifting/raising/pulling, which in this case the Someone else is Father God’s Spirit.
She gave birth to a son, a male child, the one who will rule all the nations with a staff of iron. But her child was snatched up to God and his throne; ~ Revelation 12:5, CJB; harpazo is the Greek word for “snatched up,” which indicates the Lord suddenly and supernaturally is “taken up” or “taken up” or “carried up” to Heaven.
4. Philip (Translation/Rapture)
When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch saw no more of him, because he continued on his way — full of joy.But Philip showed up at Ashdod and continued proclaiming the Good News as he went through all the towns until he came to Caesarea. ~ Acts 8:39-40, CJB; the underlining is this blogger’s emphasis.
5. Paul (Translation/Rapture)
I know a man in union with the Messiah who fourteen years ago was snatched up to the third heaven; whether he was in the body or outside the body I don’t know, God knows. And I know that such a man — whether in the body or apart from the body I don’t know, God knows — was snatched into Gan-‘Eden and heard things that cannot be put into words, things unlawful for a human being to utter. ~ 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, CJB; reference here is to apostle Paul’s Rapture event.
6. John (Translation/Rapture)
After these things, I looked; and there before me was a door standing open in heaven; and the voice like a trumpet which I had heard speaking with me before said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things.’ Instantly I was in the Spirit, and there before me in heaven stood a throne, and on the throne Someone was sitting. ~ Revelation 4:1-2, CJB; underlined passage is this blogger’s emphasis.
7. Body/Bride of Christ (alive believers) (Pre-Tribulation Rapture)
then we who are left still alive will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will always be with the Lord. ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:17, CJB
8. Two witnesses of Revelation 11 (Mid-Tribulation Rapture)
‘Also I will give power to my two witnesses; and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.’ …When they finish their witnessing, the beast coming up out of the Abyss will fight against them, overcome them and kill them;and their dead bodies will lie in the main street of the g’eat city whose name, to reflect its spiritual condition, is ‘S’dom’ and ‘Egypt’ — the city where their Lord was executed on a stake …But after the three-and-a-half days a breath of life from God entered them, they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then the two heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here!’ And they went up into heaven in a cloud, while their enemies watched them. ~ Revelation 11:3, Revelation 11:7-8, and Revelation 11:11-12, CJB; also see Zechariah 4:12-14.
9. 144,000 of Revelation 14 (Pre-Wrath Rapture)
Then I looked, and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Tziyon; and with him were 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. …They were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living beings and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who have been ransomed from the world. These are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins; they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they have been ransomed from among humanity as firstfruits for God and the Lamb;on their lips no lie was found — they are without defect. ~ Revelation 14:1, Revelation 14:3-5, CJB; see also Revelation 7:1-8; the underlined passage is this blogger’s emphasis.
There can be no denying that the Word of God describes different Raptures, meaning different times when someone supernaturally is suddenly and forcibly removed or raptured or translated off the Earth and taken to Heaven. Furthermore, even though many believe-in-Christ people argue that the Old Testament’s Translations/Raptures weren’t “types” of the New Testament’s Raptures, because only ONE person is translated or raptured at a time, Enoch and Elijah’s Translations/Raptures are indeed “types” that definitely point to the Bride of Christ’s Rapture. Here’s why. Although the Bride of Christ is made up of many members, as a whole She is just ONE Bride or ONE Body. Therefore, what God has done before, translating or rapturing one person at different times, He definitely is going to do it again!
In the Old Testament, a supernaturally removed off of the Earth and no longer seen anymore person is someone who has been translated, which again is what happened to Enoch and Elijah. The Old Testament’s Hebrew words used to describe Enoch and Elijah’s translations (removals, transfers, disappearances) are laqach (to take, to get, to lay hold of, to seize, to snatch, to take away) and `alah (to go up, to ascend, to depart, to come before God, taken away, taken up).
Now, how believers know that both Enoch and Elijah were translated is because the Hebrew word laqach,which is used to described what happened to Enoch, also is used in 2 Kings 2:3 and 5 to describe Elijah’s prophesied supernatural yet literal bodily removal from Earth, which is exactly what happened to him. Then too, the writer of Hebrews 11:5 says that a “translation,” or the literal bodily removal of a person who is taken supernaturally from Earth and placed in Heaven, is exactly what happened to Enoch. For sure, the Greek word in Hebrews 11:5 that is rendered in the AKJV English as “translation” is Metathesis (transfer, as from one place to another), and the Greek word for the AKJV “translated” or the CJB “took…away” and “taken away” is Metatithemi (to transpose, to transfer, to change, to go or pass over). Bottom line then is that God’s “taking” of Enoch, who wasn’t seen anymore, and making Elijah “go up” to Heaven by a whirlwind both are equivalent to what the Greek New Testament word harpazo means.
Furthermore, there can be no denying that both Enoch and Elijah fulfill the ‘two witnesses’ principle, in this sense: Enoch is the first “type” who points to the Bride of Christ’s Rapture, and God supports Enoch’s witness with the second “type”—Elijah. In essence, both Enoch and Elijah give witness to the biblical Divine Truth that with God it is absolutely possible for alive men and women to be taken into Heaven! Put differently, God always provides corroborating evidence in His Word, which proves whether someone is indeed promoting a falsehood about what is or is not in His Word.
Proof positive, Jesus the Christ Himself uses the ‘two witnesses’ principle, for example, when He instructs His disciples on how to settle disputes among believing brothers and sisters. The Lord tells His disciples that when dealing with an unrepentant sinning fellow believer it might be necessary to confront him with two or more witnesses “…so that every accusation can be supported by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Matthew 18:16, CJB). Another example of the ‘two witnesses’ principle is when John the Baptist sends two of his disciples to Jesus to ask Him if He is the prophesied Messiah. Jesus the Christ tells John the Baptist’s disciples, who had just watched the Lord perform miracles, to go “…tell Yochanan what you have been seeing and hearing: the blind are seeing again, the lame are walking, people with tzara‘at are being cleansed, the deaf are hearing, the dead are being raised, the Good News is being told to the poor” (Luke 7:22, CJB).
The point here is that, as earlier stated, the Body of Christ/Bride of Christ as a whole equals just ONE Body/ONE Bride who will be raptured. Thus, what God has done before He will do again. The same ONE person at a time supernatural yet literal bodily removals of Enoch and Elijah, and the same ONE person at a time supernatural yet literal bodily removals of Jesus the Christ, Philip, Paul, and John will be the same supernatural yet literal bodily removal of the ONE Body of Christ/ONE Bride of Christ, and this removal will happen before the Tribulation Period begins!
For the record, even the Lord and His first-century apostles teach in the Word of God that disciples (followers or believers) of Christ Jesus are supposed to be ONE, just like the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are ONE! That is to say, every one of Christ Jesus’ disciples (followers or believers) to this date either has been made ONE or is in the process of being made ONE, which is what the Lord prays to God they would become. Jesus the Christ asks the Father to make all of the Lord’s disciples/followers/believers ONE (cf. John 17:20-21). Thus, by the power and mighty workings of Father God’s Holy Spirit who baptizes EVERY new proselyte into the Body of Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:13), Father God will have made every Bride of Christ member ONE whole Bride or ONE whole Body by the time the Lord comes on a cloud to RAPTURE Her!
For this last reason, even though the last 2 of the 9 mentioned Raptures happen at different times during the Tribulation Period, the separate Raptures of the two resurrected witnesses and the 144,000 Jewish evangelists who are sealed on their foreheads with the mark of God (see Revelation 11:2-5; Revelation 7:2-8 and Revelation 14:1-5) also only equal two separate but equal ONE-Body Raptures, because they are the Tribulation Period’s Elect.
As it has been established, there really is no biblical evidence that can support anyone who denies that the Holy Bible is replete with Raptures. Undeniably, is the fact that where the six abovementioned already have taken place Raptures are concerned, six are described as literal and bodily, three are described as visible, and five either directly or indirectly are described as instant! Of the six already happened Translations/Raptures, there is no one who is identified as an onlooker at Enoch, Paul, and John’s, but based on all of the information provided for Elijah, Jesus Christ, and Philip’s it would stand to reason that there probably were onlookers at least for Enoch’s Translation/Rapture. Moreover, of the six already happened Translations/Raptures, only Enoch’s isn’t described directly or indirectly as happening suddenly. Once again, based on all of the information provided for the other five already happened Translations/Raptures, it would stand to reason that his Translation/Rapture happened without warning, as well.
Be that as it may; what is obviously clear in the Scriptures about the six abovementioned already has happened Translations/Raptures is that Enoch’s was a literal bodily (physical) removal of a righteous man; Elijah’s was a sudden literal bodily (physical) removal of a righteous man that Elisha witnessed; Christ Jesus’ was a sudden literal bodily (physical) removal of a righteous man that His original disciples witnessed; Philip’s was a sudden literal bodily (physical) removal of a righteous man that the newly saved Ethiopian eunuch witnessed; Paul’s was a sudden literal bodily (physical) removal of a righteous man; and apostle John’s was a sudden literal bodily (physical) removal of a righteous man. Furthermore, right before apostle John’s Rapture took place, he heard a voice from Heaven, and this voice seemed to sound like a trumpet to him!
The main thing is this: Where all biblical Raptures are concerned, whether they already have happened or will happen in the future, the first two of the following three elements absolutely are necessary in order for any Rapture to occur, and the third element is necessary to prove the similarities between the first entire world judgment (the Flood) and the prophesied second entire world judgment (the Tribulation Period). For an event to be a Rapture, there must be:
1. A literal bodily removal (an act of the Holy Spirit)
2. A sudden disappearance of a faithfully righteous/saved person
3. An impending godly judgment/wrath
Of the total nine abovementioned Translations/Raptures, where Elijah, Christ Jesus, Philip, Paul, and John’s Raptures are concerned, there was NO impending godly judgment/wrath. Therefore, Enoch’s Translation/Rapture is the one that provides a strong, solid precedent for every future Rapture event. Without doubt, Enoch’s Translation/Rapture proves that since God in the past has removed off of the Earth Enoch, a faithfully righteous individual, long before the Flood’s devastation happened, and since God even kept the faithfully righteous Noah (Enoch’s great grandson) safe in the Ark during the Flood so that he and his family could not be harmed, it stands to reason that if God did it before, He will do it again. Enoch’s Translation/Rapture is the pattern that God will follow to Rapture the Bride of Christ, which is ONE Body. To a certain degree, Enoch’s Translation/Rapture also is the pattern that God will use for the Raptures of Revelation’s two witnesses AND the 144,000.
That the Word of God has Rapture events in it means that no human is responsible for inventing a Rapture lie! Moreover, because Rapture events are in the Word of God, the majority of those believers who maintain that the Rapture of the Bride of Christ is a lie don’t really have any biblical way of disproving what the Word of God Itself proclaims about this or any Rapture. These indisputable truths mean that if the Rapture scoffers only are believing what they “like” in the Word of God, then that means they are not believing in an unadulterated Word but rather they are believing in themselves—mainly their own intelligence, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge!
~ from Thayer’s (New Testament Greek-English Lexicon)
In the Greek New Testament, the word harpazo is found a total of 17 times in 13 different verses. Each time harpazo is used this verb refers to a quick or sudden often violently physical “snatching away” or “catching away” of a person, a thing, or an idea. More important is the fact that in 5 of these 17 times harpazo is used in the New Testament harpazo ALWAYS refers to the literal physical (bodily) removal of a faithfully righteous human being from one place to another, or from one sphere of existence to another. The 5 times harpazo is used involving faithfully righteous people are when:
1. Philip is harpazo’d from the presence of the Ethiopian eunuch to a different location miles away (see Acts 8:39, AKJV)
2. Paul is harpazo’d from the Earth to the Third Heaven (see 2 Corinthians 12:2, AKJV)
3. Paul is harpazo’d from the Earth to the Third Heaven; second reference (see 2 Corinthians 12:4, AKJV)
4. Bride of Christ is harpazo’d from the Earth to the clouds to meet Her Groom (Christ Jesus) in the air (see 1 Thessalonians 4:17, AKJV); the understanding here is that the Bride will be taken to Heaven to be with Her Groom
5. Christ Jesus is harpazo’d from Bethany near the Mount of Olives to His Throne in Heaven (see Revelation 12:5; cf. Luke 24:50-51; Acts 1:9; AKJV)
Each one of the above five supernaturally powerful acts of the Holy Spirit by which literal bodily removals of humans either from one place to another on Earth or from off of this Earth to Heaven proves that the Rapture is a biblically sound doctrine. In fact, the English words Rapture and Raptured actually are derived from the Latin verb rapio (catch up or take away), and rapio is used in the Latin Vulgate Bible(also referred to as The Vulgate).
The point here is that many of America’s English words, like Rapture and Raptured, and etc., are derived from words found in the Latin Vulgate Bible—the most commonly used translation of the Holy Bible. St Jerome’s late 4th-century A.D. revised Latin translation of the old Latin Biblical Texts became The Vulgate, and The Vulgate was used over 1,000 years before the Protestant Reformation started! In essence, no other HolyBible translation has been used longer than the Latin Vulgate Bible, and that includes the highly promoted Authorized King James Version (AKJV)!
So then, believers who doubt that the idea of a Rapture is in their English translations of the Holy Bible need to understand that it is from the Greek New Testament manuscripts that St. Jerome, scholar/translator, originally renders the Latin rapiemur (the first person plural future passive indicative tense of rapio) from the Greek harpagesometha (the first person plural future passive indicative tense of harpazo). Furthermore, in the English versions of 1 Thessalonians 4:17,rapiemur has been translated from Latin into English as either “we shall be snatched,” or “we shall be grabbed,” or “we shall be carried off,” and so forth. Similarly, harpagesometha has been translated from Greek into English as “we shall be caught up” or “we shall be taken away,” and etc. Moreover, as already mentioned, with every Latin and English translation of harpagesometha the meaning of this Greek verb always connotes a catching or taking that will be a violent, sudden event!
The point to this brief grammar lesson is that, as far as the meaning and tense of the Latin word rapiemur are concerned, this word is in agreement with the Greek word harpagesometha, since rapiemur and harpagesometha are the same tense and they both mean the same thing—a sudden and physical withdrawal; a seizing; a snatching, and so forth. So then, there can be no denying that English words like rapt, raptly, raptness, rapture, raptured, rapturous, rapturously, rapturousness, raptor, and so on, undisputedly are derived from rapio’s verb forms such as rapere, rapui, raptus, rapiemur, rapturo, and etc. Moreover, since rapio’s verb forms are accurate translations of the Greek harpazo’s verb forms, then it doesn’t matter if someone uses the AKJV’s “caught away” or “caught up” or if he/she uses the word “raptured,” or “snatched away,” or “taken up,” or “plucked,” or “taken by force,” and so forth, because they all mean the same thing—a very sudden nonconsensual seizure.
Thus, language in this case shouldn’t be used as a barrier to understanding a concept that most definitely is found in the Word of God—that concept being the Rapture. Put differently, the Greek, Latin, and English words used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 all describe exactly how quickly the living Bride of Christ’s fleshly Body will be removed from this Earth and how fast that fleshly Body will be changed into a spirit Body, so it doesn’t matter if one particular English word is or isn’t in the English version of the Holy Bible someone is using. What should matter most is whether the concept of a Rapture is in the Word of God. Based on the words used in the ORIGINAL language of the New Testament, which is Greek, the concept of a Rapture most definitely is in the Word of God.
Below are all of the New Testament verses in which the Greek verb harpazo is used. The blue text is this blogger’s emphasis. These blue words are the AKJV English translations of the Greek harpazo.
and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any manpluck them out of my hand.My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluckthem out of my Father’s hand. ~ John 10:28-29, AKJV
And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. ~ Acts 8:39, AKJV
Andshe brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. ~ Revelation 12:5, AKJV
These verses are interesting in that, first off, Jesus Christ is saying that He is the ONE who will “pluck” (pull, take by force, or snatch/catch up) His Body of Believers or Bride out of harm’s way (the Tribulation Period) so that His Bride will be with Him in Heaven. The Power (force) He will use to “pluck” (pull, take, snatch, or catch up) His Body of Believers or Bride is the Power of Almighty God, which means the Power of God’s Holy Spirit.
Thus, the word “pluck”, which in John 10:28-29 has been translated from the Greek word harpazo, should remind believers in Christ Jesus that, while Jesus Christ eventually will “pluck” them out of this world, He also has promised to keep them secure while they are in this world. The Lord has said that while His disciples/believers/followers are on this Earth NO ONE would be able to “pluck” them out of His hands nor out of the Father’s hands.
Secondly, the phrase “caught away,” in Acts 8:39, also has been translated from the Greek word harpazo. In this case, “caught away” refers to what happened to Philip, an evangelist. He is raptured from the southern desert surrounding Samaria to Azotus (Ashdod), after salvation had come to the Ethiopian eunuch. This Philip is one of the seven men who, because they were of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit, and wisdom, initially were selected to serve tables and superintend the distribution of food (see Acts 6:3). Therefore, the interesting thing here is that Jesus Christ has said ONLY He would do the plucking (harpazo’ing or rapturing), so it is ONLY the Lord via the Holy Spirit who has harpazo’d Philip from one place in Israel to another location.
Then too, in Revelation 12:5, the phrase “caught up” also has been translated from the Greek word harpazo. Here “caught up” refers to Christ Jesus’ Ascension, which takes place 40 days after His resurrection and 10 days before the Day of Pentecost, when for the very first time in Christ-followers’ history the Holy Spirit is poured out on the 120 Upper Room Jewish disciples. This verse is a symbolic presentation of what actually happened in Acts 1:9, when while the Lord is blessing His disciples He suddenly is taken up or carried up (cf. Luke 24:50-51). So then, the interesting thing here is that since NO ONE can “pluck” any of the Lord’s followers out of His hand or out of the Father’s hand, then the ONLY ONE who is catching up (harpazo’ing or rapturing) the Lord is the Father via the Holy Spirit.
Other Harpazo verses:
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. ~ Matthew 11:12, AKJV
When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. ~ Matthew 13:19, AKJV
When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. ~ John 6:15, AKJV
But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. ~ John 10:12, AKJV
And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle. ~ Acts 23:10, AKJV
I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. ~ 2 Corinthians 12:2, AKJV
How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. ~ 2 Corinthians 12:4, AKJV
Thenwewhichare 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. ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:17, AKJV
andotherssavewithfear,pullingthem out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. ~ Jude v. 23, AKJV
Each one of these above verses proves that being harpazo’d is indeed a quick or sudden often violently physical “plucking,” “pulling,” “taking,” “snatching away,” “catching away,” or rapturing of a person, a thing, or an idea. It should be evident now how the connotation (meaning) of harpazo remains consistently the same!
Lastly:
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. ~ 1 Corinthians 15:52, AKJV
Although there is no form of harpazo in 1 Corinthians 15:52, based on the meaning of harpazo the apostle Paul no doubt is telling the Corinthians, and all members in the Body of Christ, that just as supernaturally, suddenly, and forcibly the individual bodies of the dead in Christ will be “raised” from their graves this too will be exactly how supernaturally, suddenly, and forcibly the alive Bride of Christ, at the time the Lord comes on a cloud to meet Her in the air, will be Raptured. Everyone will be harpazo’d in “a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” speed. In other words, the apostle Paul is NOT saying that the we “shall not all sleep” Rapture reference in 1 Corinthians 15:51 and the we “shall be caught up” together Rapture reference in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 will happen at the same time as the Bride’s miraculous glorification or the “changing” of Her Body as a whole from mortal to immortal, but he definitely is saying that both events (the Bride’s Rapture and Her Body’s glorification) supernaturally will happen unimaginably fast!
In summary, harpazo is in 13 New Testament verses for a total of 17 times, and this verb’s connotation always is understood to mean a catching up/catching away or taking up/taking away or snatching up/snatching away, and so forth, that ALWAYS is violent, sudden, nonconsensual yet supernatural! In other words, the Divine Truth is that God has more than established the concept of being suddenly, forcibly, and supernaturally “caught up” or “taken away” (Raptured), and this concept pertains to people, things, and other related ideas. Thus, just because the English word Rapture is not in any particular English translation of the Holy Bible that doesn’t mean that the concept of a Rapture is not in the Holy Bible, because it most definitely is there, and this concept begins with Enoch’s Translation.
Therefore, those people who argue that neither the word Rapture nor the concept of a Rapture is in the Word of God have to remember that the ORIGINAL texts of the New Testament, in which the Rapture concept is found, are Greek NOT English. These same people also have to remember that the Latin Vulgate Bible, which is St. Jerome’s Latin translation of both the Hebrew Tanakh and the Greek New Testament manuscripts, has been around and read way longer than any American English versions of the New Testament Scriptures. Additionally, these same people need to remember that in The Vulgate is the Latin equivalent of the Greek word harpagesometha, which is a form of the Greek verb harpazo. That Latin equivalent is rapiemur, which is a form of the Latin verb rapio, from which Americans get the word Rapture!
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ~ Romans 1:18, ESV
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. ~ John 3:36, ESV
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, ESV
From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. ~ Revelation 19:15, ESV
Christ exhausted the cup of God’s wrath. For all who trust in Him there is nothing more in the cup. It is empty. ~ Jerry Bridges
I am a Pre-Tribulation Rapture believer (a Pre-Tribulation rapturo – Pre-Tribulation harpazo – Pre-Tribulation “caught up” believer), and I do not apologize for supporting this Divine Truth. As a Pre-Tribulation Rapture believer, I have confidence that there are NO precedent conditions that must be fulfilled before the Lord comes FOR His Bride—before Christ Jesus, who remains in the air, comes not only to resurrect His dead or sleeping Bride but also to rapture His alive Bride.
Notice please that in the most specific Rapture verses (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) it is the alive Bride who is being “caught up” to be with both the resurrected dead in Christ (them) and the Lord Jesus the Christ. In other words, the Rapture of the alive Body of Christ is about the Lord coming FOR His Bride before the Tribulation Period ever begins and NOT about the Lord coming WITH His Bride or Host of Heaven on the Day of the Lord!
By the way, there not only are specific Rapture Scriptures but also specific Imminency Scriptures about the Lord’s return FOR His Bride happening “at any moment.” These Imminency Scriptures also tell that the Bride of Christ (Body of Christ, CHURCH) not only should be ready and prepared for Her Groom or Her Lord’s imminent return but also She should be EXPECTING Her Groom or Her Lord to come FOR Her “at any moment”!
It should be evident that the Rapture and Imminency Scriptures are very different from those verses that speak about the Lord coming WITH His Host of Heaven (or with His Bride, Body of Christ, or CHURCH). In truth, only the Pre-Tribulation Rapture belief allows for the Rapture of the Lord’s Bride to be the result of a surprise appearance from Jesus the Christ, which is imminent in its timing. The Lord Himself says that His Rapture return would be like a thief in the night kind of “surprise” (see Matthew 24:42-44).
Put differently, the Lord is saying that He will come for His Bride when most people wouldn’t be expecting Him to come for them, and this surprise coming is why His Bride must stay alert, be prepared and ready, and keep looking for Him to come “at any moment.” Moreover, that He comes like a thief in the night is the main reason why knowing the “season” and the “signs” of His coming are different from knowing the exact day and exact hour! No one knows the exact day or exact hour of the Bride of Christ’s Rapture, not even Christ Jesus Himself, but once the Tribulation Period begins people will be able to count the days until the abomination of desolation happens at Mid-Tribulation, and people will be able to count the days from this Mid-Tribulation event until Christ’s Second Coming actually happens. In other words, the Lord coming for His Bride would not be imminent—would not be at any moment—for the Pre-Wrath Rapture and Post-Tribulation Rapture believers!
Furthermore, all the Rapture and Imminency Scriptures prove that the Lord’s Bride evidently will have been WITH Him in Heaven before She returns with Him during His Second Coming, which will be on THE Day of the Lord. This biblical Truth is why the Second Coming of Jesus the Christ Scriptures, when every eye will see Him, ONLY refer to His actual bodily return—to the time when His feet touch the Mount of Olives! This Second Coming event, thus, is a very different event than the imminent Rapture of the Bride event! When the alive Bride of Christ is raptured, the Scriptures are very clear that the Lord stays in the air during this event. Indeed, IN THE AIR is where both the resurrected dead in Christ and the raptured alive in Christ Bride meet their Groom, their Lord.
Now, assume, for the sake of argument, that if Jesus Christ is just going to snatch His Bride off of the Earth, slap a white linen robe on Her, and then bring Her right back to the Earth with Him all in a twinkling of an eye moment, then wouldn’t this brief twinkling of an eye moment spent with the Bridegroom in Heaven, before He actually sets His feet upon the Earth where every eye will see Him, mean that Christ Jesus is going to be way less than a Gentleman with His Bride? Taking His Bride off of this Earth and then returning Her back to the Earth, in a twinkling of an eye moment is equivalent to what many humans describe as a “wham bam thank you ma’am” quickie. Thus, it is preposterous to think that the Lord would be this rushed and this crass with His Bride—the Bride He sacrificed His life for and has been waiting thousands of years to be with Her.
The apostle Paul says that Christ Jesus:
…gave himself up for her,that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her bythe washing of waterwith the word,sothat he might present [her] to himself in splendor,without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.~ Ephesians 5:25b-27, ESV (the inserted bracketed “her” is this blogger’s emphasis)
In other words, the Lord’s Wife (the Bride of Christ) means too much to the Lord, which is why it is only reasonable to expect that He would devote more than a twinkling of an eye moment to honoring Her (presenting Her to Himself in splendor), instead of giving Her what would amount to as a quick “Thank you for your faithfulness and service” compliment, followed by a quick celebration/consummation of marriage event, which He then swiftly would end with something tactless like “we’ve got more important things to do right now than to let you bask in your earned gloriousness”! Indeed, the Scriptures make it clear that the Lord’s Bride is the One with whom He has promised to spend some quality time, so there is no way He will snatch Her off of this Earth just to give Her only a twinkling of an eye moment in Heaven before rushing Her back to the Earth to the Battle of Armageddon! Yet, this horrible insensitive treatment of the Lord’s Bride is exactly what the proponents of a Post-Tribulation Rapture are suggesting!
Moreover, those individuals who accept that the Rapture of the Bride of Christ (Body of Christ or CHURCH) will happen either Mid-Tribulation or later, including a Rapture that takes place just before the Lord returns to battle Israel and God’s enemies, are in essence saying that they believe their Bridegroom is going to allow the Antichrist and Satan to beat the heck out of His Bride, even behead some of them, and then He Himself also will batter, bruise, and/or martyr His Bride via the Wrath of God, before He then takes Her to Himself as the beloved Wife He promised to save—promised to rescue, preserve, and/or keep from the unspeakable hour of testing or trial (see Revelation 3:10) that is yet to come upon this Earth. For sure, if the Bride of Christ is the ELECT Christ Jesus mentions in His Olivet Discourse as the ones who face that terrific tribulation (the harshest ever persecution, testing, sifting), as well as the ones who face some or nearly all of the horrifying Wrath of God, both of which happen during the seven year Tribulation or 70th Week of Daniel, such an experience would mean that there definitely are some precedent conditions that must take place before any Rapture of the Bride of Christ will happen!
These above understandings or interpretations of the Word of God seriously CONTRADICT Jesus the Christ’s promise to take or receive (in the Greek language, paralambano) His own unto Himself (see John 14:3), which alludes to the very act a Jewish bridegroom performs for His Jewish bride. The Lord and His disciples knew about the ancient wedding customs of a Jewish bridegroom, who after having paid the acceptable price for his betrothed then would leave her so that he could prepare a place in his father’s house where the both of them would live. Christ Jesus and His disciples knew that the bridegroom would go away, and that he would be spending that time away on building the bridal chamber in which he and his bride would stay for seven days, where they would consummate their marriage vows, and from where they will exit as the married couple who welcomes their wedding guests to the seven day Wedding Feast. In fact, the prophet Isaiah speaks of the wedding custom that pertains to being hidden away in bridal chambers, when he writes:
Come, my people, enter your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourselves for a little while until the wrath is past. For see!Adonaiemerges from his place to punish those on earth for their sin. Then the earth will reveal the blood shed on it and no longer conceal its slain. ~ Isaiah 26:20-21, CJB
Notice that the prophet Isaiah not only says that God’s people will be hidden away in their “rooms” until the Wrath to come has past but also says that this is the time when God punishes the people on the Earth for their sin. Certainly, hiding His people away from the Wrath to come no doubt is how God will keep His promise to keep His people in perfect peace who trust Him and who keep their minds stayed on Him (see Isaiah 26:3).
Now, the only time God has established for punishing the people on the Earth for their sin, other than the time of the Flood, is the Tribulation Period—Daniel’s 70th Week. Therefore, it should be obvious to New Testament believers that the punished end-time people are not hidden away in the “chambers” the Lord has prepared for His Bride, because they have not been raptured but instead they have been left behind!
For sure, knowing and understanding the Jewish bride and bridegroom’s wedding customs certainly would help all believers in Christ Jesus to realize that in none of the verses before or after Christ Jesus promises to take or receive His disciples to Himself does He ever say: BUT you first have to suffer during the 70th Week of Daniel (suffer during the Tribulation Period)! The reason the Lord never tells His disciples that they will have to suffer during the Tribulation Period is because He knew His Jewish disciples understood His reference to Jewish wedding customs, in particular, to the one about the bridegroom going away to prepare a place for his betrothed. For sure, the Old Testament (the Jewish Tanakh; Hebrew Bible), as well as other Jewish writings and teachings, are replete with prophecies and Jewish idioms about God’s Bride and the Lord’s Bride, about being hidden away in bridal chambers, about the last days and end-time resurrections and/or end-time translations (raptures), and so forth. Thus, telling His disciples that they would first have to suffer during the horrific Tribulation Period, or only the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, before He could come back for them and take them to Himself would have been the most preposterous statement the Lord could ever have made to them.
Likewise, it is preposterous to think that the apostle Paul would assure the Thessalonians that the dead in Christ would rise first and then the alive in Christ would rise (be raptured; “caught up”; taken out of harm’s way; see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17), as well as preposterous to think that Paul would tell them to comfort and encourage themselves with his Rapture words (see 1 Thessalonians 4:18), if later he only was going to tell them that they were going to experience a dreadful thrashing during the Tribulation Period, and then be raptured. That is why it also is preposterous to think that the apostle Paul is telling the Thessalonians that they will suffer during the Tribulation Period, after explaining to the Thessalonians the difference between the time of their gathering (Rapture) and the time of the Lord’s Second Coming or THE Day of the Lord, and then, in this same context, end with:
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father,who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and goodhope through grace,comfort your hearts andestablish them in every good work and word. ~ 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, ESV
What kind of “eternal comfort” and “good hope” could these Thessalonians, or other believers in Christ Jesus for that matter, expect if they only have to look forward to being beaten, sifted like wheat, starved, beheaded, and so forth, during the future gruesomest time that there ever would be on Earth? If believers in Christ Jesus are taught to expect that their Lord/Bridegroom is coming to get them at any moment (see Matthew 24:42-46; Philippians 3:20-21; Titus 2:12-14;Hebrews 9:28; 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 4:17, 5:4-10; and Revelation 22:20), where then is their “eternal comfort” and “good hope” in going through either the first or second half of the coming Tribulation Period (70th week of Daniel)? They already have eternal life. Salvation gave them that, so why would Christ tell His eternally saved believers that they also have an “eternal comfort” and a “good hope” in knowing they are going to be beaten, sifted like wheat, starved, beheaded, and so forth?
Without doubt, by the time the apostle Paul writes 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, he already has made it abundantly clear to these Thessalonians, and by extension to ALL believers in Christ Jesus, that NONE of God’s Wrath is meant to be experienced by His children; that is, NONE of God’s Wrath is meant to be experienced by the Bride of Christ, which includes Messianic Jews. This Wrath of God, which is NOT meant for the Bride of Christ, is the Greek word ORGE.
There are two Greek words used in the New Testament that have been translated in the English versions of the New Testament as either “wrath,” or “anger,” “indignation,” “fierceness,” “fury,” or “vengeance.” The first Greek word is ORGE, which is used in the New Testament 36 times: 31 times it is translated into English as “wrath”; 3 times as “anger” (see Mark 3:5, Ephesians 4:31, and Colossians 3:8);1 time as “vengeance” (see Romans 3:5); and 1 time as “indignation” (see Revelation 14:10). The second Greek word is THUMOS or THYMOS, which is used in the New Testament 18 times: 14 times it is translated into English as “wrath,” and 1 time as “wraths”; 2 times as fierceness or fury (see Revelation 16:19 and Revelation 19:15); and 1 time as indignation (see Romans 2:8).
It is important to note here that of all the times Orge and Thumos or Thymos are used in the New Testament, in Revelation 14:10, Revelation 16:19, and Revelation 19:15 God uses both Orge and Thumos in the same verse. In these three mentioned Revelation verses, Thumos is NOT translated as the English word “wrath,” but rather it is translated as God’s “fury” or His “fierceness.” However, in these same mentioned Revelation verses, Orge is the word that is translated as God’s “wrath” or His “indignation”! The reason why it is so important to point out that THUMOS and ORGE are not the same thing in these three verses is because the translators clearly are showing that there is a real distinction between God’s Thumos and His Orge—a distinction that evidently has gotten lost in translation!
The information that countless English translations of the Greek word THUMOS or THYMOS have omitted and therefore LOST in translation is that THUMOS originally refers to very passionate inward feelings that rise swiftly but then recede as quickly as it took them to rise! THUMOS, thus, is a sudden, explosive but short-lived anger (originally, though, it wasn’t translated as “anger”). In many Scriptures, the Greek word THUMOS is used to describe a God who has “rushed along fiercely.”
Now, the Greek word ORGE, which mostly is translated into English as “wrath,” is very different from THUMOS, and here’s why. In most Scriptures, ORGE refers to the judiciary righteous judgment issued against the ungodly. ORGE also refers to retributive wrath carried out by a righteous Judge; in other words, God’s ORGE Wrath is His righteous punishment for committed crimes. More important, ORGE is defined as a smoldering “Wrath”—a “Wrath” that builds up over a very long time and then breaks loose. That’s why, in many Scriptures, the Greek word ORGE is used to portray a holy and righteous God who, after “storing up” His Perfect, Holy, and Just “Wrath” against sin and evil, then unleashes His ORGE Wrath. This is exactly what will happen during the time of the Tribulation Period. God is going to unleash His ORGE Wrath upon the unrighteous, unholy, sinful and evil Tribulation people.
This ORGE Wrath of God also is described in the Scriptures as God’s Nature or natural trait (see Nahum 1:2), as well as described as His state of mind, His righteous indignation, His righteous attitude, and/or, once again, His slow anger that over time manifests as His righteous judgment of sin or evil and His righteous punishment for those people who sin or rebel against Him. ORGE Wrath also is depicted as His slow anger that manifests as His righteous judgment of those people who refuse to accept His Son (Jesus the Christ) as their Lord and Savior. In other words, because God will forever hate sin, His ORGE (His slow to build up Wrath, which has been building for centuries) is eternal, not temporal or short-lived! This Divine Truth is why God’s ORGE (Wrath) doesn’t suddenly reach the boiling point and then explode. Indeed, that is the function or purpose of God’s THUMOS (seething fierceness or fury). It is God’s THUMOS, His inward passion against sin and evil, that rapidly boils over and then diminishes as quickly as it took it to flare-up!
This difference between THUMOS and ORGE, however subtle it might be, is what most people miss when they translate THUMOS as “wrath.” Once again, THUMOS reflects God’s inward passionate emotion, the fierceness or rage that boils up on the inside of God, while ORGE reflects God’s outward righteous expression of that passionate emotion. In other words, ORGE (Wrath) is God’s gradually unleashed THUMOS. For example, during the Tribulation Period, God’s ORGE (Wrath) will be expressed by degrees through the Seal, Trumpets, and Bowl Judgments and Punishments, which increase in frequency and intensity. However, after the 1000 year reign of Christ Jesus, God’s Orge Wrath will be expressed through the sudden and fierce way He consumes those who gathered against the Lord (see Revelation 20:9), and seen again when God throws Satan and every condemned human who ever lived into the eternal Lake of Fire .
Once more, the distinction between God’s ORGE and THUMOS is what has gotten lost in most of the English translations of these two Greek words. For sure, God’s ORGE, which eventually manifests as the expression of His inward THUMOS, is that Wrath to come that John the Baptist warned the people in his day to flee from (see Matthew 3:7). This Wrath (ORGE) to come is the manifestation of God’s ORGE—the kind of WRATH that breaks loose and, according to John the Baptist, burns the chaff (that which has been beaten out) with unquenchable fire (see Matthew 3:12). Ultimately this unquenchable fire will be God’s final Divine eternal ORGE Wrath—the Lake of Fire judgments and punishments (see Revelation 20:11-15), where the centuries of condemned people continually burn ad infinitum—for eternity—after having their chaff, the sin/evil in them, beaten out of them!
Point of clarification: I have said in a couple of blog entries that “Tribulationis the unrighteous persecution of believers by unbelievers…tribulation is persecution directed at believers. In contrast,wrathis the righteous punishment of God poured out on those who reject Him…the Wrath of God is His judgment directed at the unrighteous!” Thus, based on Scriptures, it is obvious that the Wrath (Orge) of God will be God’s judgment of left-behind individuals’ habitual sin or rebellion and punishment for their rejection of Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior. This ORGE wrath will take place during the entire Tribulation Period, either indirectly as the Antichrist and Satan’s “wrath,” or directly as Father God and Christ Jesus’ “Wrath,” which is poured out during the Time of Jacob’s Trouble (or the last half of the seven years of Tribulation).
More important, just like God’s THUMOS is temporal, the Antichrist and Satan’s wrath is going to be temporal “persecution” or “tribulation.” During the Tribulation Period, this temporal short-lived wrath can be seen in the Four Horsemen’s Seal judgments and punishments, seen in the rest of the three Seal judgments and punishments, AND seen in all of the trumpet judgments and punishments. That’s right! Without doubt, God’s Wrath is being executed through the Antichrist and Satan’s temporal “persecution” or “tribulation” or their wrath. In other words, their wrath—the Seal and Trumpet horrors—are what God permits. If God permits their “wrath” during the Tribulation Period, then that makes their “wrath” not only a kind of representation of the ORGE Wrath of God, which again is God’s settled displeasure with sin and evil, but also a kind of representation of the THUMOS Wrath of God, which is the sudden unexpected boiled over rage or the blazing forth of the ORGE Wrath of God.
The point here is that whether the Wrath of God is permitted to be poured out by the Antichrist and Satan, or is directly poured out by God or Christ, God’s ORGE and THUMOS actually are combined. This Divine Truth about ORGE and THUMOS being combined is why some translators show in the already mentioned three Revelation Scriptures that ORGE and THUMOS appear in the same verses! Clearly these two Greek words are definitely different in meaning, yet apparently both are needed to describe the horrible destructiveness of God’s Wrath.
Once again, ORGE is an eternal settled disposition that slowly ascends from out of God’s Divine Nature. His ORGE Wrath is aroused ONLY when it is against sin and evil. Indeed, God constantly says in His Word that sin/evil is rebellion against His Divine holy and righteous Nature and Character. In fact the only reason why God would allow His ORGE Wrath to be aroused is because of His Love for holiness, truth, and justice. In other words, because God Loves and commands holiness, truth, and justice He must use His Divine ORGE Wrath as righteous antagonism toward ALL that is unholy!
This is when God’s THUMOS gets involved. Once again, THUMOS is that inward passion that rapidly seethes, rages, or boils within God’s Nature. God’s THUMOS, thus, not only is the source of His passion but also His passion itself—the seat of His fierceness/fury, or righteous indignation. His THUMOS is a special kind of anger that is intertwined with God’s Love for holiness, truth, and justice. In essence, God’s THUMOS also is about HOLINESS—it is about God fighting against sin and evil. For this reason His THUMOS Wrath, though short-lived, obviously is always destructive.
Since ORGE clearly is God’s Wrath that eventually leads to an expression of His short-lived seething, boiling rage or fierceness/fury (His THUMOS or explosive passion), it is important to note here that His Thumos Wrath not only is always destructive but also always unpredictable and vengeful. For these reasons, it should be clear that this ORGE Wrath of God, this manifested outward expression of His boiled over rage (THUMOS), is very different from His Anger that results in Him disciplining His righteous children. Indeed, God’s Orge Wrath, which will be poured out during the Tribulation Period, is most definitely punishment that is NOT meant to cause corrective behavior in the lives of the truly unrighteous men and women. This last statement is why, based on Scriptures, it also should be obvious that God’s ORGE or Wrath will lead to His final eternal judgment (His final Divine verdict), which He will issue to all unrighteous men and women—the Lake of Fire!
Now, it is important to point out here that the people in the Tribulation Period will see NO ordinary kind of persecution. So many of today’s believers think that because the first-century believers, and other centuries of believers, have suffered tribulation (persecution) that this fact means the last-days believers also are supposed to suffer persecution. Clearly since the apostle Paul is giving many of the first-century believers his assurance that they will not suffer the kind of TESTING that happens when the Wrath to come appears, when the Tribulation Period begins, then today’s believers need to understand that they are not supposed to suffer the Tribulation Period, either. It is important to understand that the apostle Paul considered the tribulation first-century believers had experienced or were encountering is but a “light affliction” compared to that Wrath to come.
Indeed, Christ Jesus Himself promises in Revelation 3:10-11 that the Philadelphians, who are representatives of the Lord’s true Bride, His genuinely faithful, obedient Bride who is living a holy and righteous (spotless without blemish) lifestyle, would NOT SEE the kind of tribulation that will take place during Daniel’s 70th Week or the Tribulation Period. The Lord promises them that they would be SAVED from the future mandatory TESTING/TRIAL/TRIBULATION, the purpose of which is to expose the unrighteous, unholy rebellious nature of the people who are living on the Earth during the Tribulation Period. Thus, it should be clear that these Tribulation Earth dwellers the Lord speaks about to the Philadelphians are NOT His true Christians—they are NOT members of the Bride of Christ—but rather they are individuals who habitually have rebelled (sinned) against God and/or refused to accept the Divine Truth in God’s Word about the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON.
Put differently, those individuals who preach and/or teach the Bride of Christ will be in the Tribulation Period have missed a repeated Divine Truth. The Lord Himself makes it clear, again and again, in many Scriptures, that there indeed will be so-called “Christians” who will face the Tribulation Period. The so-called “Church” people who will receive thrashing, sifting, even a beheading, during the Tribulation Period, are those professed believers who are “Christians” in name ONLY!
Now, once again, God’s Wrath (Orge, or God’s Divine not-so-sudden yet ever-lasting natural disposition, state of mind, righteous indignation, or righteous attitude toward sin) results in His outward Divine judgment and punishment. This Orge (Wrath), which is poured out during the Tribulation Period is God reckoning with (dealing with the unpleasantness of) sin and evil, as well as Him reacting to (expressing how annoyed He’s been with) sin and evil. In contrast, God’s fierceness or fury (Thumos, or God’s Divine extremely quick yet not an ever-lasting abrupt flare-up), results in His deepest and most intense holy and righteous anger, which rapidly boils up but then hurriedly fades or declines. Both ORGE and THUMOS are in use during the Tribulation Period, and again the point here is that there cannot be any THUMOS without there being ORGE. In other words, God’s THUMOS is linked to His ORGE—they indeed are combined.
Bottom line is that when the apostle Paul says believers are not meant to go through God’s Orge (Wrath), which is a word that is used way more times in the New Testament than Thumos, the apostle Paul means exactly that. God never intended for His righteous sons and daughters to experience His holy and righteous indignation He has toward sin, nor did God intend for His righteous sons and daughters to experience His holy and righteous indignation that He has toward those who have rejected Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Father God allowed His Son to experience His Orge and Thumos, which He poured out against sin and evil—He allowed Jesus the Christ to be beaten beyond recognition, crucified on a Cross, and resurrected from the grave just so that the Lord’s Bride, everyone who not only believes in and accepts Jesus the Christ as his or her personal Savior, but everyone who is allowing God’s Holy Spirit to change him and her from the inside out, until he or she becomes like Christ Jesus, would be SAVED from all of the Wrath (Orge) to come. Now this Orge to come is the final Lake of Fire judgment and punishment, from which Christ’s Bride is saved, because She, as a whole, already has received eternal LIFE. This Orge to come also is the time of testing/trial/tribulation that is coming upon this Earth during Daniel’s 70th Week (the Tribulation and the Great Tribulation or Time of Jacob’s Trouble).
Because of the gift of Salvation, the Bride of Christ believers who have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior have been born again (received a new nature—one that no longer is sinful), have been made righteous (justified; presented to God just as if they had never sinned), and are being purified (sanctified, perfected, which eventually leads to them being glorified at the moment they are Raptured)! Thus, based on so many Scriptures about Salvation and the Bride of Christ, it is clear that the only people who will suffer God’s Divine displeasure against sin, evil, and a refusal to accept His Son, as well as the only people who will suffer His consequent retributive action, are the left-behind people who neither were the resurrected dead in Christ Bride nor the alive in Christ raptured (“caught up”) into the air to meet Christ in the air Bride.
Finally, it is the complete work of Jesus the Christ that keeps His Bride from having to endure God’s eternal long-lasting ever-present Orge Wrath. For certain, the Scriptures are clear about the people who never have accepted the Lord as their Savior being those individuals who already know that the Wrath of God is upon them even now, and will be upon them during the Tribulation Period. God’s Orge and Thumos are sinners’ JUST judgment and punishment. That’s why, because God knew that there was no way that He could NOT pour out His Wrath on everybody, He also knew the kind of Salvation plan He would have to put in place to save His true and faithful believers. In essence, that Salvation plan is the complete work of Christ Jesus. The Lord’s sacrifice was the ONLY way that God could solve this pouring out of His Wrath problem. Again, it is preciously because God foreknew that He would have to pour out His Wrath on all human flesh that He Graciously grants, to anyone who would willingly accept by Faith and from Faith to Faith, His Gracious Gift of His Son’s imputed righteousness (see Romans 3:26).
Here’s the conclusion to the whole matter: The Scriptures have been clear. The people who will be left behind to experience the Tribulation Period are the spiritually blind Jewish people, the 144,000 Sealed Jewish evangelists who will witness to primarily the nation of Israel’s spiritually blind Jews, all of the truly unbelieving individuals, and many so-called “Christians.” These are the people who do not understand, or will not accept, that it is because of Jesus the Christ’s completed work on the Cross that His Bride will not have to go through the Tribulation Period. Because Jesus the Christ agreed to be God’s Divine, Gracious, Holy, and Righteous answer to God’s Orge Wrath dilemma, Jesus the Christ immediately became the Lamb God the Father would send to Earth as the once-and-for-all Sacrifice for the sins of the entire world. By willingly sacrificing Himself, Christ Jesus became THE ONLY viable Substitute for mankind’s sinful lives; thereby, He also became THE ONLY ONE who could redeem the entire world. Again, Jesus the Christ’s finished work on the Cross is why His Bride will not have to go through the Tribulation Period—these believers are not going to suffer any of the Antichrist and Satan’s “wrath” AND NONE of God and Christ’s ORGE Wrath, which includes some of His THUMOS (fury). As Jerry Bridges says:
Christ exhausted the cup of God’s wrath. For all who trust in Him there is nothing more in the cup. It is empty.
Without a doubt those individuals who profess to be Christians, in name only, will be in the Tribulation Period, but Christ’s Bride will NOT! She will be in Heaven with Her Bridegroom, living in the mansions (Bridal Chambers) He went away to prepare for Her (see John 14:2-3). The Bride of Christ will be in Heaven with Christ the Bridegroom long before the Tribulation Period ever begins, and will remain there during the entire seven years of Tribulation! Any believers who don’t agree with this Pre-Tribulation Rapture belief are suffering from not having the right information about God’s Orge and His Thumos, and perhaps suffering from not having the right information about a few other words like Rapturo or Harpazo, primarily because this information has gotten lost in translation!
These are the words the Lord spoke to Israel and Judah. Yes, this is what the Lord says:
We have heard a cry of terror, of dread—there is no peace. Ask and see whether a male can give birth. Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor and every face turned pale? How awful that day will be! There will be none like it! It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be delivered out of it. ~ Jeremiah 30:4-7, HCSB
As for you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid— this is the Lord’s declaration— and do not be dismayed, Israel, for without fail I will save you from far away, your descendants, from the land of their captivity! Jacob will return and have calm and quiet with no one to frighten him. For I will be with you— this is the Lord’s declaration— to save you! I will bring destruction on all the nations where I have scattered you; however, I will not bring destruction on you. I will discipline you justly, and I will by no means leave you unpunished. ~ Jeremiah 30:10-11, HCSB
Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city— to bring the rebellion to an end, to put a stop to sin, to wipe away iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. ~ Daniel 9:24, HCSB
He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator. ~ Daniel 9:27, HCSB
Many believers today are preaching and teaching the Pre-Wrath Rapture Theory. There are many problems with this theory, starting with the fact that Pre-Wrath is a misnomer, especially since ONLY Pre-Tribulationism is 100% pre-wrath!
Be that as it may, another widely used misnomer is Tribulation, as in the prophesied 7-year period: the 3½ years of Tribulation and the 3½ years of Great Tribulation. In the Old Testament, it is Daniel’s 70th Week that is described as the entire 7 years of Tribulation. This Week is the decreed time God has established for bringing Israel’s obstinate rebellion against Him to an end, and the decreed time for completing His final discipline and judgment upon Israel (His elect; His chosen Jewish people), as well as the decreed time for making His final judgment upon this world’s unbelieving inhabitants. Furthermore, Daniel’s 70 Weeks are described as the time when God cleanses the entire Earth (the time when He puts an end to ALL transgression, seals up and makes an end of ALL sins, makes reconciliation for iniquity, and brings in everlasting righteousness, seals up vision and prophecy, and anoints the most holy place; see Daniel 9:24). These abovementioned prophecies are scheduled to be completed before Jesus Christ’s Millennial Kingdom on Earth begins!
On the other hand, the Time of Jacob’s Trouble is the Old Testament’s description of the last 3½ years of Daniel’s 70th Week, which most end time biblical prophecy scholars also call the Great Tribulation. God says that though this time will be filled with birth pangs that increase in intensity and frequency, becoming more relentless than they’ve ever been at any other time, He will deliver/save Jacob. Here Jacob symbolizes God’s elect or chosen Jewish people, and they are the ones God promises He will NOT let perish during the terrible Time of Jacob’s Trouble, even though He will judge and punish them (see Jeremiah 30:4-24). The reason why the Jewish people as a whole must be judged and punished is because they still need to give their hearts to God, by accepting His Salvation program—Jesus the Christ, who is their Lord and Savior! Ultimately, the nation of Israel, like Jacob, will receive a new name—Hephzibah (my delight is in Her) and the land Beulah (married)! According to Isaiah 62:4, this name change also is the purpose of the decreed Time of Jacob’s Trouble.
Now there are many Christians who believe that ONLY right “…now is the day of salvation” (see 2 Corinthians 6:2). That is to say, these believers maintain that if unbelievers haven’t accepted Jesus Christ BEFORE Daniel’s 70th Week begins that NONE of them will receive salvation during this prophesied unparalleled seven-year Tribulation. They also believe that it is a lie of the devil to preach and teach that the people in the Tribulation Period will still have another chance to get saved.
While “NOW” always has been the time for the lost souls living on this Earth to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, “NOW” also is the time for all believers to allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify them completely. However, just like the majority of lost souls are not accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, too many saved believers are not allowing the Holy Spirit to do His sanctifying work in them. No doubt believers’ refusal to surrender totally to the Holy Spirit’s mighty sanctification process, and their refusal to surrender totally to His leading, prompting, teaching, and so forth, are why God does say in His Word that countless people will be saved during the seven-year Tribulation.
For sure, many unbelieving left behinders will be saved (receive salvation) before the Day of Judgment (before Jesus Christ’s Second Coming, when His feet actually touch the Mount of Olives, which is by the time the Book of Life and the Book of Death have been sealed). Moreover, many unprepared (not holy enough to be raptured or taken) believers in Christ also will be sifted like wheat during Daniel’s 70th Week, especially during the Time of Jacob’s Trouble (cf. Jeremiah 51:33; Amos 9:9; Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17; Luke 22:31).
The sifting like wheat analogy refers to unprepared believers needing to experience some violent trampling or threshing, some forceful winnowing or throwing into the air to allow the wind to blow away unwanted parts, and some upside-down strong sieving or shaking, before their true “grit”—staying power, like steadfast faithfulness, holiness, obedience, and so forth—can be verified. Perhaps this end time wheat sifting is why, when John the Baptist describes the coming of Jesus the Christ, he does so by painting the image of the Lord separating genuine believers from fakes, via threshing, winnowing, and sieving. John the Baptist also describes the Lord as the prophesied One who will gather His shifted like wheat true believers into the Kingdom of God on Earth, in the same manner that grain is gathered into a barn. The Lord also will gather the fake believers and the ones who totally rejected Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but then He will throw them into the Lake of Fire where they will burn in an unquenchable fire (see Matthew 3:12;Luke 3:17).
There can be no doubt that this end-time sifting by the Lord certainly will cause not only countless numbers of lost souls to repent and be saved but also will cause numerous left-behind unprepared believers to get back onto the right path—the path that leads to an eternity with God. Therefore, it should be clear that, although numerous people will be saved and others sifted, during the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, which primarily involves God’s chosen left-behind Jewish people, their salvation and sifting will be achieved only because they went through the worse Hell on Earth. Many of these left-behinders not only will suffer persecution, starvation, thirst, earthquakes, and so forth, but also plenty of them will experience a beheading! Even then, there still will be other left-behinders who will continue in sin, including cursing God up until the time of Christ Jesus’ bodily return!
Now, for the record, the gathering of His elect “…from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other…” (Matthew 24:31) is not a reference to the Rapture of the Bride of Christ. When Jesus Christ speaks of the gathering of the His elect in His Olivet Discourse, He is referring to His angels gathering together all of the nations of the world, from the four corners of the Earth, AFTER the Great Tribulation has ended. In other words, this is the gathering of the Tribulation survivors—the metaphorical wheat/tares and sheep/goats.
That the saved sheep/wheat will be allowed to enter into the Millennium, which is the time when Jesus Christ rules as King of this Earth for 1,000 years, is undisputable evidence that proves people (metaphorically, the sheep/goats and wheat/tares) in the Time of Jacob’s Trouble not only will be separated from one another but also will repent and get saved during the Tribulation Period. As mentioned in this blogger’s several other blog postings, the only people who will be able to re-populate this Earth during Jesus Christ’s Millennial Reign are those “saved” survivors from the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, because the Bride of Christ (both the dead and the alive in Christ at the time when they meet Him in the air); the alive and pure 144,000 Jewish evangelists, who have the seal of God; and the martyred saints ALL will have received their glorified bodies.
Now, Jesus Christ teaches the Sadducees that neither those resurrected nor those raptured humans who are in Heaven will be marrying and giving in marriage in Heaven. Matthew writes:
The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, ‘Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. So too the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.’ But Jesus answered them, ‘You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God:‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.’ And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. ~ Matthew 22:23-33, ESV
Likewise, the apostle Paul teaches in the Scriptures that those who enter Heaven are primarily the resurrected dead and raptured alive Bride of Christ members, who have received glorified bodies (bodies like what the angels have). Thus, since marriage is the only way people on Earth will be able to procreate, those people who re-populate this planet during Jesus Christ’s Millennial Reign will be the surviving saints from the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, who indeed are “saved” but still in their natural bodies!
Concerning the gathering of the Bride of Christ, whom the apostle Paul speaks about, this gathering is not the same gathering of the already mentioned end-time saints—the Tribulation’s surviving sheep/wheat. This gathering apostle Paul speaks about is the Rapture of the Bride of Christ—the taking or snatching out of harm’s way (catching up; harpazo). Now the only way this harpazo makes sense is if it happens before the 7-year Tribulation begins, because the apostle Paul repeatedly makes in clear, in at least four Scriptures, that the Bride of Christ is NOT going to experience God’s Wrath (neither during the Time of Jacob’s Trouble or Great Tribulation nor during the first half of the Tribulation Period). The apostle Paul writes the following about the holy, righteous, faithful, obedient, totally sanctified, and absolutely saved Bride of Christ:
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ~ Romans 5:9, ESV
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ~ Ephesians 5:6, ESV
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. ~ 1 Thessalonians 1:10, ESV
For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:9, ESV
The problem then with far too many believers’ thinking, where the Rapture of the Bride of Christ is concerned, is that far too many of believers have not understood the difference between God’s Plan of Salvation (deliverance, rescue, preservation, safety) for the Bride of Christ who is both the resurrected dead in Christ and the raptured alive in Christ, and His Plan of Salvation for Israel who is the Jewish Time of Jacob’s Trouble saints, the saved Jewish people living in the Promised Land or Israel, at that time. In other words, these saved Jewish people will be the individuals who, as mentioned earlier, are experiencing the prophesied Time of Jacob’s Trouble—the decreed time for bringing Israel’s obstinate rebellion against God to an end, and the decreed time for completing His final discipline and judgment upon Israel (His elect; His chosen Jewish people), as well as the decreed time for making His final judgment upon this world’s unbelieving inhabitants.
Since numerous people don’t seem to know the difference between God’s Plan of Salvation for the Bride of Christ and God’s Plan of Salvation for Israel, it also is important to note here that there is a major difference between God’s Wrath and mankind’s persecution, including the Antichrist’s tribulation or persecution. Wrath is God’s RIGHTEOUS judgment and RIGHTEOUS punishment, which He will pour out on the rebellious UNRIGHTEOUS unbelieving people of this world. Tribulation is the unrighteous persecution of believers by unrighteous unbelievers!
There is no denying, then, that Jesus Christ prophesies that in this world there is going to be much persecution, but based on the above definitions of Wrath and tribulation, it should be obvious that what man does to people will in no way measure up to the Wrath of God, which will be poured out on a sin-sick world. This last point is why ALL of the persecution Christians have suffered from the 1st century A.D., and forward, will not compare to the suffering that happens in the 7 years of Tribulation. This future suffering will be unparalleled, so much so that if Daniel’s 70th Week isn’t sped up, NO ONE will survive it (see Matthew 24:22)!
For sure, as prophesied, during the Time of Jacob’s Trouble (a.k.a., the Great Tribulation), God’s Wrath will increase in frequency and intensity, beginning with the Lamb of God’s Seal judgments (the wrath of the Lamb; see Revelation 6:16), and continuing throughout the entire Time of Jacob’s Trouble until the last bowl judgment is poured out. Thus, based on all of the above provided information about Daniel’s 70th Week, the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, wheat sifting, and so forth, the Pre-Wrath Rapture Theory indisputably suggests that, even if the righteous and sanctified Bride of Christ goes through just the first half of Daniel’s 70th Week, She still would suffer some of God’s Wrath, despite the fact that the Word of God declares the Lord’s righteous and sanctified Bride has NOT been appointed to suffer ANY of God’s Wrath (orge, in the Greek language), because She has been DELIVERED or SAVED from the Wrath to come by Christ Jesus’ finished work on the Cross!
Still, believers in Christ Jesus should not be deceived! Not everyone who professes to be a Christian will be exempted from God’s Wrath. Indeed, many professed Christians who sin willfully and/or who neglect to live the Christian lives they should will suffer some, if not all, of God’s Wrath during Daniel’s 70th Week (the 7 years of Tribulation). A word to the wise should be sufficient!
‘In time, throughout that land,’ says Adonai, ‘two-thirds of those in it will be destroyed — they will die, but one-third will remain. That third part I will bring through the fire; I will refine them as silver is refined, I will test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is my people’ and they will say, ‘Adonaiis my God.’ ~ Zechariah 13:8-9, CJB
For God has not intended that we should experience his fury, but that we should gain deliverance through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who died on our behalf so that whether we are alive or dead, we may live along with him. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, CJB
Because you did obey my message about persevering, I will keep you from the time of trial coming upon the whole world to put the people living on earth to the test.I am coming soon; hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. ~ Revelation 3:10-11, CJB
It boggles the mind how so many people who say they are born again, saved, and being sanctified believers in Christ Jesus also could say that the alive Bride of Christ members will be in the Tribulation Period. It is hard to understand how they could believe that God doesn’t say in His Word that the Lord’s Bride will ESCAPE the Tribulation Period.
These non-pre-Trib Rapture believers argue that if the early Christians suffered persecution, and if Christians today in various places on this Earth also are suffering persecution, just because they are Christians, then that proves that God will NOT remove the Bride of Christ off this Earth so that these believers won’t have to experience the Tribulation Period. Then too, even though the Scriptures are very clear that the genuine Bride of Christ ALREADY has been purified solely by the complete work Christ Jesus did on the Cross, there are so many non-pre-Trib Rapture believers who still think that the Tribulation Period is for purifying Jesus Christ’s Bride—they still believe that His Bride has to endure the Antichrist’s wrath and the Seal, Trumpet, and Bowl judgments before She can become holy and righteous enough to enter Heaven. Say what?
If any of the above claim concerning the Bride of Christ being purified in the Tribulation Period were true, then that would mean that Christ Jesus died for NOTHING, especially if believers’ own shed blood, as a result of their persecution, could purify them and make them holy and righteous enough to enter Heaven! For sure, the Scriptures are very clear. Only the blood of Christ Jesus can purify/cleanse sinners and present them before God as justified, holy, and righteous men and women.
Furthermore, many non-pre-Trib Rapture believers think that pre-Trib Rapture individuals are escapists who are just trying to avoid persecution and/or any kind of trouble. This appeal to the flesh or the desire to feel comforted, thus, supposedly is the reason why the pre-Trib Rapture lie originally started. Nonsense, because even if pre-Trib believers don’t want to go through the Tribulation Period, globally many of them still are experiencing plenty of persecution or tribulation (great trouble or substantial suffering), and some of them more frequently and profoundly than others.
Now, one of the reasons why non-pre-Trib believers’ arguments are fallacious is that most of the people who either are making one, or two, or all of the above claims are American Christians, the majority of which, to date, have not and are not suffering any physical persecution. Secondly, Christ Jesus prophesies that there would be much persecution in this world, especially in the last days and end times, which is why this world’s current rising tide of persecution eventually will affect ALL believers worldwide, to some extent. Thirdly, what Christ Jesus also prophesies is that the persecution mankind and demonic forces commit on this Earth IN NO WAY will measure up to God’s Wrath or Fury, which He will pour out on this entire Earth. In other words, the Lord is saying that ALL of the persecution Christians have suffered from the first century A.D., and forward, down to this present century, will not compare to the suffering that happens during the seven year Tribulation Period—during Jacob’s Trouble. That suffering will be unprecedented, so much so that the Lord says:
Indeed, if the length of this time had not been limited, no one would survive; but for the sake of those who have been chosen, its length will be limited. ~ Matthew 24:22, CJB
For this last reason, believers must keep in mind that during the Tribulation Period (Jacob’s Trouble), two-thirds of the Jewish people living in Israel will perish (cf.Zechariah 13:8-9), leaving only that Jewish remnant the Antichrist/Dragon follows to the mountains/hills to kill (cf. Matthew 24:15-16; Revelation 12:17). Additionally, believers also should keep in mind that the Scriptures declare that, between the 4th Seal judgment and the 6th Trumpet judgment, over one-half of the world’s total population will have died during the Tribulation Period (see Revelation 6:8 [1/4 dies] and Revelation 9:13-18 [1/3 dies]). These two amounts of human deaths equal 58.33% of the world’s total population, and the Bowl judgments haven’t even begun yet!
If so many people (the Bride of Christ members, disbelievers, and unbelievers) will be dying throughout the Tribulation Period, then how is Christ Jesus keeping His promise to deliver/save/keep His true Bride from God’s Wrath (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10; Revelation 3:10-11), if they aren’t Raptured until mid-Trib or, even worse, post-Trib? Isn’t it Christ Jesus Himself who sends the angelic messenger to the “church” in Philadelphia of Asia Minor (the Asian part of Turkey) to let the believers in that “church” know that because they have patiently and steadily been faithful and obedient disciples, He (Christ Jesus) would save them from the future mandatory testing that would expose the kinds of persons the people dwelling on the Earth really are? Thus, it should be clear that these Tribulation Earth dwellers the Lord speaks about are not His true Christians—they are not members of the Bride of Christ—but rather they are individuals who have rebelled (sinned) against God and refused to accept the Divine Truth in His Word.
Most important, EXCEPT for the holy and righteous Christ Jesus, upon whom God poured out ALL of His Wrath against sin, where in the Scriptures can it be found that God ever poured out even just an ounce of His Wrath on His righteous people? Again, even if the Rapture of the Bride of Christ happens at mid-Trib, that would mean that the righteous would experience some of God’s Wrath, both from the Antichrist’s persecution and from God’s Seal and Trumpet judgments!
Right here, it is necessary to note the difference between tribulation and wrath. Tribulation is the unrighteous persecution of believers by unbelievers. Put differently, tribulation is persecution directed at believers. In contrast, wrath is the righteous punishment of God poured out on those who reject Him. In other words, the Wrath of God is His judgment directed at the unrighteous!
By the way, one of the methods Father God uses during the Tribulation Period, when He is pouring out His Fury upon His chosen unbelieving Jewish people and the disbelieving and unbelieving Gentiles, is the Antichrist’s persecution. Although the individuals who become first-time Christians, and those who become truer Christians, during the Tribulation Period, to some degree, will all experience the Antichrist’s persecution, his persecution chiefly will be only part of God’s Wrath, which is meant for Israel and everyone else who rejected God’s preferred Salvation Plan—rejected Jesus the Christ. In a nutshell, the Antichrist and his persecution will be an instrument of God’s Wrath! Furthermore, using the Antichrist to judge and punish Israel is not the first time, in Israel’s long history, that God has decided to use the enemies of Israel to examine and correct His chosen Jewish people!
Back to the mid-Trib Rapture beliefs, wouldn’t those believers who are snatched off the Earth at mid-Trib also be ESCAPING—aren’t they avoiding the most horrific parts of God’s Wrath, since the Word of God describes His Wrath as increasing in intensity and frequency throughout the Tribulation Period, and since the Bowl judgments, which begin during the second half of the Tribulation Period, are the worst of God’s Wrath? So how would believers in a mid-Trib Rapture of the Bride of Christ not be escapists, as well?
Then too, if only those alive believers at the end of the Tribulation Period are snatched off the Earth at post-Trib, right before or at the Lord’s bodily return (His Second Coming), then when do the dead in Christ Jesus get caught up? The apostle Paul clearly says that the Rapture of the Bride of Christ consists of the dead in Christ Jesus, who would rise first, and then those believers who are alive in Christ Jesus would be caught up (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). Additionally, since the angels also don’t resurrect the dead in Christ Jesus before gathering the people from all of the Earth for judgment, at least the Word of God doesn’t say that the angels resurrect the dead in Christ Jesus at this time, how could the Rapture of the Bride of Christ happen at post-Trib, if the dead in Christ aren’t even mentioned in any of the so-called post-Trib Rapture Scriptures?
Lastly, why would Christ Jesus Rapture His Bride at post-Trib and then immediately bring them back to the Earth so that they could be gathered again from the four corners of the Earth, once the Great Tribulation has ended? Aren’t His saints (the Bride who is wearing white linen—see Revelation 19:6-8, 11-16; Zechariah 14:5b)—returning from Heaven with Him? So why would His Bride, the armies of heaven clothed in white linen, need to be gathered again for judgment? Doesn’t the Bride of Christ stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ Jesus, which is in Heaven? Also, why would the Bride of Christ need to be separated from the goats and tares? Would not the Bride already be separated from them, by virtue of the Rapture?
The Bride of Christ, thus, is not coming back with the Lord, during His bodily return or Second Coming, which also is believed to be The Day of Judgment (see Zechariah 14:1-5) , just to be gathered, separated, and judged all over again. Obviously the post-Trib Rapture belief is the reason why there is no way that the end of the Tribulation Period gathering, which by the way is done by the angels and NOT by Christ Jesus, refers to the gathering of anyone who is NOT a Tribulation survivor, as the Tribulation’s survivors ONLY are those individuals who were never Raptured (the surviving Tribulation sheep and goats/wheat and tares).
In contrast, the gathering of the saints (the Rapture of the Bride of Christ), or the snatching out of harm’s way (the catching up of the Bride of Christ), which Christ Jesus does Himself, means that this harpazo must happen before the seven year Tribulation Period ever begins, since the Tribulation Period absolutely classifies as the worst kind of “harm’s way”! Once again, it is the apostle Paul who declares not only to the Thessalonians but also to the Romans and Ephesians that the Bride of Christ (every genuinely born again, saved, being sanctified, prepared, faithful, and obedient believer) IS NOT going to experience God’s Wrath (Jacob’s Trouble; the Tribulation Period; see Romans 5:9; Ephesians 5:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9).
Honestly, if the purpose of “the hour of trial/temptation” (see Revelation 3:10) is to expose the kinds of persons the people dwelling on the Earth are, what would God be exposing about the true Bride of Christ, whose spirit or heart already has been born again from above and already has received its new nature, and whose whole spirit, soul, and body are being transformed into the image of Christ? The Bride of Christ already is in the Household of Faith. Each believer already is a child of God. In other words, the Bride of Christ has been made righteous by Grace through Faith in the work Christ Jesus finished while on the Cross. So, again, what is there to expose about Christ Jesus’ Bride? Absolutely nothing!!!
The problem then with far too many believers’ thinking, where the Rapture is concerned, is that they have not understood the difference between God’s Plan of Salvation (deliverance, preservation, safety) for the Bride of Christ—the Raptured saints—and His Plan of Salvation for Israel—the Tribulation saints, which primarily will be the saved Jewish people living in the Promised Land or Israel, at that time. In other words, these saved Jewish people will be the individuals who are experiencing the prophesied Jacob’s Trouble (the Tribulation Period). However, these Tribulation saints also will include the left-behind Jews and Gentiles out of every nation on the Earth. Furthermore, these surviving saved left behinders will be the “elect” people who become purified, sifted like wheat Tribulation believers. More important, they also will be the people who either never accepted Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior, prior to the beginning of the Tribulation Period, or, because of their disbelief, disobedience, unfaithfulness, and/or carelessness, they didn’t prepare themselves for the Lord’s Rapture of His alive Bride (cf. Matthew 25:1-13).
The bottom line is that instead of believers in Christ Jesus being divided about when the Rapture of the Bride of Christ will take place, they should spend more time preparing themselves and looking for Christ Jesus’ appearance in the clouds (the Rapture), while leading as many unbelieving Jewish people and unbelieving and/or disbelieving Gentiles to the Lord, as they possibly can. Furthermore, all believers in Christ Jesus should understand that the prophesied Tribulation Period is not going to be anything anyone can plan to survive. In fact, the only way the people in Noah’s day could have prepared for the Flood was to accept what Noah was preaching: It’s going to rain; the rain will flood the Earth, so repent and walk with God!
For sure, just like God, via His Wrath, which manifested as the Flood, destroyed ALL the wicked, unfaithful, disobedient, unbelieving individuals living on the Earth, but spared the righteous, obedient, and faithful Noah and his family, God, via His Wrath, which will manifest as the Tribulation Period, will destroy the wicked, unfaithful, disobedient, unbelieving individuals who are living on the Earth, but will spare the holy, righteous, obedient, and faithful Bride of Christ! There can be doubt that God is NOT going to destroy, via His Wrath, His sons and daughters—not after He has given them the gift of Salvation! This Divine Truth is why it just boggles the mind that any believer could think God would do something like that!
Finally, the spiritual stakes are extremely high! That’s why it is important that everyone who is born again, saved, and being sanctified, who also loves God and the Lord, should do his or her best to share the Gospel with the world’s lost souls NOW, and why each believer in Christ should live a bonafide Christlike life, for the entire world to see so that hopefully countless lost souls will long for Salvation and long to achieve the same kind of Christlike lifestyle.
Please view the below videos on the Rapture, Tribulation and the Great Debate. In these two videos, Andre Hendricks makes the case that the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is indeed not only biblical but also the only possible time the Bride of Christ will be removed from the Earth. Be blessed!
The Rapture, Tribulation and the Great Debate, Part 1
The Rapture, Tribulation and the Great Debate, Part 2
Look, I will tell you a secret — not all of us will die! But we will all be changed!It will take but a moment, the blink of an eye, at the final shofar. For the shofar will sound, and the dead will be raised to live forever, and we too will be changed. ~ 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Six days later, Yeshua took Kefa, Ya‘akov and his brother Yochanan and led them up a high mountain privately. As they watched, he began to change form — his face shone like the sun, and his clothing became as white as light. ~ Matthew 17:1-2, CJB
There is nothing in the Holy Bible that is there just to take up space. The entire Holy Bible was given to believers in Christ Jesus so that God’s Holy Spirit could teach them God’s Truths, correct their human errors (including any misunderstandings they might have about biblical passages), convict them, and give them training in right living (cf.2 Timothy 3:16). Now ALL Scriptures would mean that in order for the Holy Spirit to teach, to correct, to convict, and to train effectively, He must use even thoseverses that deal with those Jewish traditions, which God Himself established (i.e., Jews’ customs, culture, mandated biblical feasts, and etc.).
Furthermore, it is important to note here that one of the major problems most believers have with understanding, for example, when The Rapture of Christ’s Bride will take place is that they forget the Holy Bible basically is about what happens to God’s chosen Jewish people. That’s right! Most believers forget that the first-century apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers preached the Good News (Gospel) about salvation first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles (cf. Romans 1:16).
Most of today’s believers also have forgotten that God established the Jewish culture; the Jewish nation; the Jewish wedding customs, service, and ceremonies; the Jewish kosher foods, and that includes which food is sold, cooked, and/or when and where that food is eaten; the Jewish/Mosaic Law, which includes, but is not limited to, instructions about Sabbath-day observances and annually mandated seven feasts (cf. Colossians 2:16-17); all of the end-time prophecies concerning Israel and Christ Jesus, and so forth.
Moreover, in what has become the Holy Bible, God inspired mostly Jewish writers to record what thus saith God about His established Jewish customs, culture, commanded feasts, etc. Be that as it may. The sad truth is that more Gentile than Jewish believers do not carefully study Jewish customs, Jewish culture, Jewish history, Jewish feasts, and so on, before they try to understand the meanings of the literal and figurative words (language) used in any given biblical passage. By figurative language, this blogger means the copious figures of speech, such as idioms, imagery, metaphors, similes, symbols, hyperboles, allegories, parables, and so forth, which are used in the Holy Bible to explain or describe spiritual truths, prophetic events, and head-scratching mysteries about God and His chosen biblical men and women.
Case in point, there are so many published Christian and secular prophetic end-time studies, discussions, opinions, interpretations, understandings, and so on, about when The Rapture of Christ Jesus’ Bride will happen. Unfortunately too many of these parabiblical or extra-biblical sources (secondary writings; external commentaries on and paraphrases of the God-breathed, God-inspired Holy Bible) have confused, and continue toconfuse, many believers, who consequently end up misunderstanding and misapplying God’s Truths.
For example, there are countless web pages and blog entries devoted to “trying” to prove that the apostle Paul’s last trump (last trumpet), which he mentions in 1 Corinthians 15:52, is the same as apostle John’s seventh trumpet, which he mentions in Revelation 11:15-19. In other words, these individuals do not believe in the pre-tribulation rapture. Instead, they believe that the day of The Rapture AND the Day of the Lord or Christ Jesus’ Second Coming are one in the same. Many if not most of these individuals believe that the Bride of Christ goes through the entire seven years of the Tribulation Period, even though the apostle Paul tells the Thessalonians that God never intended for Christ Jesus’ followers to experience God’s wrath (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:9), and even though apostle John writes that Christ Jesus will keep His faithful, obedient, patient, prepared, and watchful Bride of Christ from the Antichrist’s persecutions and God’s wrath (cf. Revelation 3:10). Without doubt these apostles are saying that the Body of Christ believers who are in Him are inside a kind of Ark that hasn’t been made by human hands, and this Divine Truth is why the Bride of Christ is allowed to escape the Tribulation Period!
For sure, there are many Messianic Jews and Christ-believing Gentiles who agree that the Feast of Trumpets primarily is a picture of The Rapture—the “snatching away” of the alive Bride of Christ. Yet, despite the fact that biblical Scriptures and Jewish traditions are in harmony with each other about the “last trump” or last trumpet being the shofar blast that marks the start of Yom Teruah or the Feast of Trumpets/Rosh HaShanah, many people still want to claim that the “last trump” is the seventh judgment trumpet in Revelation.
Then too, despite the fact that the Holy Spirit guided the many believers who have produced a wealth of parabiblical or extra-biblical sources that clearly show how God uses the Jewish traditions that He established to connect the dots, complete the pictures, of the controversial biblical passages that divide believers, many Christians still seem to gravitate toward only those understandings that are in harmony with theirs instead of toward the understandings that God wants them to have. Some of those controversial biblical passages are the ones that deal with the apostle Paul’s use of the phrase—the last trump.
For the record, according to Father God’s established Jewish traditions, there are three shofar (trumpet) sounds/blasts that indicate three specific days on the Jewish calendar. These three shofar sounds/blasts are called the First Trump, the Last Trump, and the Great Trump.
1. The First Trump is blown on the Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) [Exodus 19:18-19], when God gave Moses the Law. The First Trump also symbolizes God’s betrothal to His Bride, who is all of the Jewish people. Where the Bride of Christ is concerned, on the Day of Pentecost, Christ Jesus also becomes betrothed to His Bride, who is the Jews and the Gentiles in Christ.
So then, the First Trump signifies the beginning of the betrothal periods for both God’s Bride (Israel, the nation as a whole) and Christ Jesus’ Bride (every believer who will become a member of the Body of Christ, a member of Christ Jesus’ ekklesiai (assemblies), a member of The CHURCH). Indeed, the 6th of Sivan, which is the Feast of Weeks/Feast of Pentecost, pictures the descent of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the Bride of Christ/Body of Christ/The CHURCH.
2. The Last Trump is blown on the Feast of Trumpets, which is the 1st of Tishri. In fact the Last Trump is synonymous with Rosh HaShanah, as the Last Trump is a Jewish idiom for Rosh HaShanah, which originally was called Yom Teruah (the Hidden Day/the Day of the Awakening Blast/the Day of Shouting (Crying Voice; Loud Noise)/Feast of Trumpets). This feast day came to be called the Feast of Trumpets, thus, primarily because the “Teruah” sound of the Shofar is based on the sound of a cry or shout.
Moreover, the last trumpet blast on Rosh HaShanah, which actually is the last of the blasts made during the 30 days of Teshuvah (calls to repent or calls to return to God) that began in the preceding month of Elul, also is the first blast on Rosh HaShanah that begins the first day of the month of Tishri. Now, because this Last Trump actually is not blown on the last day of Elul, but rather on the first day of Tishri, this is why Rosh HaShanah is called the hidden day—the significance of this day is hidden primarily from Satan, which is why God does not give definitive reasons or detailed observance instructions for the Feast of Trumpets.
Then too, this Last Trump symbolizes the time when the resurrection of the dead will take place. On this day, the apostle Paul declares that the dead in Christ would be resurrected and their bodies would be changed (glorified), and then the alive in Christ believers would be snatched away off of this Earth, receiving their glorified bodies as they travel upwards to meet Christ Jesus and the resurrected dead in Christ believers on the clouds in the air (1 Corinthians 15:51-55;1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
Perhaps the above reasons also are why this last trump of the Shofar, on Rosh HaShanah, is meant to jolt Jewish people from their sleep—to awaken them to spiritual maturity, because after the next seven days comes the Day of Atonement. On the Day of Atonement, based on those decisions God made on the Feast of Trumpets, the destiny of every Jewish person, mainly if someone would live or die during the new year, would be sealed! For these reasons, Jewish people see the Feast of Trumpets or Rosh HaShanah as the rehearsal for the resurrection of the righteous dead and The Rapture.
Lastly, according to Jewish traditions, Genesis 22 is part of the Torah reading on Rosh HaShanah. This chapter deals with the Akedah, when Abraham bound Isaac and the ram caught in the thicket. This ram is important because its two horns have come to be called the Shofar’s “first trump” (left horn), and the Shofar’s “last trump” (right horn). Moreover, it is the ram’s horn that becomes the shofar blown on the Feast of Trumpets, which also is why Akedah is associated with Rosh HaShanah.
3. The Great Trump is blown on Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement, and it eventually will herald the coming of the Messiah Yeshua to Earth (cf. Matthew 24:29-31). In Jewish traditions, this literal coming of the Messiah, which we now know is His bodily return or Second Coming, is shown by Christ Jesus to be associated with the Jewish idiom for Yom Kippur. This time in the end times is the Day of the Lord, or the Day of Judgment—the day when judgment would be sealed!
For the Jews, the annual Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement has been a rehearsal for when Satan finally is defeated and bound in the bottomless pit at the end of the seven year Tribulation Period, and a rehearsal for when the Antichrist and his armies are destroyed, with the Antichrist and False Prophet being thrown into the Lake of Fire (their final judgment). The Day of Atonement also is a day of national atonement for the nation of Israel, which is why when the two days to the Feast of Trumpets are added to the seven Days of Awe leading to and including the Day of Atonement, their total (2 + 7 + 1) equals the 10 Days of Awe or the time of “affliction of the soul,” which prophetically seem to point to the last 10 days of the Tribulation’s horror (cf. Revelation 2:10-11)—a time when persecution and the threat of physical death will tempt the Tribulation’s believers to abandon Christ Jesus, out of fear and love for their own lives.
Consider these biblical similarities: There are seven years to the entire Tribulation Period, which ends with the Day of the Lord or Judgment Day (the Second Coming of Christ Jesus). There are seven Days of Awe, after the second day of the Feast of Trumpets, and these seven days lead to the Day of Atonement, which traditionally has been the Day of Judgment/Day of the Lord/Second Coming of Christ.
Additionally, think about this: When a Jewish Bride and Groom united in marriage, it was customary for them to remain in their wedding/bridal chamber for seven days, or 1 week. In the Hebrew language, shavuah is the word for “week,” but shavuah (week) can mean 7 (24-hour) days, 7 months, or 7 years. Therefore, it is very believable that the Bride of Christ would remain in Her bridal chamber with Christ Jesus, Her Jewish Groom, for the seven years of the Tribulation Period—the time of the increased and intensified birth pangs that Christ Jesus prophesies about in Matthew 24:8, 21.
Important to note here is that the wheat/sheep gathered from the four corners of the world are those elect or “choice” Tribulation survivors (Jews and Gentiles) who will enter into the 1,000 years of Christ Jesus’ kingdom reign on Earth, as those humans who repopulate the Earth. They are able to have children, because they do not have glorified bodies!
Those believers who already received their glorified bodies will no longer have the “human” capability to procreate, as the Lord Himself says that in Heaven neither men nor women would marry (cf. Matthew 22:30). Since God’s Law only permits MARRIED men and women to have intercourse, either that or the Holy Spirit overshadows a woman thereby impregnating her with a God-child, it should be clear that glorified individuals will not have children during the Millennium. Their bodies will be like Christ Jesus’ resurrected body (cf. Philippians 3:21), which allowed Him to appear before His disciples, minus Thomas, who out of fear met behind locked doors (cf.John 20:19).
Returning here to apostle Paul’s last trump, it should be noted that as a Jewish Pharisee and a descendant of Pharisees, Paul definitely would have understood that the phrase “last trump” is an idiom for Rosh HaShanah. Be that as it may; there are many Jewish and Gentile scholars who have concluded that the last trump or the Trumpet of God is only mentioned twice in the Holy Bible: 1. at Mount Sinai during the giving of the Law (Exodus 19:13, 19), when God called Moses UP to meet Him on top of the mountain. The Voice in v. 19 means God’s VOICE, which in Hebrew is qowl, a word that means “sound,” and, “like an instrument”; here a trumpet is understood, based on context; and 2. for the Rapture (in 1 Corinthians 15:52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16, as the Last Trump and the Trumpet of God are seen as being the same, since they both are blown right before the dead in Christ rise and receive their glorified bodies. After which the alive in Christ are caught up, and they receive their glorified bodies).
For the above reasons, many Jewish and Gentile scholars do not believe this Last Trump that apostle Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 15:52 is the same as the 7th Trumpet of judgment in Revelation 11:15-19, since this 7th Trumpet brings death, and not life! This 7th Trumpet actually is seen as the Great Trump! For sure, if the Rapture’s Last Trump were the 7th Trumpet of Revelation, then that would be a rather peculiar situation for the Bride of Christ, as there would be no way that She could be seen as being delivered, saved, or rescued from the wrath of God at this point, no matter how His wrath is defined. Remember, in 1 Thessalonians 5:9, the apostle says that God did not foreordain Christians to suffer through the “wrath” of God, which primarily is the Great Tribulation or the second half of the seven-year Tribulation. Then too, the 7th Trumpet in Revelation is not even a literal last trumpet to be blown, as throughout the Lord’s reign for 1,000 years, many trumpets will be blown during the celebration of the Feast of Trumpets in the Millennial Temple.
Lastly, notice, too, that in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, there are three loud sounds. In Jewish traditions, these three sounds the apostle Paul speaks of in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 pertain to The Rapture. These three sounds are:
1. Symbolic of the herald who cries out that the Bridegroom is coming, which is confirmed by Jesus the Christ in the Parable of the Ten Virgins (cf. Matthew 25:1-13), is the loud cry heard as the Lord descends from Heaven. This loud cry awakes the sleeping virgins and lets them know it is time for them to get up and get dressed so that they’ll be ready to go, when the Bridegroom gets to their homes. Now the apostle says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 that the Lord comes with a loud command, or a rousing cry, but he never says that it is the Lord Himself who makes the cry. Perhaps this ambiguity is why, in Jewish traditions, this cry is the equivalent of the awakening Shofar blast blown on the Feasts of Trumpets, which is the first trumpet sound heard on that day, of 100 blasts. Again, the first cry/shout in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 is to get those alive members of the Bride of Christ who have been sleeping to awake, get up, and be ready for the Groom’s return.
2. Symbolic of the voice that resurrects the dead is the shout from the ruling angel, or Archangel. His shout is similar to the same loud VOICE Christ Jesus uses in John 11:43-44 to call Lazarus from the grave. Thus, the second voice/shout is to resurrect the dead in Christ—those believers who are sleeping in their graves, like Christ said Lazarus was doing in his grave (cf. John 11:11). In essence, the voice of the Archangel will be shouting: Live! Arise! Ascend!
3. Symbolic of the last-blast sound of the shofar/trumpet, at the end of 30 days of Teshuvah, which also is the first-blast sound, at the beginning of Rosh HaShanah, calling the Jewish people to the Feasts of Trumpets (to their Wedding Feast), is the Trumpet (VOICE) of God or the Last Trump. The Trumpet (VOICE) of God or the Last Trump, hence, is the opposite of the First Trump. The First Trump signals the time when the Bride of God and the Bride of Christ became betrothed, which again was on the Day of Pentecost or 6 Sivan—Israel to God (cf. Exodus 24:3; Jeremiah 2:2; and Hosea 2:19-20); the Body of Christ to Christ Jesus (the moment each believer accepts Him as his or her Lord and Savior; cf. Romans 10:8-10). In other words, the First Trump sounds on 6 Sivan or the Day of Pentecost to signify the time when Israel, as an entire nation, and when the Body of Christ, with its many members, initially accepted their marriage contracts—said “I do.”
In contrast, the Last Trump sounds on the Feast of Trumpets, or the 1st of Tishri. This Last Trump signals the time when the alive Bride of Christ will be called (invited) to come through the open door of The Rapture in Matthew 25:10—called (invited) to the Wedding of Messiah (after which the open door shuts so that the marriage can be consummated in the bridal chamber, where the Bride and the Groom stay for seven days). The Trumpet (VOICE) of God or the Last Trump, thus, is blown on the day of The Rapture or Rosh HaShanah, which is the day and the hour that no one knows, because it is the day God Himself decides when it will begin. In other words, if He wants to, God will obscure the crescent moon (the sliver of the moon) of Rosh HaShanah from mankind’s view until He is ready for the crescent moon of this New Moon to be seen.
Put differently, it is after the first sliver of the New Moon is seen that the last trump (first blast of the Rosh HaShanah shofar/trumpet) is blown. This truth means that sometimes the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh HaShanah or Yom Teruah) could begin when the day is almost half over. So because the Feast of Trumpets is the only one of the Jewish moedim (holidays) that begins on a New Moon, which falls 29.5 days after the last New Moon, this truth also is why Rosh HaShanah is the hidden day, the day no humans, no angels, and not even Christ Jesus Himself would know when it will begin. In other words, because this New Moon of Tishri comes 29.5 days after the last New Moon, this 29.5 days’ fact is why this New Moon of Tishri could occur on the 29th or 30th day of Elul.
Now the 29th of Elul really is the 28th day of that actual month, and the 30th of Elul really is the 29th day of that same month plus the 1st of Tishri. God designed it that the Jewish season of Teshuvah (a total of 40 days) would start on the last day of Av (1 day of Av + 29 days of Elul = 30 days). The remaining 10 days of Teshuvah are the 10 Days of Awe! Thus, it should be easy to see, then, how the 1st of Tishri truly is a hidden day, as it isn’t the 1st of Tishri until the crescent moon of the New Moon is sighted. For sure, God’s plan of concealment, hiding this day primarily from Satan, is the main reason why nobody knows for sure when Rosh HaShanah would actually begin, which is why Rosh HaShanah, or the Rapture, happens on the first day of the New Moon, which once again is concealed, hidden, covered most of that first day. Remember here too that a Jewish day is from sundown to sundown!
Once again, no man knew for certain when the day of Rosh HaShanah would begin, because the moon is concealed, hidden, covered. This fact is why in ancient times the Jews had to wait until two witnesses saw the first sliver of the New Moon. Once the Sanhedrin Court leaders received the report from these two witnesses, they then would declare the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets.
The Feast of Trumpets also happens on a very historic date, as the 1st of Tishri is when the 6 days of Creation were completed, when Adam and Eve were created, when Sarah conceived Isaac, and so forth. More important, according to Jewish traditions, it was on Rosh HaShanah that Enoch was raptured—received his glorified body. It also is on this feast day that the Jews believe the day of the resurrection of the righteous dead happens. Perhaps these last two reasons, the day Enoch was translated and the day of the resurrected dead in Christ, are why God doesn’t give any specific reasons for celebrating this Feast of Trumpets, or The Rapture, and why both of these events are supposed to happen on a day and at an hour that no man knows.
Then too, according to rabbinical tradition, Rosh HaShanah is the day that the destiny of the righteous is written in the Book of Life, while the destiny of the wicked is written in the Book of Death. However, scholars say that most of the people’s names aren’t written in either book until Yom Kippur (the day when destinies are sealed), which is 10 days later.
Finally, since Rosh HaShanah is the time of the Messiah’s Wedding and the Day of Concealment (the hidden day), the Trumpet of God or Last Trump, which blows at the time of The Rapture, clearly is God’s VOICE sounding like the last or final shofar blast, or more important the last reminder to the Bride of Christ that She needs to be ready to receive Her glorified immortal body, which happens when She meets Her Lord on the clouds in the air. From there they enter into their Bridal Chamber in Heaven, where they’ll remain for seven years.
The bottom line is that even though God is the only One who knows for certain when the Rapture and every Feast of Trumpets actually begin, He uses plenty of Rosh HaShanah idioms, which clearly depict the same concealed, hidden, covered New Moon images. Thus, the Trumpet of God in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Last Trump in 1 Corinthians 15:52 are God’s Way of verifying that while no one will know the exact day or the exact hour when The Rapture will happen, the Bride of Christ has been given enough Rosh HaShanah idioms for Her (every member in the Body of Christ) to know that The Rapture of the Bride of Christ will happen on some future Feast of Trumpets or Rosh HaShanah.
Indeed, when Christ Jesus says “…concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36), He is using a very common Hebrew idiomatic expression that no doubt confirms for His disciples that their Lord will keep His promise to cover/conceal and keep His faithful, obedient, patient, prepared, and watchful Bride safe from the time of wrath that is coming soon upon the Earth. When He also tells His Jewish disciples to “…be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44), Christ Jesus is using just another idiomatic expression that lets them know that He’s coming to “snatch away” His Bride on a future Rosh HaShanah. The Lord left no doubt that He was describing for His disciples the day of Rosh Hashanah, which they knew was the rehearsal for the prophesied Natzal—the resurrection of the righteous dead, the “snatching away” (rapturing) of the Bride, the glorifying of mortal bodies, the Wedding of the Messiah, the consummation of the marriage, and the coronation of the King of kings. Their Jewish traditions clearly helped then to understand that Christ Jesus definitely is referring to the hidden day, which is Rosh HaShanah.
For sure, the Trumpet of God or Last Trump clearly also sets in order the end-time events that remain after The Rapture takes place. These are those prophesied end-time events that pertain to God’s final dealings with mankind on this present Earth. The Trumpet of God or Last Trump, then, is God Himself heralding those days to come that parallel the 7 Days of Awe (the Tribulation Period), which come before the annual Day of Atonement (the Day of the Lord or the Day of Judgment for Israel, and the entire world), and the Feast of Tabernacles (the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, which is organized and hosted by Father God).
Therefore, the meat and potatoes of why knowing Jewish traditions is necessary for understanding difficult and controversial biblical passages would be that not knowing the God established Jewish customs, culture, and mandated annual Feasts is a very big mistake, and an equally huge error is to not seek the Holy Spirit’s help in understanding how said traditions are related to the Holy Bible’s prophetic end-time events. It is obvious that having a working knowledge and understanding of these traditions will help believers, especially Gentile believers, to interpret correctly many if not all of the Holy Bible’s controversial passages that currently have too many different versions to yield any kind of harmony . . . oneness. A word to the wise should be sufficient! Amen!
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, KJV; cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17)
The term “mystery” in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (KJV) refers to a biblically hidden understanding about a Divine Truth that God purposely does NOT make unambiguous to people who are ungodly (unbelievers [Truth doubters, skeptics], or disbelievers [Truth pickers, choosers]). Nor does He reveal this hidden understanding to the people who are unsaved (nonbelievers [Truth rejecters]).
Furthermore, the clear-cut understanding about the particular “mystery” referred to in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 also was not revealed during the Old Testament times. Instead, in God’s own time, the Holy Spirit has made known the hidden nuances associated with this “mystery,” but only to the New Testament’s genuinely full of the Holy Spirit believers in Christ—the real Bride of Christ.
Now, while the Scriptures say that humans are appointed a time to die a physical death, and then they must undergo judgment (cf. Hebrews 9:27; Genesis 3:19; Ecclesiastes 3:20), the “mystery” apostle Paul writes about, which is the same “mystery” the Holy Spirit reveals, is that not every person who believes in Jesus the Christ will experience a physical death, before His Second Coming—before Jesus the Christ’s bodily return!!! As apostle Paul confirms in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, when Jesus the Christ returns to “snatch up” His CHURCH, the dead in Christ will rise first—their old bodies will be resurrected as glorified ones—and then their changed bodies will unite with their eternal spirits and souls. Furthermore, their glorified bodies will not be subject to diseases, sin, or death. After that, according to the apostle Paul, the living Christians will be “caught up” in the air where they will receive their glorified bodies as well, but the difference is that their perfected bodies will come as a result of their “translation” (their “Rapture”) rather than by way of a resurrection. However, just like the dead in Christ, living believers’ glorified bodies also will not be subject to diseases, sin, or death.
Because living Christians are going to be “caught up” or “snatched up” instead of resurrected, the apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:17, obviously is describing the “Rapture,” even though the actual word, “Rapture,” is not in the modern English translations of the HolyBible. True believers, especially those individuals who are being led and taught by the Holy Spirit, know that the apostle is speaking about the “Rapture,” because the Scriptures are clear about these Bride of Christ believers being “carried off” of this planet.
Additionally, physical evidence that supports what the Holy Spirit has taught and led these believers to accept as Divine Truth about the “Rapture” comes from Jerome’s version of the Latin Vulgate Bible (completed between 382-405 A.D.), which became the commonly used translation of the Holy Bible among Latin-speaking Western Christians, because they used the Latin Vulgate Bible for 1,000 years prior to the Reformation Period. In essence, by and large, there is no other Holy Bible translation that has been used longer than the Latin Vulgate Bible!
So then, in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 of the Latin Vulgate Bible, which is an early translation of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament, Jerome translates the Koine Greek word harpagēsometha, which is the passive voice and future tense of harpazō, into the Latin word, rapiemur, from which comes the English word “Rapture.” Moreover, from the Latin Vulgate Bible, the commonly used Latin words rapiemur, rapturo, raeptius,and raptus are all forms of the Latin word rapio, and the root word rapio means “to seize, to drag off, to carry off, or to snatch away.”
What cannot be disputed is the fact that in the modern English versionsof the Holy Bible, the New Testament Greek word, harpazō, which literally means a sudden and physical withdrawal, often is translated as “caught up,” “taken up,” or “snatched up”; thus, the next prophetic event, which is the “Rapture,” is in the Holy Bible. It is just that most of the translators who work on English versions of the New Testament use phrases like “snatched up” when they refer to this prophetic event.
Snatched up, indeed! Whatever words people want to use when they refer to the “Rapture,” true believers can rest assured that the “Rapture” sure enough is going to be the Greatest Snatch ever, because it will save God’s true believers from the hellish Tribulation Period!
Can I get some down-home hallelujahs? Let the redeemed of the Lord say so! AMEN.
The most popular argument that people worldwide use when they discuss the rapture topic is that the word “rapture” is not in the Bible. The second most popular argument is that no one knows exactly when the “rapture” will happen.
Yes, the ACTUAL word “rapture” is not in, for example, the well-liked King James Version of the Holy Bible. However, there are other English words, which English-speaking believers all over the world use, that are not in the English translations of the Holy Bible, and two of the most familiar terms are Bible and Trinity.
Where the word “rapture” and the Scriptures that pertain to believers being “caught up” or “snatched away” are concerned, the earliest Greek New Testament manuscripts used the word transliterated as harpazo, and the Latin Vulgate version of the Holy Bible, or Vulgate as it is called, used the word transliterated as rapturo. Produced by Jerome in the early 5th century, the Vulgate is a revised translation of the older Latin versions, and for many years the Vulgate was the source text used for many vernacular languages. In fact, many Latin words used in the English language have come from the Vulgate, with no change (or little change) in meaning or spelling. For example, the English language uses variations of the words apostolus, ecclesia, evangelium, angelus, creatio, salvatio, justificatio, testamentum, sanctificatio, regeneratio, and raptura (from the noun form of the verb rapiemur, which is used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17).
Then there is the no one knows exactly when the “rapture” will happen argument, which also is true. Indeed, Jesus the Christ says to: “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matthew 24:42, KJV). The Scriptures also say that He will come LIKE a thief in the night; that is, the Lord will come for His CHURCH without giving a warning. As a result, unprepared individuals will not have any time to get ready for the Lord’s sudden arrival (cf. Matthew 24:43, 1 Thessalonians 5:6, Revelation 3:3 and Revelation 16:15).
Now, even though NO ONE, not even Jesus the Christ Himself, knows when God will send the Lord back to Earth for the “catching up” or “snatching away” of those individuals who have a personal relationship with Jesus the Christ, the Lord Himself says that there will be signs of the times. Some of those definitive signs are the literal and figurative fig tree’s budding and blossoming, the symbolic lifestyles of the people living in Noah’s days, and the symbolic lifestyles of the people living in Sodom and Gomorrah during Abraham’s days. These declared signs let the prepared and watchful believers know that the Rapture season is upon them.
When eager holiday lovers prepare for their Season of Giving, they do so by dutifully putting up seasonal decorations weeks in advance, or by cheerfully buying seasonal gifts way ahead of time, or by gladly purchasing seasonal food and drinks before their special day of the Season of Giving arrives. Then too, when enthusiastic sports fans prepare for the professional football or basketball season, they do so by loyally securing season tickets in advance, or by faithfully following the current season’s statistics on their favorite team(s), or by devotedly buying their favorite team’s paraphernalia. Likewise, believers also must prepare for the Rapture season!
In Matthew 24:40-42, it is evident that Jesus the Christ is talking about the “rapture,” and in verse 43 it is obvious that He is alluding to the Rapture season by describing the actions a knowledgeable, watchful homeowner would take. Furthermore, from these previously mentioned verses, it is clear that the Lord wants to develop an analogy through which He can compare the natural diligence and vigilance that surely would come from a well-informed homeowner to the supernatural awareness and alertness of spiritually mature and fruitfully productive believers. Jesus the Christ is saying that once the homeowner knows when a burglar is going to break into his house, this “goodman” carefully and attentively waits for the expected hour the burglar is to show up, hopeful that he will be able to stop the intruder from breaking into his home.
Conversely, the Lord is saying that even though Christians do not know exactly when the Lord will come back to “rapture” them, the Holy Spirit has made them spiritually wise, knowledgeable, and faithful Temples of the Lord who can discern the signs of the times. As such, like the natural homeowner, believers must be careful to use all of the spiritual information available to them so that they too can be incessantly diligent and vigilant individuals who are “…also ready: for in such an hour as [they] think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:44). Believers not only must be ready for their Lord who is coming LIKE a thief in the night but also they must be looking forward to His soon-to-come arrival, hopeful that they will be able to stop Satan from shaking up their faith!
Finally, because there is NO biblical prophecy that needs to be fulfilled; that is, there is no major spiritual event that MUST happen before the “rapture” takes place, it is crucial for believers to know and to be looking for the signs of the times. It also is imperative for believing men and women to make sure that they are living a hopeful life—living like they are expecting their Lord to come at any moment to “catch up” His CHURCH (to return on a cloud to “rapture” them).
The number of last-days scoffers who currently exist in the 21st century’s institutional church is astounding. The number of last-days scoffers who actually call themselves “Christians” is even more shocking, especially when that number includes several whole denominations of believers who enjoy ridiculing and attacking Pre-Tribulation Rapture believers! Indeed, the reasons why so many believers in God and Christ will not be raptured are because so many of them either do not believe in the Rapture, or they do not believe that the Rapture will happen before the start of the Tribulation Period. Furthermore, it is sad to say, but too many of these last days’ scoffing believers also think that the Tribulation Period ALREADY has started!
Be that as it may, the most common argument that most English speaking Christians make about the Rapture, no matter when they believe it is supposed to happen, is that the English word, Rapture, is not in the Holy Bible. Now, isn’t it funny how so many of these English speaking people do not seem to mind, or even know, that the English words “Trinity” and “Bible,” for example, are not mentioned in the Scriptures, either? It truly is funny how easily some people will believe in the idea of the “Trinity” and/or accept the word “Bible” as the name for the unadulterated Word of God, yet get their knickers twisted when anyone preaches, teaches, or writes about the Rapture.
Still, there is just no accounting for the spiritual ignorance that blinds the Rapture opponents who discount the idea of the Rapture just because that English word is not found in the Scriptures. It is amazing how these same opponents can know that the Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic languages of the Old and New Testaments have been translated into many languages, of which English is just one, and yet these same opponents will continue to choose to disagree with Rapture believers, even though these opponents know of, or at least have heard people mention the scriptural accounts of Enoch’s translation, Elijah’s going up, Philip’s catching away, Paul’s catching up, and John’s in the Spirit. Without a doubt, these precursory disappearances point to the imminent Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Body of Christ (CHURCH Age saints).
The bottom line, then, is either the Rapture opponents just do not study the “Bible” for themselves, or they are more comfortable with just parroting what they have heard people say about the Rapture instead of letting the Holy Spirit teach them God’s Divine Truth. No matter what it is that keeps these English speaking Rapture opponents blind to the biblical truth, the point here is that they need to trust the Scriptures more than they trust, for example, The Apology, The Republic, Poetics, Iliad, Odyssey, The Oresteia trilogy, Antigone, Oedipus Rex,and so forth. Certainly, if these Rapture scoffers want to disregard God’s inspired Word that deals with the Rapture, then these scoffers also must disregard classical literature, such as those ancient writings credited to Plato, Aristotle, Homer, Aeschylus, and Sophocles. Here’s why.
Other than arguing that the word Rapture is not in English “Bibles,” one of the major premises that many English speaking Rapture opponents use when they are trying to discredit the idea of the Rapture is that there are NO Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic manuscripts in their original autographs. These English speaking Rapture opponents believe that, without having the ORIGINALLY written manuscripts, there is no way to prove or disprove whether the existing English translations of the “Bible” truly are accurate or inaccurate. Indeed, they argue that English speaking Rapture believers who are convinced that in its original autographs that the “Bible” is the divinely inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God would actually need to have the original Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic manuscripts, and then be able to read these manuscripts in their original languages, before they could know, beyond a shadow of doubt, if what they are reading today in their English-translated “Bible” is really what the ancient biblical authors wrote.
These opponents, however, have overlooked the fact that the same can be said about the aforementioned ancient philosophical, epic, and dramatic classical literatures. Thus, if these 21st century English speaking Rapture opponents’ objections are because they distrust the Holy Bible (a book they believe has been translated into English from copies, of copies, of copies, of copies in which there are too many manuscript changes and variations), then these same 21st century English speaking classical literature readers also must conclude that the majority of the English translations of texts credited to Plato, Aristotle, Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and other ancient Greek philosophers and writers also are from copies, of copies, of copies, of copies in which there are manuscripts changes and variations!
Additionally, just like many Rapture scoffers argue that the existing Old and New Testament canons are based on manuscripts that have been written years after the deaths of the accepted biblical authors, the same can be argued about the works of Plato, Aristotle, Homer, and so forth. For example, it is widely accepted that an Egyptian Greek collected, edited, and published all of Plato’s books/dialogues (both authentic and spurious), and that he did so some 400 years after Plato’s death! Like many biblical scholars who believed that their educated opinions about the authenticity of some manuscripts were correct, and then their educated opinions were later proven wrong, the same is true about Thrasyllus of Mendes, a Greek philosophy scholar. He believed that his edited collection of Plato’s complete works consisted of ONLY genuine manuscript copies. Over time, however, many scholars of ancient Greek philosophy have declared that several of the works Thrasyllus includes as “authentic” Platonic texts are spurious, or at the least “uncertain.”
Authenticity notwithstanding, without much protest, 21st century college and university professors who teach Philosophy classes, present the Tetralogies, and the philosophy, wisdom and principles found in these narratives, as though there is no doubt that these are Plato’s very own narratives, philosophy, wisdom, and principles. As a result, the majority of college and university students ACCEPT these works and their professors’ teachings, also without much protest. Yet, when it comes to accepting the narratives, philosophy, wisdom, and principles found in the Holy Bible, as well as when it comes to accepting the Holy Bible as being the inspired Word of God supernaturally put into the minds and spirits of the credited biblical authors, many academicians and their students immediately and vociferously convey their objections.
Concerning the trustworthiness and authenticity of the New Testament manuscripts, there are over 5,600 known Greek New Testamentmanuscript copies and fragments that have survived until today, over 10,000 New Testament manuscript copies in Latin, and over 9,300 New Testament manuscript copies written in Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Gothic, and Ethiopic languages, which makes the total number of the known New Testament manuscript copies to be near 25,000. Thus, New Testament manuscripts not only rank first in the world in ancient manuscript evidence, but also there are only very small changes and variations in these thousands of manuscripts! Contrary to opinion, these changes and variations do NOT affect the central Christian doctrines, nor do they change the Gospel message!
In contrast, where classical literature is concerned, specifically the Greek writings of Plato, Aristotle, Homer, Sophocles, and others, next to Greek New Testament manuscript evidence, Homer’s Iliad holds second placewith only 643 surviving ancient manuscript copies! Sophocles is in third place with 193 surviving ancient manuscript copies, and Aristotle is in fourth place with 49 surviving ancient manuscript copies. By the way, there are only 7 surviving ancient manuscript copies of Plato’s Tetralogies! Lastly, the time between the Greek New Testament’s original autographs and the earliest existing copy is remarkably a short 40-60 year timeframe, as opposed to a long 500 years between the time of the original Iliad and the first known copy.
Now, since the Greek New Testament manuscripts of the Holy Biblestand alone as the best-preserved literary works of all antiquity, and since the Authorized King James Version (KJV) of the Holy Bible continues to be one of the most popular English translations, then it is fitting to note here that the English-translated Holy Bible is more trustworthy than any other ancient literary work that has been translated into English. Even though scholars have found that there are 400,000 textual variant readings (differences) between all of the Greek New Testament manuscripts, they also have found that there are only 5,000 textual variant readings between the King James’ English New Testament text and the Greek New Testament manuscripts that are based on the best Greek witnesses (the best external evidence of each physical witness [physical document], its date, source, and relationship to the other known witnesses [physical documents]). Moreover, the majority of these variant readings have to do with untranslatable words. Then too, the majority of the variant readings between the Greek New Testament manuscripts used to create the KJV of the New Testament, and the majority of the variant readings between the Greek New Testament manuscripts used to create modern English translations, are very minor—such as the difference between the use of a “who” or “whom,” or the removal of the “thees and thous.”
With the exception of a few inconsequential discrepancies that have been introduced over time through copyist error, the 98% agreement between the KJV text, the best Greek New Testament witnesses, and the standard critical text (that which best resembles the original text) have made it clear that the KJV HolyBible, in particular, the New Testament portion, is essentially the same as the ancient Greek New Testament manuscripts. For this reason, there is no truth in the argument made about the Rapture not being in the “Bible.” What is true is that the actual English word, Rapture, is what English speaking people cannot find in the Holy Bible, and rightly so since English is not the original language of the Old or the New Testament manuscripts.
Nevertheless, since this article is about helping its readers know if they are Rapture Ready, or not, then for the purpose of enlightening those who seek the truth about the Rapture, this article will now focus on highlighting those Scriptures that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Rapture not only is mentioned in the KJV of the Holy Bible but also that the Rapture is presented as a Pre-Tribulation ONLY event. Hopefully, the readers of this article will use this information to govern themselves accordingly, or suffer the consequences.
For the record, even though the actual English word, Rapture, is not in the King James Version of the Greek New Testament, the descriptions and explanations of this event are found in many “Bible” passages. Furthermore, according to Strong’s New Testament Greek Lexicon, the Greek word aJrpavzw, which is found in the Greek New Testament manuscripts, is transliterated as harpazo.
As mentioned earlier, the Holy Bible has been translated into many languages, with English being only one of those languages. Latin is another language, and, where the word Rapture is concerned, the early Latin translators of the Greek New Testament portion of the Holy Bible translated the Greek word harpazo into the Latin word rapturo. Certainly, modern-day English speakers can see that the root of their English word Rapture is from the Latin word rapturo.
What’s more, in the Strong’s Greek Lexicon, the Greek verb harpazo is defined as: 1. to seize, carry off by force; 2. to seize on, claim for one’s self eagerly; and 3. to snatch out or away, and these definitions are why the King James English translators use the words “caught up” to mean the same thing as the Greek word harpazo. Moreover, the way in which harpazo is used in the major English Rapture Scriptures makes it clear that from those Scriptures the Greek harpazo (Latin’s rapturo, English’s rapture) refers to the catching away of those who have a personal relationship with Jesus the Christ, those who call themselves by His name, which is Christians. This catching away (Rapture) is a future event that will allow the true CHURCH saints to meet their Lord in the air. Thus, the Rapture event is Christian believers’ blessed hope, but only if these believers truly have accepted Christ as their personal Savior.
It should be interesting to know that true Christians don’t just accept Christ, but they repent (have a change of mind) and turn toward God with the deepest desire to obey God’s Word. At this point in their salvation experience, they would have received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who enables them to have communion with the Lord. However, they also would need the infilling of the Holy Spirit, because it is the infilling that anoints born again and saved believers so that they can receive whatever the Holy Spirit reveals to them about the Word of God.
The Holy Spirit’s oil (anointing) is what not only brings believers out of darkness (sin) but also what keeps them in the Light so they can become Rapture Ready and, thus, not be left behind when Jesus returns to take them with Him to Heaven. Therefore, an additional reason why so many professed believers will be left behind is because they will not be prepared for Him (cf. the Ten Virgin Parable)! Unreadiness and inattentiveness are two reasons why, at the end of the Ten Virgin parable, Christ warns His believers against being like the foolish virgins who were left behind. He says His believers are to: “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 25:13, KJV).
Because believers are warned that they must be watchful (observant, alert), as well as prepared (holy, righteous, sanctified, and productive), for they do NOT know when Christ will come to get them, then the Rapture cannot happen during Mid-Tribulation or Post-Tribulation, because the people who know the Word of God will be able to calculate the time of Christ’s return. There would of course be two choices: 3½ years after the Tribulation Period starts, which would be Mid-Tribulation, or, 3½ years later, which would be Post-Tribulation. Either way, when people can calculate when to EXPECT Christ to show up, then the imminency of the Rapture (the immediate, at any time, ready to happen appearance of Christ) loses its sobering effect (the pressing need to be watchful and prepared). When they know when Christ is coming for them, there would be no hurry for them to get right with God, and then begin to do the kinds of “godly” works that will make them spiritually prepared and productive. Moreover, knowing that Christ would be coming back either at Mid- or Post-Tribulation could cause people to make a very serious error in judgment, like choosing to wait until the time of Christ’s return grows nearer, and after postponing getting right with God until a later date they then die before those Mid- or Post-Tribulation points in time happen. Indeed, putting off getting right with God is never a good decision to make, because no one knows for sure when he or she will die. This fact is why getting right with God is a Pre-Tribulation Rapture MUST.
For sure, the biggest danger in knowing the time of Christ’s return (i.e., Mid- or Post-Tribulation) is that people will NOT be looking for Christ to come back until the time grows closer to the middle or end of the Tribulation Period. Instead, they will be focusing on the appearance of the Antichrist and the beginning of the Great Sorrows. Thus, should the Pre-Tribulation Rapture happen, as the Scriptures say it will, then ALL of the people who are NOT looking for Christ will be caught off guard, surprised that He showed up so early! They will be even that more shocked when Christ closes the door to Heaven in their faces and they end up being the left behind individuals who will suffer God’s wrath (Tribulation Period).
From this writer’s point of view, the evidence that supports the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is more abundant than the evidence people use to support the NO Rapture opinion, or the Mid- or Post-Tribulation Rapture belief. Of course, the reason why so many people do not hold the same views on the Rapture really has to do with how they are interpreting the Scriptures!
Nevertheless, the Scriptures are unequivocal about the concept of the Rapture. The Apostle Paul writes: “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: Then we which are alive and remain shall becaught up[Greek, harpazo]together with them in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with the LORD”(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, KJV).
Other New Testament Rapture Scriptures are:
“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” –(Matthew 24:36-42, KJV).
“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But heanswered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” –(Matthew 25:1-13, KJV).
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:20-26, KJV).
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” –(1 Corinthians 15:51-53, KJV).
“And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” –(1 Thessalonians 1:10, KJV).
“For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?” (1 Thessalonians 2:19, KJV).
Notice in 1 Thessalonians 2:19 that the Apostle Paul makes it very clear that the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is the true CHURCH saints’ hope. They look forward to being rescued from the wrath of God that will be poured out during the Tribulation Period, and being “rescued” means being raptured and then given glorified bodies that make it possible for them to travel to Heaven where they can commune with Christ face-to-face. The Apostle Paul makes it equally clear that this Rapture hope also is why true CHURCH saints’look forward to returning with Christ, in their glorified bodies, at the end of the Tribulation Period.
The New Testament Rapture Scriptures continue:
“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 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. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation” –(1 Thessalonians 5:1-8, KJV)
“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” –(1 Thessalonians 5:9, KJV).
“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” –(Revelation 3:10, KJV; cf. Jeremiah 30:7-11).
Notice that, in Revelation 3:10, of the seven churches in Asia Minor, all of which are symbolic representations of the kinds of Christians there will be in the world from the beginning of the CHURCH until the Rapture of the CHURCH, ONLY the Philadelphian believers are promised that they will be “rescued” from the Tribulation Period. Christ promises that He will rescue them from the Tribulation Period, because they put God first and didn’t compromise His Word by yielding to temptation, like accepting this world’s sinful ways as “satisfactory” conduct for true believers to copy. Therefore, Jesus is coming back to rapture ONLY the Philadelphian-like Christians, because these believers will be His true CHURCH (Body of Christ members who also are known as His Bride)!
Now, it stands to reason that Christ would not want His Bride to suffer the horrors of the Tribulation Period. In fact, the New Testament Scriptures assure those who are the born again and saved Bride of Christ that they not only are redeemed by God’s Grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and through the Blood of Jesus the Christ, but also they will be rescued from the wrath of God by the sacrificial work of Christ and the sanctification process of the Holy Spirit. For sure, Christ is the Bride’s perfect husband (cf. Ephesians 5:25-33), because He loves His Bride with an unfailing love. Christ’s unfailing love for His Bride also means that He is more than willing to protect Her, and His protection would include taking His Bride away from any wrath that Father God is going to bring upon the world.The only way that this kind of protection can be accomplished is by Christ totally removing His Bride from the Earth—in other words, this kind of protection is accomplished through the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.
In case someone doesn’t know it yet, the Rapture is for the true CHURCH saints. For this reason, having enough knowledge about and an in-depth understanding of the RAPTURE are the gifts that Christ provides for His genuine believers so that they can find COMFORT in knowing that they will escape the Great Tribulation and be with Christ and God in Heaven (cf. Revelation 3:10)! However, for the ones who will become the left behind unbelievers, the gifts of knowledge and understanding, as they pertain to the Rapture, are presented as a strong warning! Why? Well first, the ones who do not believe in either the Rapture or the Pre-Tribulation Rapture will be the ones who will not be looking for Christ to return before the Tribulation Period begins. Secondly, Christ wants these Pre-Tribulation Rapture unbelievers to know that they will be the ones who become the left behinders. Thirdly, Christ wants these left behinders to know that shortly after the Rapture happens the Tribulation’s seven years will begin, and these years will be filled with the kinds of sorrows and horrors that this Earth, and the people living on Her, never have seen before (cf. Matthew 24:21; Revelation 6:17).
Fourth, although, there will be people who are born again and saved during the Tribulation Period (cf. Revelation 7:14), the Scriptures indicate that if a left behinder has heard the Gospel prior to the Rapture and rejected the Gospel’s Truth, which includes the truth about the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, then during the Tribulation Period this person will receive a STRONG delusion. The delusion that will fall upon this left behind individual will be a heavy spiritual blindness that prevents this left behinder from accepting the preached and taught Gospel truth that will be coming from primarily the Jewish evangelists, two witnesses, and three angels (cf. 2Thessalonians 2:9-12; Revelation 7:3-8, 11:3-12, and 14:1-20).
What’s more, although many Rapture and Pre-Tribulation Rapture opponents argue that Apostle Paul doesn’t believe in the Rapture, let alone the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, in 2Thessalonians 2:1-2, it is very clear that the Thessalonians already knew and understood that the Tribulation Period, or wrath to come, would not come until after the Rapture. In the language of 2 Thessalonians 2:1, which is “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him” KJV, the Apostle Paul makes it very clear that Christ’s Rapture of the CHURCH (the “gathering together unto him”) will happen before the lawless one, the Antichrist, is revealed to the world, and that his revealing only will happen during the Tribulation Period (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; Revelation 11:3-12). Moreover, in the language of 2 Thessalonians 2:2, which is “That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand” KJV, the Apostle Paul makes it clear that true believers are not to be troubled by those last days’ Pre-Tribulation Rapture scoffers who will claim that the Tribulation Period (the day of the Lord) already has begun!
For clarification, the day of the Lord is a clear prophetic timeframe that begins with the Rapture of the CHURCH and continues through the entire seven year Tribulation Period (the seven years of God’s imminent judgment/wrath). The day of the Lord, thus, is a time of overwhelming blessing OR unprecedented destruction, and the determining factor has to do with each individual’s obedience to God! That’s why the Apostle Paul tells the born again, saved, watchful, prepared, and productive Thessalonians that they should not be frustrated or troubled by the last days’ Pre-Tribulation Rapture scoffers who intentionally seek to deceive them with every kind of EVIDENCE that they can use to prove that the Tribulation Period started before any Rapture has taken place.
Now, these Thessalonians knew the signs of the times, which the apostle confirms when he writes that “…of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-2, KJV). Even though these young in the faith Thessalonians knew the signs of the times, they still misunderstood the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. That the Apostle Paul clearly had taught them that Jesus would be coming within the lifetimes of those alive during the first century A.D. is not the issue. The issues involving Thessalonians’ GREAT misunderstanding had to do with how soon, and with whether or not their deceased friends would miss the glorious experience of witnessing the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Indeed, some Thessalonians were so confused about Christ’s Second Coming that they were expecting Christ to come back literally at any moment, which is why they actually had stopped working and literally were looking for Christ’s any-second return.
To their credit, even though the Thessalonians were a heavily persecuted group of believers, as a body of believers, they still excelled in their “…work of faith, …labour of love, and patience of hope…” (1 Thessalonians 1:3a, KJV). These three very noticeable spiritual works are what the Apostle Paul uses to comfort the Thessalonians, using their spiritual works to encourage all of the Christians in Thessalonica to continue doing more and more of what they have been doing for the Lord—to live in such a way that their lives pleased God—because, even though the day of the Lord had not started, it was soon to come.
The apostle wanted the Thessalonians to be convinced that there neither had been any Rapture nor had the Tribulation Period started, for he wanted them to continue to comfort and edify each other until the time of the actual Pre-Tribulation Rapture. That’s why the apostle assures them that they would know if they were in the Tribulation Period, because, once again, the Tribulation Period would be the time when the Antichrist’s identity would be revealed. Their task, then, was to be vigilant and composed. If they remained armed with faith, love, and the hope of their salvation, when the day of the Lord did come it would not take them by surprise (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11).
Now, since no one could know who the Antichrist was until the Tribulation Period started, it should be evident that the Apostle Paul’s comforting and encouraging words to the Thessalonians also squash, once and for all, any Mid- and Post-Tribulation views! Contrary to some opposing Pre-Tribulation Rapture opinions, as stated earlier, the Apostle Paul does not indicate in his epistles that he believed the Tribulation Period already had begun. Additionally, he does not indicate in his epistles that he held either the Mid- or Post-Tribulation opinion. What the apostle does admit is that he knows that the day of the Lord (the timeframe that includes the Rapture and the Tribulation Period) would come like a thief in the night. This belief is why he also repeatedly expresses the need for believers to be watchful, sober, and prepared!
In support of what the Apostle Paul teaches about when the Antichrist will be revealed, in Revelation, the Apostle John indicates that it is the two prophesying and evangelizing Jewish witnesses who will reveal the Antichrist to the world (cf. Revelation 11:3-12). These two Jewish witness have been sent ONLY to the unsaved Jewish people, and they are prophesying and evangelizing primarily in Jerusalem! Thus, the Mid-Tribulation followers are wrong in using Revelation 11:12 (the time when the two witnesses are raptured, which is right at Mid-Tribulation) to prove that the CHURCH’s Rapture also will happen after the first three and a half Tribulation years. The Apostle John writes: “And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them” (Revelation 11:12, KJV).
This last Scripture ONLY pertains to the Rapture of the two Jewish witnesses who have been martyred by the Tribulation’s Antichrist. This Scripture in no way proves that the “mystery” CHURCH, which is made up of Jewish and Gentile believers (cf. Ephesians 3:3-6), also will be raptured during the middle of the Tribulation Period. In fact, nowhere in the Scriptures is it even suggested that these two Jewish witnesses are members of the Body of Christ (the CHURCH), or members of any institutional church. Thus, the two witnesses’ Rapture is a separate event—an event that occurs at a time that is totally different than the time when Christ raptures His Bride! For sure, the Pre-Tribulation Rapture comes first, and then comes the Mid-Tribulation Rapture of the two witnesses.
As it has been stated earlier, the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is for the CHURCH’s saints, and ONLY the CHURCH’s saints. However, there have been some precursory disappearances (Rapture sneak previews), and some of them pertain to Old Testament saints, while others pertain to New Testament saints. Still, it is enough to be able to say that the Pre-Tribulation Rapture line of reasoning is strengthened the most by the fact that three CHURCH saints, Evangelist Philip, Apostle Paul, and Apostle John, each had a sneak preview of the Rapture. The Scriptures that pertain to the true saints who experienced a precursory disappearance are:
“By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God” –Hebrews 11:5. This Scripture confirms that Enoch was the first human to be raptured (translated, snatched up) during a secret appearance of God.
“And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried…” –(2 Kings 2:11-12a, KJV). This Scripture confirms that Elijah was the second human to be raptured (go up) during the chariot of fire, horses of fire, and whirlwind (storm cloud) appearance of God, and that this time there were onlookers who witnessed his disappearance!
“And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up… –(Acts 1:9-10a, KJV; cf. Mark 16:19, Luke 24:49-53). Here, the Scriptures use the Greek word ejpaivrw, which is transliterated as epairo, which means to “take up,” from which the King James’ English translators get the phrase “went up.” Like Christ, true saints will be taken up (go up) in a similar manner, and they forever will be with Christ, whether in Heaven or on Earth.
“And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing” –(Acts 8:39, KJV). This Scripture shows how raptured (caught away) people can be in one place, one minute, and then supernaturally appear somewhere else. Certainly, this is the Rapture experience that both apostles Paul and John later have when they find themselves one minute on Earth, and in the next minute, in the Spirit and in Heaven.
“I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” –(2 Corinthians 2:2-4, KJV). These Scriptures describe the Apostle Paul’s Rapture experience, which, no doubt, helped him to preach and teach about the Pre-Tribulation Rapture with great conviction.
“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne” –(Revelation 4:1-2, KJV). As with evangelist Philip and the Apostle Paul, these Scriptures describe Apostle John’s preview of the future Rapture event that the CHURCH saints will experience.
Perhaps King Solomon’s words best explain what these precursory disappearances signify. Wise Solomon says that “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9, KJV). These old sayings about what has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again also support the Pre-Tribulation Rapture line of reasoning, which is that the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, like these precursory disappearances, is a future event that will happen without any signs, just promises. It is a future event that is just for the CHURCH’s saints, and it is a future event that will bring a message of hope and comfort to these saints.
Interconnected with the Rapture is the glorification—the final stage to the sanctification process in which human bodies are changed into the image of Christ’s transfigured body. This glorification is a future event that happens when both the dead in Christ and those who are alive when Christ, the Bridegroom, comes to rapture His Bride (true CHURCH/Body of Christ/saints). This is the time when the Pre-Tribulation raptured CHURCH saints will be changed in a twinkling of an eye.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John witness a precursory glorification that is similar to what the Apostle Paul later describes as putting on immortality—changing into another form, transforming, experiencing a metamorphosis. The way that the writer of The Gospel According to St.Matthew explains Christ’s transformation is by saying that He “…was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light” (Matthew 17:2, KJV). This example of a sudden change in appearance that happens to Jesus is the same kind of sudden bodily change that the Apostle Paul says will happen to every true CHURCH saint, and it will happen while the CHURCH saints are in the process of being “caught up” (raptured) to meet Christ in the air (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:17b).
Thus, when the true CHURCH saints are changed in the twinkling of an eye, and they put on immortality, they will have glorified bodies that resemble what Christ’s body looked like to His three disciples who witnessed His transfiguration. The Apostle Paul states this last point this way: “The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15:47-49, KJV). In essence, just as humans initially resemble a fallen Adam, eventually born again and saved humans will resemble Christ.
What is important to note here is that NOT all of Christ’s disciples got to witness His transfiguration—His glorification. Likewise, everyone living at the time of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture neither will witness the glorification nor the Rapture of the CHURCH’s saints, which is probably why many left behinders will refuse to believe that the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is the reason why they cannot locate their missing relatives and friends.
As stated earlier, the “Bible” mentions that, because many left behinders will refuse to believe the Divine Truth, God will send a strong delusion. This strong delusion, then, explains why apostasy will abound during the Tribulation Period. Indeed, many of these deluded left behinders will be those people who were once members of the institutional church who never experienced being born again. Many of these deluded left behinders will be people who once accepted Christ but then turned back to the world. Whatever are the reasons for why the deluded individuals got to be in the Tribulation, the bottom line is that their delusion will cause them to become the Tribulation Period’s apostate ones who would rather believe the Antichrist’s lies than accept the Gospel’s Divine Truth (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12).
Another problem with the Pre-Tribulation Rapture opponents’ arguments is that they also believe that the CHURCH’s true saints will have to go through the Tribulation Period. Scriptures do not support this opinion. In fact, the Scriptures record many instances in which God preserves (saves, rescues, delivers) His faithful people from impending destruction. The biblical authors mention that Enoch in Genesis 5:21-24 and Elijah in 2 Kings 2:1-12 both are rescued from a natural death. In the Scriptures, there are the narratives about Noah and his family, in Genesis 6:1-9:1; about Lot and his family, in Genesis 18:16-19:30; about Jonah, in Jonah 1:1-2:10; and about Nineveh’s residents, in Jonah 3:1-10, who are rescued from God’s imminent wrath.
The “Bible” also records many instances in which God’s chosen Jewish men and women are rescued from the wraths of mankind and Satan, as in the case of the Israelites’ exodus in Exodus 7:1-12:42; the Israelites’ crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 14:1-31; the deliverance of the Jewish people living in the Persian Provinces, as documented in the entire Book of Esther; the three Hebrew young men’s deliverance from the fiery furnace in Daniel 3:1-30; and Daniel’s deliverance from the Lion’s Den in Daniel 6:1-28. Each one of these examples of God rescuing and/or preserving His faithful saints (chosen people) from hurt, harm, or danger supports the “escapism” belief.
Believe it or not, some last days’ Christian scoffers often ridicule proponents of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture for their “escapism” belief—for being confident that they will escape the Tribulation Period in its entirety. The truth of the matter is that Jesus teaches an escapism Divine Truth, so there is no doubt that the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is all about “escapism,” or why else would Christ tell His believers to “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36, KJV)? Unequivocally, Christ, in this Scripture, is warning His believers about being prepared, prayerful, and watchful saints so that they will not be caught off guard. He is warning them, because He wants them to be Rapture Ready—to be able to escape ALL of the last days and end-time atrocities He mentions in vv. 10-35, which are found in chapter 21 of The Gospel According to St.Luke.
That some people will be able to escape the last days and end-times’ mayhem is the main point that Christ is making, and this escape or rescue opportunity ONLY will be provided for those individuals Christ deems to be “worthy.” Their worthiness is determined by their faithfulness, watchfulness, and readiness!
Along those lines, without a doubt, for centuries, the anticipation of Christ’s Second Coming has inspired fervent evangelism and steadfastness in trials and tribulations—spiritual fruitfulness. So that believers from every century would obtain and maintain that same passion for evangelism and that same steadfastness in trials and tribulations that first century believers demonstrated, Jesus warns His believers against becoming so preoccupied with the cares of this life that they become unfruitful. Once again, in several “Bible” passages, Jesus makes it emphatically clear that ONLY the watchful, sober, faithful, and productive saints will be counted worthy to ESCAPE the terrible things that will come upon the Earth in the last days and the end times. Still, even though the idea of CHURCH saints being removed to a safe haven comes from Christ’s own teachings, there still are far too many people who scoff at this belief.
Christ is not the only one who speaks about escapism. Even the Prophet Jeremiah speaks about those who are counted worthy to escape. Prophet Jeremiah tells God’s chosen people that God “…will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished” (Jeremiah 30:10-11, KJV). There can be no doubt that in these cited Scriptures God is alluding to the fact that many Messianic Jews will “escape” the Tribulation Period, completely. However, God also makes it clear that He specifically will protect His chosen people from the one who makes war against His Tribulation saints.
Even though God’s chosen nation of Israel will enter into the Tribulation Period (time of Jacob’s Trouble cf. Jeremiah 30:7), God promises that, in the end, though the nation will be disciplined/punished during God’s Great Tribulation (His wrath that is poured out on planet Earth and the people alive and living on the Earth at that time) the nation of Israel, His chosen people, will be saved (rescued, delivered; not destroyed). God will protect the nation of Israel who, at Mid-Tribulation, is fleeing from the Antichrist. Apostle John writes, saying “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days” (Revelation 12:6, KJV). Undoubtedly, Jordan’s Petra could be the wilderness mentioned in this Scripture, because Jordan’s Petra is one of the best natural fortresses and places of refuge on Earth where someone could find protection from the outside world for at least 3½ years, because the Siq, a narrow valley, is the only entrance into Petra. This last statement means that this Siq entrance could be easily guarded. However, the important point is that no matter where the Tribulation’s nation of Israel flees, God will protect them!
According to Revelation chapter 12, when the Antichrist’s attempt to capture the fleeing Israel is thwarted, he then is forced to turn his attention to making war “…with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17; cf. Revelation 12:14-16). Some prophecy scholars believe that this latter group will be Gentile converts from every nation.
Be that as it may, it is very clear from the Scriptures that during the Tribulation Period God Himself will provide the necessary supernatural, angelic protection for Israel. Thus, throughout the most unspeakable time the world will ever know, God will keep His Word about saving (rescuing, delivering)—providing a way to escape—for His chosen people. Likewise, God also will save (rescue, deliver)—provide a way to escape—for Christ’s faithful, watchful, and prepared CHURCH. The CHURCH’s escape is called the Pre-Tribulation Rapture!
Bottom line, the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is God’s Evacuation or Rescue Plan for true “Bible”-believing Christians. Moreover, this plan guarantees that Christ’s Bride (true CHURCH of Hebrews and Gentiles) will be removed from the Earth and taken by Christ to a safe place, which is in Heaven.
To refute the belief about the Pre-Tribulation Rapture being ONLY for the CHURCH’s saints, opponents make this last key argument, which is that the Tribulation saints are saints, too. This is a weak argument because the opponents’ premise is faulty. While Tribulation saints are saints, too, opponents of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture have seemed to have overlooked the Scriptures that inform them about the Tribulation saints becoming “saints” after the CHURCH has been removed from the Earth! These opponents also have seemed to have forgotten that there is a brief interval between the Pre-Tribulation Rapture and the beginning of the Tribulation Period, and that this is believed to be the time when the Jewish Temple is rebuilt.
Then, just before God unleashes His wrath, as mentioned in Apostle John’s Revelation chapter 7 flashback, the Holy Spirit seals 144,000 Jewish evangelists, marking them as saints of God. However, this seal of God that is on their forehead doesn’t protect these 144,000 from hurt, harm, and danger. The “Bible” clearly defines sealing as merely giving the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee (earnest, KJV) of believers’ inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, which is why in Revelation chapter 14, these initial 144,000 Jewish evangelists have been martyred and then raptured.
These Jewish 144,000 have been redeemed, just like the CHURCH’s Jewish and Gentile saints. God promises that His chosen, though spiritually blind and cutoff, would one day be redeemed, and so He keeps His Word. However, the Jewish 144,000, especially since they are living during the Tribulation Period, and not the CHURCH Age, represent the firstfruits of the Old Covenant, for the Prophet Jeremiah says that “Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 2:3, KJV).
Thus, when James, the brother of Jesus, and Apostle John speak of the 144,000 as being a kind of firstfruits (spiritually undefiled, pure virgins) who are presented “…unto God and to the Lamb” (Revelation 14:4b; cf. James 1:18), the reference here goes all the back to the Exodus 22:29-31a, when God commanded that His chosen people would “…not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me. Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and with thy sheep: seven days it shall be with his dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it me. And ye shall be holy men unto me….” The 144,000 redeemed, martyred, and raptured Tribulation saints, then, are symbolic of the firstfruits’ offerings (the firstfruits’ offerings the Old Testament Israelites were commanded to give to the Lord) that God knew His chosen people literally would become. All other Tribulation saints are just that—Tribulation saints.
Once more, one salient point that opponents of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture seem to overlook is that most of the Jewish and Gentile left behinders are left behind because they are UNBELIEVERS—people who NEVER have confessed that Christ is their Lord and personal Savior. Another salient point that opponents of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture seem to overlook is that many of the left behinders who had confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior during the CHURCH Age were NOT true saints. These so-called saints are UNBELIEVERS too, because they NEVER have had a born-again experience. As a result, they only could display an outward religiosity that was void of any inward conviction (like the nation of Israel, as She is symbolized in the cursing and withering of the fig tree, for they [the fig tree and Israel] both were not producing any fruit when Jesus passed their ways looking for fruit; cf. Matthew 21:18-20; Luke 13:6-9:). Therefore, if the Tribulation Period’s left behinders had been truly born again and, thus, truly saved, then they would have been prepared during the CHURCH Age for Christ’s Pre-Tribulation Rapture phase of His Second Coming!
For example, in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, these symbolic five foolish virgins are the representatives of many left behinders who have had the door of opportunity—the chance to be raptured—shut in their faces. Christ shuts the door on these foolish virgins because He cannot take up to Heaven any person who is as these foolish virgins are—unprepared, careless, spiritually unproductive “believers” in God and Christ. In essence, the five left behind virgins are representatives of the countless number of institutional church members who confess Jesus with their mouths yet never undergo a genuine born again experience.
A vast number of these Gentile and Jewish left behinders, as well as a great many of the never professed Christ at all unbelievers, will have a true born again experience that will lead to their acceptance of Christ as their personal Savior, but their rebirth and the appropriate sanctified lifestyle that must be manifested will happen after the Tribulation Period has started! While it is true that their born again and saved status is why they also are called saints, the fact still remains that they are Tribulation saints who come to a deeper spiritual understanding of who they are in Christ. Still, just as Old Testament saints cannot be CHURCH Age saints, Tribulation saints also cannot be CHURCH Age saints! For this reason, all of these saints will be resurrected and/or Raptured in their own lot or order (cf. Daniel 12:13 and 1 Corinthians 15:23), which means that the Tribulation Saints will be in a separate lot/order from the lot/order of the CHURCH’s dead and alive in Christ Pre-Tribulation Rapture saints.
Just like the Old Testament saints, CHURCH Age saints, and Tribulations saints are NOT resurrected together, the dead and alive in Christ Pre-Tribulation Rapture CHURCH saints and the Tribulation saints will NOT be raptured together, either. As previously indicated, the Prophet Daniel confirms the notion of distinct lots when he says that after the Tribulation Period is over, after Jacob’s Trouble is complete, God’s chosen Jewish people “…shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book…many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt…go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days” (Daniel 12:1b-2 and 12:13, KJV). The Apostle Paul makes a similar statement in 1 Corinthians 15:22-23. He also implies that ALL people, believers and unbelievers, Hebrews and Gentiles, Old Testament, CHURCH Age and Tribulation saints, not only will be raptured in accordance with their assigned order (their categorization, classification), but also they will be resurrected either to eternal life or to eternal damnation. Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:22-23 KJV that since “…in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.”
Now, this “coming” or parousia that the Apostle Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 15:23 is defined, according to the Strong’s Greek NewTestament Lexicon, as the future visible return from Heaven of Jesus, to raise the dead (which happens at different times or in several stages, depending on individuals’ lot/order), to hold the last judgment, and to set up formally and gloriously the Kingdom of God. However, these “coming” events do not happen ALL at the same time, as many Pre-Tribulation Rapture opponents would have people to believe. For sure, especially since the dead in Christ are raised at a different time than the eternally damned, Christ’s Second Coming is going to be in phases, with the Pre-Tribulation Rapture being the first phase. Christ Himself says to “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:28-30, KJV).
Thus, it is God who assigns every person to his or her lot/order, and it is God who decides not only when a particular lot/order will be resurrected, raptured and judged, but also God decides when Christ will return to Earth to raise the dead, to hold the last judgment, and to set up formally and gloriously the Kingdom of God. Indeed, it is God who decides whether or not Christ’s “coming” will be a one-time occurrence, or if it will be in phases. That’s why the opponents of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture should seek God about their opposition rather than attack those who hold a different point of view from theirs!
In reference to Christ raising the dead according to their lot/order, there are many Pre-Tribulation Rapture opponents who also try to refute the Pre-Tribulation Rapture belief by attacking the sound of the trump of God or the last trump (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 15:52). The Scripture clearly says that the dead in Christ bodies will arise from their graves after hearing three voices: the sound of Christ’s voice, the sound of the archangel’s voice, and the sound of the trump of God (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16). Pre-Tribulation Rapture opponents, however, claim that the trumpet mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 is NOT God’s voice but the sound of a judgment trumpet that is mentioned in Revelation, and therefore this means that the Rapture, if it happens, will happen during Mid-Tribulation.
Their claim is way off base, because Apostle John makes it clear that the last trumpet in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 is NOT a Tribulation trumpet. Apostle John writes, saying “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne” (Revelation 4:1-2, KJV). Now, not only is the Apostle John describing his own Rapture experience, after which he (a CHURCH saint) gets a glimpse of what is going to happen to the rest of the CHURCH’s saints, but also Apostle John is confirming that the Apostle Paul’s “last trump” that is sounded before the Pre-Tribulation Rapture begins, in fact, will be the voice of God sounding like a trumpet.
Furthermore, contrary to what the opponents of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture say, the Rapture will be a surprise, in that it will be an unannounced event that will catch many people off guard! Jesus says, “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:38-39, KJV).
In the above Scriptures, Christ mentions two destructive events, the Flood and the annihilation of the Sodom and Gomorrah residents, and then He mentions that God removes His true believers just before those destructive events take place. Without dispute, people accept the fact that the Flood happens after Noah and his family are safe inside the Ark. Likewise, people accept the fact that Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed after Lot departs from Sodom. Thus, since Jesus mentions these two destructive events and the removal of the faithful ones before the events happen, the obvious conclusion should be that the Tribulation Period will start after God raptures the CHURCH’s saints, because immediately after Christ speaks about the Flood and Sodom and Gomorrah’s before and after events He makes several Rapture references (cf. Matthew 24:40-51). As mentioned earlier, those old sayingsfrom Ecclesiastes that express the ideas that what has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again also apply to the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Prior to God’s wrath being poured out on this Earth, He surely will remove His faithful and true CHURCH Age saints!
As previously mentioned several times, there will be many left behinders who will receive the Good News Gospel that is preached and taught during the Tribulation Period. These individuals will become born again and saved Tribulation saints, and many of them will be martyred (beheaded by the Antichrist and False Prophet who are angry with them for not receiving the Mark of the Beast) [cf. Revelation 20:4]. However, it is not clear as to what role the Holy Spirit will play in the lives of these Tribulation saints.
God’s Word does say that His Holy Spirit only can dwell in those who believe Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead, which means that the indwelling Holy Spirit is for born again and saved believers. Secondly, the infilling of the Holy Spirit or Baptism of the Holy Spirit only can come to those who are the temple of the Holy Spirit, which means that the infilling Holy Spirit is for born again and saved believers. Therefore, based on the Scriptures, the left behinders who are without a doubt both Holy Spirit indwelt and infilled are the two witnesses. They not only are highly favored by God but also supernaturally empowered by Him, perhaps more so than the first century A.D. apostles. These two witnesses are so full of the Holy Spirit that they perform some awesome miracles, signs and wonders—like flashing fire from their mouths that is meant for their enemies, and then incinerating their enemies with this fire! Concerning the 144,000 and all of the other Tribulation saints, the Scriptures do not mention whether any of them have the same power and authority as the two witnesses, which is why many prophecy and end-times scholars believe that most of the Tribulation saints will NOT be filled with the Holy Spirit, but rather that He (the Holy Spirit) will come upon those individuals who operate with supernatural power and authority during the Tribulation Period.
What then is the conclusion of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture argument? The conclusion is that the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is coming much sooner than people think, and it will be for the rescuing of the CHURCH’s saints so that they will NOT have to face the Time of Jacob’s (nation of Israel’s) Trouble.
For sure, Satan and his imps have been working overtime trying to get people to believe any lie that would cause them to end up in eternity, in a place that specifically was designed for the Devil and his demons. That’s why Satan and his many imps also have gone out of their way to form different explanations for those people who would want to discount any Rapture belief, for those people who would want to claim that the Rapture is not a Pre-Tribulation event, but rather a Mid- or Post-Tribulation event, and for those people who would want to justify why they were left behind. Satan and his helpers also have gone out of their way to form explanations that will satisfy the multitudes of the left behind Hebrews and Gentiles who, after God’s CHURCH saints are gone, will want answers about what specifically will happen to them.
Because Satan is all about taking as many people with Him into eternity’s Lake of Fire, and because that time is swiftly approaching when Satan, his imps, Antichrist, and False Prophet will be thrown into this Lake of Fire, it is essential that every believer knows RIGHT NOW if he or she is Rapture Ready. There is no doubt that many Christians believe that humanity is certainly in the final generation of life on Earth. No doubt, this is why the subjects pertaining to the last days and the end times come up so frequently. Even though there still are too many Christians and too many non-Christians who don’t want to talk about whether or not they are ready for the prophetic events that are scheduled to happen in the very near future, the truth of the matter is believers really need to know if they are Rapture Ready.
Therefore, if some people are reading this article before the sudden disappearance of true Christians happens, then, hopefully, these individuals will realize that they only have a little more time to get right with God, if they are not living the kind of godly life that God expects His sons and daughters to live. Getting right with God by changing their mind (repenting; turning away from a life of sin and turning to a life in Christ) is the only way that unbelievers and/or carnal Christians can begin to Rapture-Ready their lives.
Additionally, if some people are reading this article after many people have disappeared, then, hopefully these individuals will know that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, they have been left behind. As left behinders, they most assuredly must get right with God, or suffer His ultimate wrath—an eternal separation from God, which is an eternity in the Lake of Fire.
Gone Fishin' 