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The Post-Trib Pre-Wrath Rapture
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Level 2. In Depth Study
Step 4. Two Post-trib Rapture verses
Two Clear Posttribulational Rapture Verses
Remember when I asked you to think of a verse
that proves a pre-trib rapture, Did you find one? If so, be sure to send it to John
Walvoord. He's still searching for it. He said, "there is not a single, clear
Scripture that teaches pretribulationalism". In this section I will
give you two verses which clearly teach a Post-trib rapture, but first lets look at some
other rapture verses.
Common Ground?
Are there any rapture verses that both Pre-trib and Post-trib agree on? Yes! here is
one.
I Thessalonians 4:16-17 "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
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."
Both Pre-trib and Post-trib agree that this is a clear Rapture verse.
Notice however, that there is no sense of timing in this verse. There is nothing to
indicate when this event occurs, nothing that signifies that the rapture occurs before or
after the tribulation. Are there any more Rapture verses? Absolutely! Here's another.
I Corinthians 15: 51 "Behold, I show 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."
Both Pre-trib and Post-trib agree that this is a clear Rapture verse. Notice again, that
there is no sense of timing in this verse. There is nothing to indicate when the event
transpires. No other events are mentioned that must precede or follow the Rapture;
however, we are able to determine the following order of events.
1. The Lord descends from heaven
2. A trumpet sounds
3. The dead in Christ will rise
4. Those remaining will be caught up in the clouds
In order to determine when the rapture occurs we'll need to delve deeper into Scripture.
Let's Play a Game!
Let's play a game first. You've probably heard of Jeff Foxworthy and
"You might be a redneck if?" Well, we're going to play, "You might be a
Post-trib if?". In order to determine if you are a believer in Post-trib or Pre-trib;
I will ask you a series of questions, and based on these results we can scientifically
determine if you are Post-trib or a Pre-trib.
Ready? Answer the following question.
Based on the two preceding, undisputed, rapture verses above {I Thessalonians
4:16-17 and I Corinthians 15: 51}; does the following verse
sound like the Rapture to you?
Matthew 24:30,31 "And then shall appear the
sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and
they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather
together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
How about this verse, does this verse sound like the Rapture?
Mark 13:26,27 "And then shall they see the Son
of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels,
and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the
earth to the uttermost part of heaven."
If you answered YES, you might be a Post-trib! Before I answer why, let's
list out the events mentioned in these verses.
From these verses we are able to determine the following:
1. The Son of man (Jesus) comes in the clouds
2. A trumpet sounds
3. The elect are gathered together
Are Matthew 24 & Mark 13 rapture verses?
Pre-trib claims that this is NOT a rapture verse!
Confused? Question, who just made this verse complicated? After you read these verses, you
probably said to yourself, "that's the Rapture!" but, as soon as I told you that
Pre-trib says this isn't the rapture you got very confused. Why? It was all very simple
before, right?
I heard a preacher on the radio the other night, who after reading this passage, shouted
to his audience, "this is not the Rapture!" As if screaming was
going to make his point more convincing. So why did he say that this is not a Rapture
verse?
If you read the verse just prior to Matthew 24:30,31, it says the
following:
Matthew 24:29 "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: And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds…"
If he admits that this is a rapture verse he would also have to admit that the rapture
occurs after the tribulation!
The same is true for Mark 13:24 "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. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds..."
The Son of man appearing in the clouds (the Rapture) occurs after
the tribulation. Notice the similarities between these verse and the undisputed rapture
verses. There is only one difference between these verses and the undisputed verses, the
last two verses {Matthew 24 and Mark 13} add a sense of timing to the
rapture, unlike the previous two verses {I Thessalonians 4:16-17 and I Corinthians
15: 51} where there is no sense of timing given.
| Undisputed Rapture Verses |
Disputed Rapture Verses |
I Thessalonians 4 &
I Corinthians 15 |
Matthew 24 &
Mark 13 |
| The Lord descends from heaven |
The Son of man (Jesus) comes in the clouds. |
| A trumpet sounds |
A trumpet sounds. |
| The dead in Christ will rise |
|
| Those remaining will be caught up in the clouds to
meet Jesus in the air |
The elect are gathered together |
Notice any similarities!
Excuses, Excuses, Excuses
If Pre-trib admits that these are rapture verses then they would
also have to admit that the Rapture occurs after the tribulation. They don't want to do
that, so they have to come up with a reason to explain why this isn't the rapture. First
they say that Matthew 24 & Mark 13 are not written
to the Church but rather to Jews; that the Church wasn't started until Pentecost (Acts
chapter 2) so Jesus was speaking only to Jews, even though the Church is
mentioned just several Chapters before in Matthew 18:15-17. Next,
Pre-trib scholars have to figure out who theses "elect" people are. They are
somewhat divided on who the elect are so there are several differing views about these
"elect" folk.
We will cover these topics and more in the following pages, but first lets read the
disputed rapture verses in there entirity.
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: And then shall appear the sign of the Son
of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with
power and great glory.And he shall send his
angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the
four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
Mark 13:24-27 "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. And
then shall they see the Son of man coming in the
clouds with great power and glory. And then
shall he send his angels, and shall gather
together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the
uttermost part of heaven."
There you have it in Black and White, or green
and yellow in this case, why its as obvious as the nose on
your face! Jesus lays out the order of events in a very straight-forward manner. He says,
after the tribulation the Sun an Moon will be darkened, the heavens will be shaken, and
then Christ will come in the clouds, and with the shout of a trumpet he will gather
together his elect from the four winds.
Up next, Who are those "Elect" anyway?
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The
Post-Trib, Pre-Wrath Rapture