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The sun shall be turned into
darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Joel 2:31 |
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The Post-Trib Pre-Wrath Rapture
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Level 2. In Depth Study Will Believers suffer God's Wrath? According to Walvoord and other pretribulationist, Post-trib cannot be doctrinally correct because, if the Church goes through the Tribulation then it will endure God's wrath being poured upon it along with the rest of the world. The Bible clearly teaches that believers are not appointed to wrath, on this point both pre-trib and post-trib agree fully.In I Thessalonians 5:2-9 the Bible says the following: "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. I Thessalonians 5:2-9 From these verses we see clearly that God will not pour out his wrath upon believers in the Day of the Lord, for we are not appointed to wrath. So Pre-tribulationalists are correct when they say we are not appointed to wrath from God. Pre-trib is incorrect however, when they claim that the Church will experience God's wrath during the tribulation. The question becomes, when does God pour out his wrath?, or when does the day of the Lord begin? Pre-trib teaches that the Day of the Lord begins at the start of the tribulation. Post-trib teaches that God's wrath will not be poured out until after the Tribulation, following the the Rapture.The Day of the Lord does not begin until after the Sixth Seal is opened when the Sun and Moon are darkened. Joel 2:31. God's wrath starts when the Seventh Seal is opened. A timeline will probably be helpful in demonstrating this. Note: Keep in mind the following timelines are not detailed, some events have not been included for simplicity sake.
From this Post-trib timeline you can see that the Rapture, or Day of Christ, comes at the start of the Day of the Lord; before God's wrath is poured out. At no time is God's wrath poured out upon believers. No Vials, no trumpet judgments, no wrath whatsoever. The Church is raptured at the beginning of the Day of the Lord just prior to the opening of the seventh seal, which contain the vial and trumpet judgments (God's wrath). Will believers saved during the tribulation experience God's wrath? If believers are not appointed to wrath, then it is pre-trib that has the real problem with this verse.in I Thessalonians. Pre-trib teaches that there will be people saved during the tribulation, it also teaches that God will pour out his wrath during the tribulation. If this is what they teach, and it is, then those which are saved during the tribulation will experience wrath from God along with unbelievers; therefore, violating this verse.
Who are these people saved during the tribulation, what happens to them at the end of the tribulation? Are they raptured out too? Are these the "Elect" mentioned in Matthew 24:31? Are there two raptures, one for the Church and one for these believers as well? How are these people "saved" if the Holy Spirit is removed from the Church prior to the tribulation? Are they saved to a Church relationship or to a Jewish relationship, or are they a Third Dispensation? Why does God save the Church from tribulation but not these people? Why are they appointed to wrath? These are all questions Pre-trib scholars have a hard time answering. To procede to the Next page, click on the Sign
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Copyright © 2003 Post-Trib Research Group
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The
Post-Trib, Pre-Wrath Rapture
