Subject: RAPTURE |
Bible Note: Hi Ocelot, Rev 1:7 refers to Jesus' coming, but says nothing about the rapture. Matt 24:27 again, says nothing about the rapture. Matt 24:31 does mention a gathering, so I will look at that later. 2 Peter 3:10 and 12 again do not mention anything about the rapture. Paul makes a strong point to the Thessalonians to remember his teachings, 2 Th 2:5 "Do you not remember that I told you these things, I yet being with you?" These opening verses of 2 Thess 2 do not address the manner in which the rapture comes, but simply whether or not it had come. Paul is not saying "don't worry, you'll know when it comes because no one will not notice that it has happened." This would have been an easy argument to make, however, Paul does not make it. What he does respond with is the sequence of events, saying "don't you remember what I told you?" So Paul is not emphasizing HOW the rapture happens, but WHEN the rapture happens. I am not saying whether or not the rapture is "secret", I am not aware of any passages of Scripture that actually address that question. Regarding the "gathering of the elect": Mat 24:29 “And immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the land will wail. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and much glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the heavens to their ends.” Mar 13:27 And then He will send His angels and will gather His elect from the four winds, from the end of earth to the end of heaven. These passages in Matthew and Mark are often mistaken to be describing the rapture of the church. The following passage possitively indentifies itself as pertaining to the church: 1Th 4:16 “Because the Lord Himself shall come down from Heaven with a commanding shout of an archangel's voice, and with God's trumpet. And the dead in Christ will rise again first. 17 Then we who remain alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to a meeting with the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.” In the rapture, Jesus comes down from heaven, an archangel gives a commanding shout, and the sounding of God’s trumpet. Those who sleep in Christ actually return With Jesus, to now enjoy thier physical resurrection, and those alive at the time are caught up with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. In the gathering together in Matthew and Mark, Jesus sends His angels to gather His elect, or chosen. The two events have several dissimilar aspects. Combine that with the many statements that no one will know the day or the hour. And yet we know that Jesus will return in glory 2520 days after the beginning of the Seventieth Week, 1260 days after the abomination that causes desolation, means that when He comes in glory, those on the earth will be able to mark their calenders with the day. These facts are irreconcilable unless we are talking about two separate events. What reason do we have to think that the elect, spoken of here, are the church, which had not been revealed at the time Jesus taught these things? The elect referred to would be the very same ones always referred to as the elect up until this time, Israel. There are a number of prophecies in the Old Testament of God gathering all of Israel into the land, believing, saved, never to be cast out again. These are specific prophecies to national Israel. Why would this passage in Matthew not be adressing the fulfillment of those prophecies, which will not be fulfilled until Jesus shows Himself to the Jews, "and they will look upon Me Who they have pierced", after He has come in glory? There are too many unanswerable questions when considering anything other than the pre-tribulation rapture, yet no question remains unanswered from the pre-trib view, at least of those things the Scriptures reveal. Love in Christ, Mark |