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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. Terms and Definitions The Day of the Lord in Detail In the previous section, Terms & Definitions, we learned that the Day of the Lord is associated with wrath from God, and that it's not a literal day but rather it spans a period of time. On these two things Pre-trib and Post-trib agree; however, they do not agree on when the Day of the Lord begins. Pre-trib says that the Day of the Lord starts at the beginning of the tribulation, following the rapture of the Church. Post-trib says that the Day of the Lord starts at the end of the tribulation following the rapture of the Church. So, which view is right? To get the answer to this question let's see what the Bible says. When does the Day of the Lord begin? So, when does the day of the Lord begin, and what events come immediately before it? Are there any events which mark the beginning of the day of the Lord? Yes! A very noticeable event that will make everyone on earth sit-up and take notice. From Joel we learn what this event is. Joel 2:31 "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come." Not convinced? Do you need another example of when the day of the Lord begins? We find it again in the New Testament in the book of Acts. Acts 2:20 "The sun shall be turned into
darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come." From these two verse we can see two events which occur:
Is this event mentioned elsewhere in scripture? This same celestial event is mentioned in Revelation, but in this case even more details are given concerning this astonishing happening. "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Revelation 6:12-17 From this verse we see the following order of events:
So far we've been able to determine from Scripture that the Day of the Lord starts following the opening of the Sixth Seal and the darkening of the Sun and Moon. So why does Post-trib claim that the Day of the Lord starts immediately after the Tribulation? We can get this information from the following verse. Matthew 24:29-31 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:" Not convinced, need more proof? Here it is again in the book of Mark. Mark 13:24-25 "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon
shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven
shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken." From these two verses, Matthew 24 & Mark 13, we see the following order of events:
So, according to the Bible the Day of the Lord starts after the tribulation and the Darkening of the Sun and Moon. The celestial event of the Sun and Moon being darkened is the Rosetta Stone of the book of Revelation. So what! How does the starting point of the Day of the Lord disprove pretribulationalism? That's the next question thats going to be answered, but first let's list all these events in the order in which the Bible says they occur. Need a list of the order of events? Let's place these events in the order in which they happen:
Need a Timeline to help in visualizing the order of events?
Notice that in the Post-tribulational timeline above that the Day of the Lord starts immediately after the darkening of the sun and moon, as Matthew 24 and Mark 13 declare; also notice that God's wrath is poured out in the Day of the Lord and not during the tribulation. Where do Pretribulationalists place the beginning of the Day of the Lord? Modern leading Pre-tribulationalists place the Day of the Lord at the beginning of the tribulation, see the timeline below. We have already proved that the Day of the Lord starts after the Darkening of the Sun and Moon, so why do pretribulationalists have it before the darkening of the Sun and Moon? They have no choice! They need it to! God's wrath must be poured during the Day of the Lord, but when pretribulationalists do this they violate Scripture. Joel 2:31 plainly states that "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come."
Notice in the Pre-trib timeline above, that the Day of the Lord starts prior to the Darkening of the Sun & Moon, not after as Joel 2:31 states. Also notice, with pretribulationalism the Seventh Seal is actually opened before the Sixth Seal! Some pretribulationalists place the Day of the Lord at the End of the tribulation Some older pretribulationalists place the start of the Day of the Lord at the end of the tribulation, as the timeline below shows. If Pretribulationalistss place the Day of the Lord at the end of the tribulation then they would have God's wrath falling before the Day of the Lord starts. No matter where they place it, they violate Scripture! The only sequence that doesn't violate Scripture is the Post-trib method.
What have we learned?
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The
Post-Trib, Pre-Wrath Rapture
