The Rapture Part 2 Titus 2 : 13 New King James Version (NKJV) 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ Commentary Last time, we gave an introduction on the subject matter of the Rapture or as the Apostle Paul would say that Blessed Hope for the Church. We also established that the Apostle Paul would not have us ignorant of the times, seasons, saints who have fallen asleep and the glorious appearing of our Great God and Savior - Jesus Christ. So the Church has everything to be excited and have joyous expectation and not overtaken by fear or dread of that day. There are 3 schools of thought pertaining to when the Rapture will occur. But before I address these schools of thought, I want to be absolutely clear and extremely cautious about this matter of setting dates or timetables. No person, breathing God atmosphere on the top side of planet earth can predict or divine when Jesus will return for His church. Anyone who does this, is quite simply a false prophet and putting Bible prophecy in disrepute. Now I do want to point out, that the Bible is very clear, crystal clear about the date of His Second Coming. His Second Coming will happen at the last stages of the Great Tribulation or last 3-1/2 year period of human history on this planet. If your one of the unfortunate ones to still be alive during that aweful time of carnage, on the 1,290th day of the 2nd half of the Tribulation Period, you will be able to walk outside, look up into the sky and see Jesus returning visibly. Everyone will see Him returning simultaneously. ( See Daniel Chapter 12). Now I hope that we have made clear, the distinction between the Rapture - which is specifically for the Church of Jesus Christ. The Second Coming is reserved for those who did not make the Rapture. Now the 3 schools of thought concerning the Rapture of the Church are as follows: (1) Pre-Tribulation Rapture (2) Mid Tribulation Rapture (3) Post Tribulation Rapture Pre tribulation means that the saints of God - the Church are forcefully and violently removed from the earth BEFORE Jesus begins to judge humanity. I used evidence from Genesis 19:16, the story of Lot, his wife and 2 daughters to illustrate this. Another example of God doing something similar is with Noah. Read carefully verse 16..... Genesis 7 New King James Version (NKJV) 4 For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made. 10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark 16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in. The Lord shut Noah, his family and those selected animals in the ark of safety. After the door were closed, God made sure that they would stay closed and those that were inside the ark, stayed in, and those outside the ark remained outside. So for the Pre-Tribulation crowd, the idea of being allowed to escape, as the case of Lot and Noah is very appealing. The Apostle Paul teaches this and so does Jesus. Mid tribulation speaks about Jesus removing His bride during the mid point of the Tribulation period. That would put the Church face to face with the Beast and False Prophet and being subjected to the big lie and deception for His bride. Post tribulation speaks about the church going through the Great Tribulation, His bride seeing God wrath being poured out on His bride along with everyone else on this Christ rejecting world. Jesus returning to destroy the Beast and armies that he has massed to destroy the Jews at the Battle of Armageddon. Depending on which school of prophecy you want to see yourself, it is clear that the Church is absent after chapter 3 of the Book of Revelation. So I suspect, along with some really fine pastor-teachers on this subject: Dr. J. Vernon McGee, Chuck Smith, Hal Lindsey, Charles Stanley that mid tribulation and post tribulation is erroneous teaching. That would put us in the camp of pre-tribulation rapture. Finally, I want to put a more sensitive touch on it. If you want to stick around for the Tribulation and Great Tribulation, Then I would submit that your either: (1) not knowledgeable about what Jesus, the Prophets and the Apostles say about that dreadful time and the absolute fearful nightmarish things manifesting, or.... (2) you dont believe a word of it, in which case your already in serious trouble. But as one pastor said, thats for you to decide. More to come. Later or at His Supper
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 04:54:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015