Behold, I tell you a secret; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed (1 Corinthians 15.51-52).
Introduction
Great controversy and confusion exists in Christendom regarding the doctrine of the Rapture. This unfortunate state is a result of not understanding Pauline theology–a failure of both Biblical neophytes and theological professionals. Much of the failure is simply unbelief–a refusal to believe the straightforward message of the Scripture. This study will examine the Pauline texts with the goal to end the confusion and turn unbelief to faith.
The Word “Rapture” (ἁρπάζω)
The word “rapture” does not occur in our English Bibles. We get the word by way of St. Jerome (c. 347-420 A.D.). In his work of revising the Latin New Testament from the Greek New Testament, he translated the Greek word ἁρπάζω into the Latin “rapiemur.” The Latin verb form is “rapio” and means to be “caught up” or “taken away.” From these Latin words come our English word “rapture.” While Paul used the word ἁρπάζω only once (1 Thessalonians 4.17), he taught the doctrine of the Rapture in other places using other expressions. The Greek word ἁρπάζω means to “seize” or “snatch away.” It is used 13 times in the following verses: Matthew 11.12, 13.19; John 6.15, 10.12, 28-29; Acts 8.39, 23.10; 2 Corinthians 12.2, 12.4; 1 Thessalonians 4.17; Jude 1.23; Revelation 12.5.
What is the Rapture?
To begin to understand the Rapture we must first define it. The Rapture is the resurrection of the Church, the body of Christ. It is part of the great Biblical doctrine of resurrection in which all who have put their trust in the God of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ, will receive resurrection bodies and be with the Lord forever. The resurrection of the Church occurs when Christ returns to earth in the clouds for His Body. The Lord meets us in the air because heaven is our destiny and abode. The Church is God’s heavenly people. Contrasted to His return for His body is His return for Israel and the nations. This is His second coming, when He returns to earth (Acts 1.11; Zechariah 14.4). Israel is God’s earthly people who have an earthly destiny (Matthew 6.10). After this advent, God will establish His long-promised kingdom on earth in which Israel will be preeminent among the nations (Deuteronomy 28.1, 13). But the Rapture comprises the largest ingathering of believers in the resurrections unto life. For Paul, the Rapture WAS the return of Christ.
The Key to Understanding the Rapture
Some have stated that the Rapture is wholly Paul and that Jesus never predicted such an event.1 This is correct. The Old Testament prophets and John the Baptist knew nothing of it. Jesus, in His earthly ministry taught nothing about it. Nor did the Twelve. The resurrected, glorified Lord revealed this truth to Paul alone.
Paul provides us with the key to understand the Rapture in 1 Corinthians 15.51. He wrote the Corinthians,
Behold, I tell you a secret; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed (1 Corinthians 15.51).
Paul wrote that the Rapture was a “secret” (μυστήριον). This is key to understanding the Rapture: it was a secret. The Greek text is “ἰδοὺ μυστήριον ὑμῖν λέγω” and may be translated, “Look!, I am telling (λέγω, present active indicative) you a secret!” Paul worded his sentence emphatically to get his readers’ attention. He wanted them to understand that he was revealing something new and important.
A μυστήριον is something hidden, a secret. If something is a secret, what does that mean? It means that it is unknown, hidden, and previously unrevealed. What Paul revealed to his audience was an event God had kept hidden. He did not reveal it to His Old Testament prophets, Jesus did not disclose it in His earthly ministry, and the Twelve knew nothing about it. God revealed this secret to Paul alone.2 Had God revealed the resurrection? Yes. Job knew about it (Job 19.26), Jesus taught it (John 5.24-25, 28-29, 11.23), and the common people during Jesus’ time knew about it (John 11.24). The Pharisees taught it (Acts 23.6,8) and the Sadducees rejected it (Matthew 22.23). Paul was not revealing something new when he wrote about resurrection. But the revelation of the Rapture was new, a secret part of the resurrection.
The Order of Resurrections
Paul liked the resurrection to a harvest, based upon what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15.20-23. According to Leviticus 23.9-10, 19.9-10, Israel had three harvests: the first fruits, the main harvest, and the harvest of the gleanings and corners of a field left for the poor. Jesus was the first fruits along with some Jewish saints buried around Jerusalem (Matthew 27.51-53). The main harvest is the body of Christ. Last is the harvest of the Old Testament and Tribulation believers. All these resurrections are part of what Jesus called the resurrection unto life (John 5.28-29). The resurrection unto death will occur at the end of the Messianic Kingdom at the Great White Throne judgment (Revelation 20.11-15). At that judgment, Jesus will judge all who have rejected Him and His salvation. Below is an outline of the resurrections.
| The Order of the Resurrections Likened to Harvests | |
| I. The Resurrection of Life (ἀνάστασιν ζωῆς), i.e., the resurrection of all who have put their trust in Christ (John 5.28-29) occurs in 3 separate “harvests.” | |
| A. Harvest of First Fruits (Leviticus 23.9-10) |
|
| B. Main Harvest | The resurrection of the Church, the Body of Christ, a.k.a. the Rapture and the Day of Christ (1 Corinthians 15.23, 52-53; 1 Thessalonians 4.14-17; 2 Thessalonians 1.1-6). |
| C. Harvest of Gleanings and Corners Leviticus 19.9-10) |
|
| II. The Resurrection of Condemnation (ἀνάστασιν κρίσεως) involves those who have rejected Christ and His salvation (John 5.28-29) and follows the 1,000 year Messianic reign of Christ (Revelation 20.11-15). | |
The Rapture Texts
Paul taught the doctrine of the Rapture in several texts. They include the following: 1 Corinthians 15.51-52, 1 Thessalonians 1.9-10, 4.13-18, 5.1-5, 5.9-11, 2 Thessalonians 1.6-10, 2.1-12, Philippians 3.8-11, 21.
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 15 is the great resurrection chapter of the Bible. Paul taught more about the resurrection in that passage than all other Biblical texts combined. Paul made the following points in the passage.
- The death and resurrection of Christ is the gospel. Believing it is how one becomes a Christian, that is, how one is saved (1 Corinthians 15.1-4, 5-11).
- If no resurrection exists, Christ Himself has not been raised. If this is so, no forgiveness of sin exists (1 Corinthians 15.12-19).
- The resurrection occurs in a sequence. Christ was the “first fruits” as in a harvest. All “in Christ” will be resurrected (1 Corinthians 15.20-34).
- Two different kinds of bodies exist: earthly and heavenly. A resurrection body is heavenly and eternal (1 Corinthians 35-50).
- Not all believers will experience physical death. Some members of the Church, the body of Christ will receive resurrection bodies while they remain alive. Their earthly bodies will be transformed into heavenly, eternal bodies. This was a secret before Paul (1 Corinthians 15.51-52).
- The resurrection of the believer’s body is his ultimate victory over sin and death (1 Corinthians 15.53-58) and constitutes the final phase of salvation. It was made possible by the Lord’s glorious resurrection after his victory over sin and death.
1 Corinthians 15.51-52
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery [secret]; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
From the passage above we learn the following about the Rapture.
- The Rapture was a secret (μυστήριον).
- All members of the body of Christ (the Church) will not sleep (Paul’s euphemism for death) but all will be changed (ἀλλάσσω–to change from one thing to another). Paul used this word in Romans 1.23 and Galatians 4.20. In Philippians 3.21, Paul used the term μετασχηματίζω to describe this transformation.
- The transformation will occur instantaneously, in a “moment” (ἄτομος–“that which cannot be divided” from which we get our word “atom” and in the “twinkling of an eye”–ῥιπή–a throw, stroke, beat, a moment of time).
- The event will occur at the last trumpet.3
- Just as the resurrection has an order, the Rapture occurs in a sequence. Members of the body of Christ who have died will be raised first and given resurrection bodies. Then, members of the body of Christ who are alive will exchange their earthly bodies for resurrection bodies. Paul’s use of “we” in verse 52 indicated he expected the event to occur in his lifetime.
With regard to the sequence (5 above) Paul wrote the following in 1 Corinthians 15.22-25:
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming.
A universal truth that exists for the human race is 1) all “in Adam” die and 2) all “in Christ” will be made alive. No hope exists for mankind outside of Christ. All that awaits men and women apart from Christ is death (eternal separation from God). Every human being inherits death from Adam (Genesis 2.17). We obtain life from Christ. In verse 23, Paul explained that the resurrection has an order (τάγμα). The word means something set in a particular arrangement and was used of a body of soldiers. Christ was the first fruits of the resurrection order. Second in order will be the body of Christ, the Church. These are those who have believed Paul’s gospel (1 Corinthians 15.1-4), “those who are Christ’s at His coming.” Usually, when Paul spoke of the Lord’s coming he meant the Rapture (Titus 2.13).
1 Thessalonians 1.9-10
9 For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.
Most theologians regard Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians as the first letter he wrote. In this letter, Paul revealed he had taught the Thessalonians about the Rapture even though they were new believers. The “wrath” to which Paul referred was future, the prophesied Day of the Lord or Tribulation in which God will pour His wrath upon a Christ-rejecting world. Believers will not go through this horrific period for God rescues (ῥύομαι) them (us) from it. Paul had much to say about this rescue in the following passages.
1 Thessalonians 4.13-18
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
In verse 13, Paul comforted his readers regarding believers who had died “are asleep.” Sleep was the language Paul used to describe believers who had died. Paul reiterated the gospel (1 Corinthians 15.1-4) and the hope members of the body of Christ have, that God will bring with Him (Christ) all who have died (verse 14). In verses 15 through 17, Paul gave the sequence of the Rapture. He wrote that his information came by direct revelation from the ascended Christ, “by the word of the Lord” (verse 15). The sequence of events was the following:
- Those who are alive when the Lord returns will not precede those who have died. Those who are “asleep” will be raised (given resurrection bodies) first.
- The Lord will vacate heaven with a shout (κέλευσμα). The Greek word translated “shout” is a galvanizing command, e.g., “Now!” Concomitant to the Lord’s shout will be the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. These commands signal the rising of the dead in Christ (the body of Christ).
- Second in resurrection sequence will be believers who are alive. They will be transformed (earthly bodies will be exchanged for heavenly bodies). Both groups will be “caught up”, “seized” “snatched away” (ἁρπάζω) to be forever with the Lord.
Paul told the Thessalonians to comfort one another with these words. The word “comfort” is παρακαλεῖτε, the present, active, imperative of παρακαλέω. Thus, it was an ongoing command. Paul commanded believers to comfort one another with the doctrine of the Rapture. Those who reject the Rapture have refused the Lord’s orders.
1 Thessalonians 5.1-5
1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day: we are not of night nor of darkness;
Paul had given the Thessalonians a full course on end-time events so that he could write them that they needed no more instruction. Some ask why study or teach prophecy or end-time events. One answer is that Paul did. Another reason is that prophecy comprises about one-fourth of the Word of God and “all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable” (2 Timothy 3.16). Lastly, prophecy provides the believer with the assurance that God knows the end from the beginning and that all is under His control.
You and Them
The Thessalonians knew from Paul about the Day of the Lord (Zephaniah 1.1-18) and that it would come like “a thief in the night.” That day will come unexpectedly. Pay attention to Paul’s words. When he spoke about believers he used the 2nd person pronoun “you.” When he spoke about unbelievers he shifted to third person pronouns “they,” “them,” e.g., “destruction will come upon them,” “they will not escape.” He then returned to the 2nd person, “but you” to tell his readers that the Day of the Lord would not overtake them as a thief, etc. Paul indicated that not only did the Thessalonians know about these events, they would not experience them. The reason they would not experience them was they were members of the body of Christ. They would be removed from the earth when the Lord returned in the air. This is as clear a teaching as anything Paul wrote. It is impossible, if we believe the Scriptures, for members of the body of Christ to go through the Tribulation. This one passage eliminates all possibility of a mid-Tribulation or post-Tribulation Rapture. How anyone can miss this point in light of this text is hard to understand.
1 Thessalonians 5.9-11
9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.
Paul reiterated that believers will not go through the horrors of the Tribulation, He wrote, “God has not destined us for wrath.” The wrath to which he referred was not hell. The context of the passage is the Day of the Lord (Zephaniah 1.1-18), not salvation from sin, death, and hell. Paul taught that believers would not experience the Day of the Lord in which God will pour out his wrath upon the earth. The “salvation” to which Paul referred was salvation from the Day of the Lord. In verse 10, Paul declared that because Christ died for us, whether we are awake or asleep (alive or dead), we will live together with Him.
2 Thessalonians 1.6-10
6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed.
In the above passage, Paul encouraged the Thessalonians believers who were undergoing persecution as a result of their faith. He indicated God would afflict those who were persecuting them and “give relief (ἄνεσις) to you who are afflicted.” Paul believed the Lord would return soon–in his lifetime. When that occurred, the Lord would rescue them from the persecution they were undergoing. After this event, God would initiate the Day of the Lord. During that period He will punish all who “do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”
2 Thessalonians 2.1-12
1 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? (2 Thessalonians 2.1-5)
These words follow-up Paul’s earlier teaching in 1 Thessalonians. Apparently, false teachers had troubled the Thessalonians by telling them that the persecution they were experiencing was the Day of the Lord. These were the first post-tribulationalists. Paul was quick to crush this teaching. He wrote them to “not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the Day of the Lord has come.” The Day of the Lord was prophesied throughout the Old Testament and Jesus referred to it as the Tribulation (Matthew 24.21-22). Paul admonished them that no matter what they heard or from whom, from a spirit (angel), or some other “message” (λόγος) or letter purportedly from Paul, to pay no attention to it. They were to stick with Paul’s teaching that when the Lord came, He would gather (πισυναγωγή) them to Himself before God poured out His wrath–the Day of the Lord.
In verse 3, Paul provided more information about the coming Day of the Lord. He warned them not to let anyone deceive them. Paul wrote that the Day of the Lord would not come unless (ἐὰν μή) “the departure” (ἡ ἀποστασία) came first. The word ἀποστασία means “depart” (cf. Acts 21.21) and in this content is synonymous with the Rapture.4
Paul then reminded his readers that he had already taught them these things (verse 5).
6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. 13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. 14 It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us. 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, 17 comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word (2 Thessalonians 2.6-17).
In the above verses, Paul declared that this “secret of lawlessness” had already begun. As it was at work during Paul’s day it is still now. What did he mean? He meant that Satan, as the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4.4) has a plan to insert his man to rule the world. Satan is not beyond time and his knowledge of the future is limited. He may have someone ready to fulfill his plan in each generation. The one who restrains (ὁ κατέχων) this evil is God the Holy Spirit. The revelation of Satan’s man cannot occur until the Holy Spirit is “taken out of the way” (ἐκ μέσου γένηται). Literally, this phrase reads, “he becomes out of the middle.” Standing in the middle, between Satan’s plan to establish his man into the world and our present world, is God the Holy Spirit. God will remove His restraint when He comes for the body of Christ (the Church) since God the Holy Spirit indwells every believer. When this occurs, Satan will recognize his opportunity and move to promote his man. After seven years, when God’s wrath has run its course, at the end of the Tribulation, the Lord will return (Luke 13.35) and destroy him (Revelation 19.20, 20.10).
In verses 9-16 Paul revealed that this man, empowered by Satan, the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4.3-4), will display Satan’s power by supernatural wonders and deceive the world. The world will be deceived “because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.” God is fair and allows each person to choose for or against Him. Paul explained that they will not believe the truth because they “took pleasure in wickedness.” Paul ended this passage by reminding them of their salvation and encouraged them to hold to the teachings he had taught them.
Philippians 3.8-11
8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Paul’s letter to the Philippians is a record of Paul’s joy and celebration of his life in Christ. Written from prison (Philippians 1.7), Paul declared that what he had lost for the sake of Christ was but refuse or garbage (σκύβαλον) compared to his life in Christ. In verse 10, Paul desired to know Christ, the power of His resurrection (ἀνάστασις) and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death (Romans 6.3-8). In verse 11, he declared he wished to attain to the resurrection (ἐξανάστασις) from the dead. What did Paul mean by these statements?
Paul had no doubt he would be resurrected. Even before he put his faith in Jesus he believed in the resurrection: he was a Pharisee. In verse 10, he expressed his desire to experience the power of Christ’s resurrection. By this, Paul meant the power to overcome sin daily and live a Christ-empowered (resurrection empowered) life (Romans 6.3-8, 8.10-23). In verse 11, we find something different. He changed from using ἀνάστασις to ἐξανάστασις. The latter word is a hapax legomenon (transliteration of ἅπαξ λεγόμενον). It is used only here in the Bible. Paul coined this word to express the hope he held dear. Literally, the word means “out resurrection.” Paul formed the word by combining the Greek preposition ἐκ (out) with ἀνάστασις (resurrection). What was the “out resurrection?” The “out resurrection” was that resurrection in which believers who are alive will be taken from the earth to meet the Lord in the air to receive a resurrection body. The “out resurrection” is the Rapture–the “blessed hope” (Titus 2.13).
Philippians 3.20-21
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
Paul concluded chapter 3 by reminding the Philippians that our citizenship (πολίτευμα) is heavenly and await eagerly (ἀπεκδέχομαι) the Lord’s return (Romans 8.23; 1 Corinthians 1.7). When He comes, He will transform us to have immortal, resurrection bodies. The word translated by the NASB as “transform” and KJV “change” is μετασχηματίζω. This word (metaschematization) is similar to the the word metamorphose but emphasizes the process of change rather than its result (e.g., from catapillar to butterfly). When the Lord returns, he will fashion our bodies to enjoy eternity with Him. Now that’s a hope!
Conclusion
- The Rapture was a secret God kept hidden until He revealed it to Paul (1 Corinthians 15.51).
- Paul coined a new word for the Rapture, ἐξανάστασις “out-resurrection” (Philippians 3.11, the “blessed hope” (Titus 2.13).
- The Rapture is a part of the great doctrine of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15.20-24, 35-58, 51-53).
- The Rapture occurs according to a sequence (1 Corinthians 15.20, 22-23, 51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18)
- Believers who are alive will not experience God’s wrath, the Day of the Lord, i.e., the Tribulation, but will be delivered from it. When the body of Christ is complete God will remove His Church and refocus His work upon Israel to fulfill His covenants (Romans 5.9; 1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9-10; 2 Thessalonians 2.1-2; Romans 11.25-26).
- We are commanded to proclaim the Rapture to comfort one another until the Lord comes (1 Thessalonians 4.18).
- The Rapture is a separate event from the Day of the Lord and the return of Christ to the earth (2 Thessalonians 2.2, 10-12, 12; 1 Thessalonians 4.17; Zechariah 14.1-4; Acts 1.11-12). See the author’s study on The Day of Christ.
1 See Farewell to the Rapture by N. T. Wright. Ignorant of Pauline theology, the Bishop of Durham, and others who reject the Rapture, may be likened to Apollos who required instruction from Aquila and Priscilla to understand Paul’s teaching (Acts 18.24-26 cf. Galatians 1.11-12, 2.7-9).
2 The ascended, glorified Lord revealed many truths to Paul He had not revealed previously. Paul named these revelations “secrets.” God most likely revealed some of these new truths to Paul after his conversion when he was in Arabia (Galatians 1.15-17). Later, Paul most likely received other revelations. Without an understanding of Paul’s “secrets” one cannot understand his theology. Indeed, without this understanding one cannot understand Christianity. See the author’s study on Paul’s Mystery.
3 This “last trumpet” has nothing to do with the trumpets of the book of Revelation. The trumpets in Revelation signal God’s judgments upon the earth. No hint of judgment exists in Paul’s passage. Indeed, we find the opposite. Paul’s passage deals with the believer’s victory over sin and death and the receipt of a sinless and eternal body. This “last trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15.52) is a “trumpet of God” (1 Thessalonians 4.16) whereas the trumpets in Revelation are angelic trumpets (Revelation 8.2, 6). The “trumpet of God” which Paul described is signals completion of the Church, the body of Christ and Christ coming for it, not judgments (Revelation 8.7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13, 9.1-13, 14-11.14, 11.15-19).
4 Only Luke and Paul used the noun and verbs ἀποστασία and ἀφίστημι. Paul used ἀποστασία with the definite article “ἡ”–“ἡ ἀποστασία.” Unlike English, a definite article in Greek is unnecessary to make a noun definite. It can be definite without a definite article depending on the context. The definite article was used originally as a weak demonstrative pronoun, i.e., “this,” “that,” “these,” “those.” Its inclusion draws attention to the object. Thus, Paul’s use of the definite article ἡ with ἀποστασία emphasized its identity: “THE departure.” This “departure” was synonymous with ἁρπάζω of 1 Thessalonians 4.17. See the author’s study on 1 and 2 Thessalonians for more information on ἀποστασία.
©2011 Don Samdahl. Anyone is free to reproduce this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold.
Updated December 26, 2011
Don, I hope you continue to add to these articles for I have profited greatly from them and rate them among the best and most inspiring I have ever read.
Thanks so much for your kind remark. I’m glad you find what I have written helpful.
Can you please show me from the bible where you got this 7 years of tribulations????
You quoted..
After seven years, when God’s wrath has run its course, at the end of the Tribulation, the Lord will return (Luke 13.35) and destroy him (Revelation 19.20, 20.10).
Gladwin,
According to Daniel 9.24-27, seventy weeks are determined for Israel. Sixty nine weeks have been fulfilled. The seventieth week of years is seven years and future. In the middle of this time, three and a half years, the Beast will stop the daily sacrifice in the Temple, the abomination of desolation. This agrees with what Jesus said in Matthew 24 and Revelation’s timeframe. The two witnesses minister for a thousand two hundred and sixty days (three and a half years) from the beginning of the Tribulation to the midpoint and are killed (Revelation 11.3-13). After this, forty-two months remain during which time Jerusalem will be trodden under foot (Hebrews 11.2). Also at the midpoint, the Beast is killed and will revive from death and blaspheme God and persecute (Revelation 13.1-9) for a total of seven years.
Amen , and I highly recommend you to all my Christian and non Christian friends . My Prayers go out to you , for your future teachings .
I appreciate your writings as it is well written with scriptures to relate a sound doctrine. Thank you. May our GOD be with you always !
Thank you!
Not doubting, but I have always wondered… If “He who is restraining” is the Holy Spirit and thus when He is “removed” from the earth with the “Body of Christ,” how then will people be saved in the tribulation since Scripture clearly teaches that the Holy Spirit is necessary for one to be born again.
It seems no one is able to biblically answer this question.
I enjoy your teachings.
Thanks for your comment. Clearly, in one sense the Holy Spirit cannot be “removed” for He is God and God is omnipresent. But in the sense that as He indwells believers, when they go, He goes. I speculate Satan will use this opportunity to insert his man. No believers will be present to oppose him. Since people will be saved in the Tribulation this can only meant the Holy Spirit will be present and active.
Thank you for this artice. I once believed we would not be raptured because I thought, if Jesus could not be spared his pain when paying for our sins, why should or would we be spared this. Now I see it is because what he did for us was to end all worry and fear from those who believe in him. What he did for us was the ultimate gift of love, and this is one way that there is no possibility we can understand his love for us. I long for the day I can bow to him, praise him and kiss his feet. There is no greater love I can imagine than this. Praise God!
Ashley,
Thank you! And amen!
Dear Doctrine,
Please explain 2 Cor 13:1 in light of Paul’s revelation of the rapture. Paul said, “Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”
Would Paul not be violating his own word of instruction if he was the ONLY witness to the rapture mystery?
Curious to see your insight regarding this matter, in that it does present a stumbling block to my faith.
God Bless
FYI-posted this question multiply times in hope that it will be received either by ipad or computer.
Deborah,
Does God count as a witness? Several individuals encountered God alone. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, most of the prophets.
Dear Doctrine,
Thank you for your response.
This is true many individuals encountered God alone. But there was not a “doctrine” presented or based on a “lone” revelation.
Abraham had Sara as a witness.
Jacob prophesied over his children- but no doctrinal belief was initiated.
Moses had the voice of God as a witness, as well as physical manifestations as evidence-Tablets written by the finger of God.
Many prophets were contemporaries
of each other and therefore validated each other. And of course, time does bare witness to their Divine prophecies- and will continue to do so as we complete this age and the next.
But to have a “new mystery” or “revelation” that would change doctrinal beliefs is all together another matter.
As it says in 2 Pet 3: 15-17 stating that Paul’s letters can be difficult to understand in which people twist to their own destruction.
1 Cor 13:1 does appear to contradict many of Paul’s writings in the NT. That is why Paul is so controversial.
I still believe in the rapture, but I have found that if there is no bias, the majority of individuals can plainly see the Resurrection occurring as stated in Rev 20 (after the antichrist has martyred the saints).
The problem I have with the antichrist martyring the saints ( if referring to the church) is that why would Christ give him AUTHORITY over the church, when Christ had already given AUTHORITY to the church over serpents and scorpions like him!
I do hope we leave soon before the Tribulation begins!
God Bless
Deborah,
The case for the Rapture occurring before the Tribulation is easy. Paul stated it in 1 Thessalonians 1.10 and 5.9. The Church does not exist in Revelation. Revelation is about Israel and the nations, not the Church. Paul is controversial because of Satanic opposition. This is what Peter was saying in 2 Peter 3.15-17. The attacks on Paul today are no different than what he faced when alive. This is the way I usually answer them: https://doctrine.org/jesus-vs-paul/#comment-105628.
Because many of the things Paul said in his epistles contradict what we do learn about God & His ways all thru-out the Bible, as well as many of the very teachings of Jesus in His earthly ministry & the things He also said much later than Paul in Revelation, it has led me to wonder about Paul & I’m currently on a journey of researching about this, prayerfully and with asking the Holy Spirit to guide me & lead me to discernment regarding Paul—it is not something I do lightly or quickly. I guess my biggest concern is that IF Paul was the false apostle Jesus & others warned about, itd make his teachings false as well—which I don’t want because I want to believe especially in the rapture. Could Jesus have been referring to the rapture when He said pray that we be counted worthy enough to escape the coming tribulation/wrath? I understand God trying to keep things hidden from Satan. But it’s just hard to wrap my head around the fact He’d do a whole new doctrine or ideology so vastly different from how He had always been, about holiness and repentance for sins, works in as far as striving to live righteously, keeping His 10 original commandments, —not all those hundreds of statutes the Jews added later, being baptized, not calling or as Jesus taught about not referring to any human man as our Father which Paul did, because Paul’s doctrine is so very different, and he had zero witnesses to attest to ANY of it from his conversion onward, and goes against many of the things God said and Jesus said, it’s confusing and God isn’t the author of confusion. At the same time-he did say a lot of good things. But we also well know the most believable lies are the ones that also have some truth in them and Satan knows this more than ANYONE! It just frightens me to think of the implications IF Paul was a false apostle or even deceived by Satan himself – for we know Satan often masquerades as an angel of light—for I believe it was Satan and not Gabriel that appeared to Mohammed, especially given how Jews & Christians have been Islam’s most targeted & persecuted groups since Mohammed’s “experiences” with “Gabriel” long before the crusades and so therefore UN-antagonized, not to mention that Dome of the Rock being placed over the place where God’s Temple & esp over where the Holy of Holies was believed to be—therefore desecrating it with an abomination of Satan🤷♀️
Victoria,
All of the Twelve recognized Paul as God’s apostle. Therefore, anyone who rejects Paul also rejects the Twelve. Peter wrote in his last letter for the Jewish believers to look to Paul (2 Peter 3.15-16). If you dismiss Paul, you also have to dismiss all the NT books except Matthew and Jude. If you dismiss Paul, there is not salvation for it is by his gospel, that Christ died and rose from the dead is how one is saved (1 Corinthians 15.1-4). If you reject Paul, you reject all Church doctrine, for it is in his letters alone that Church doctrine is found. Those who reject Paul are not Christians. They are false teachers, servants of Satan. So beware. Paul declared that anyone who proclaimed a gospel different from his was cursed. Those who reject Paul will go to the Lake of Fire. The risen Christ Himself chose Paul (Acts 9.11-17) as His apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 11.13). To reject Paul is to reject Jesus Christ.
Hi Victoria,
Wow… It’s awesome that you see a difference in terms doctrine between Paul’s epistles and the gospels and OT! This is WONDERFUL NEWS!
Because IT IS DIFFERENT.
Paul is the ONLY apostle of the Gentiles. It is a heavenly calling.
Paul preaches the cross of Jesus Christ according to the REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY…Rom.16:25,26
Trust the Lord in your studies! The entire Bible is God’s word. Some of it relates to his earthly calling of which Israel is and is TO those people at that time. There are 2 realms after all… Gen.1:1
Some of it is written to the non-stop (no new or gentile) Body of Christ. This is a heavenly calling, and is written TO us today. These are Paul’s epistles…
I found this site (or was less here) when I first found the difference. It is a beautiful thing! Trust God that only “holy men of God” wrote this Bible. Not false apostles.
2 Peter 1:21 KJV — For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but HOLY MEN of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Paul’s epistles “fill up” the word of God.
Colossians 1:25 KJV — Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
He also breaks down the Bible into 3 categories…
1. Times last
2. But now
3. Ages to come
Welcome to sound doctrine! 💖
May the Lord bless your studies and lead you to the truth. 1 Tim.2:3,4
Dear Don, I believe there are many today who would wish Paul’s writings to be removed but to see the fruit of His teaching always brings glory to Jesus and God the Father and the Holy Spirit gives me such joy to rightly divide Gods word with Paul’s writings as part of our hope, Christ in us Col 1:27. Please keep up your good work for His glory. Peter
Peter,
Thank you. Yes, tragically, many do not understand what they are saying when they wish Paul to be removed. Such removal means the end of the Church, the end of what we call Christianity. All Church doctrine is found in Paul’s letters—and no where else. It is from Paul that we learn how to be saved and our position and blessings in Christ, in the heavenlies.
Yes, the Paul issue can be a very confusing one! However, I have to say, until I starting getting into the epistles and learning what was in them, I RARELY had peace, joy or any fruit in my life at all. But now, that the Father has taught me and opened my eyes to Paul’s message, WOW! I am finally learning Christ – who I am in Him, that He is my life, and really getting to know Him intimately. Also, I do not have that continuous sense of condemnation and feelings of “missing the mark”. Without Paul’s epistles, we would not know these things! By them we enter into the freedom we have in Christ! Keep seeking. God WILL teach you how Jesus and Paul fit together! You will have peace, joy and much fruit!!
“If you dismiss Paul, you also have to dismiss all the NT books except Matthew and Jude.”
If you dismiss Enoch and the Assumption of Moses, you dismiss Jude as well.
If you dismiss Paul as an inspired authority over the church and only take him as a theologian and bishop sent by God to correct Peter’s error, (which is what he was before he went power-hungry and started twisting scripture (cf. Romans 3 and Psalm 14:1 being intentionally separated from :2-3)), then you only dismiss all the NT books except Matthew, Mark, John, James, 1 Peter, Jude, John’s letters, Hebrews, Revelation, and then you consign Luke-Acts and 2 Peter to apocryphal status.
What does that ultimately take away from Christianity besides one-way and no-context correspondence with no punctuation that is consistently used to contradict Jesus and the actual chosen Apostles? It Paul has observed the Corinthian church abusing their spiritual powers, it’s not all that difficult to imagine Paul being just as abusive and hypocritical as Peter before he corrected him, then took their leave to preach to the gentiles as license to make a new religion that was finished by Marcion, his ultimate disciple. 2 Peter makes Paul the author of confusion. The tree isnknown by its fruits, and Paul’s writings produced Marcion.
Gordon,
The issue is salvation. How do you think a person is saved today? What is the gospel?
Concerning Deborah’s question about Paul and 2 Cor 13:1, the King James starts 1 Thes. 4:15 with, “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord”. Wouldn’t that make Jesus and Paul the two witnesses she is looking for? My understanding from study is that Paul got all he spoke from Jesus. Just a thought. God bless! Maranatha!
Deborah,
2 Cor. 13:1 is about a believers discipline issue. What Paul says here was actually said by Jesus in Matt. 18:15-17, and goes all the way back to Deut. 17:6, 19:15. So this is in the law. The same wording is used in 1 Tim. 5:19. These are matters of justice, like a court of law.
I love what you said. How you “long for the day I can bow to Him etc.” it just make my heart sing…
concur: keeping in mind that spirit can mean even the very air we breathe, so to remove same would result in all mankind et cetera
demise….thus to remove the believers in the big snatch removes the restraint on anti-christ
Doc,
I want to see you in the Rapture. Jesus tells us in Matt 24:27- 31( all re. KJV) IMMEDIATELY AFTER the tribulation of those days. We have to make up our mind that, We can prepare ourselves to be ready and prepared to face, and ENDURE to the end. Mat 10:22 & 24:13 whatever may come, and IF the Rapture comes as some teach, Praise God be ready. If it does not happen, then we need to be so filled with the Holy Ghost power that we can take even what Stephen did. Acts 6 & 7.
Take heed of Luke 12:45-49 for many will say, The Lord delayeth His coming? That tells me that many people who think or believe that they will be carried away out of tribulation, will be the ones who will be turning their back on God because of what they might have to suffer, thinking the Lord has delayed His coming.
My advice to all is to prepare ourselves that if the rapture takes place before the tribulation, be ready to meet God! BUT IF IT DOES NOT happen, then prepare ourselves to do as many others, Be willing to DIE for Jesus Christ. The way things are shaping up in this world today, we need to prepare ourselves for what ever may take place.
Are you ready to meet Jesus in the air? Whether by dying for
Christ, as Stevens, Peter and Paul and many others down through the ages? Even today people are being killed for their stand for Jesus Christ. I have heard many times “The Rapture could take place any time”. Just a while back someone said that to me. I am now in my 80’s and that has been said by ministers over 2 centuries ago. Patience of the saints. Rev. 13:10; 14:12. Rev. 6:9; 16:6,7.
Just make your calling and election Sure! 2 Pet 1:10. Thinking of Mat 24:34? This is the generation of Jesus Christ. He purchased the WWW with His own blood, Acts 20:28. He Reconciled the WWW unto God in ONE body by the cross, as ONE NEW MAN. Eph 2:10-20. KJV.
Lily,
All who have believed Paul’s gospel (1 Corithians 15.1-4) will experience the Rapture. It is our great day, our resurrection, which is an appropriate subject since tomorrow is Easter. We can also be 100% sure that it takes place before the Tribulation. Paul explicitly stated this in 1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9. He wrote 2 Thessalonians to correct the false teaching that the Thessalonians were experiencing the Tribulation (2 Thessalonians 2.1-2). You might want to take a look at my articles on this subject, The Rapture, The Day of Christ, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. The last is the most detailed. We should always be prepared to be faithful witnesses and to die for Christ if necessary but one thing we do not need to fear is that we will experience the Tribulation. God has told us we will not.
Sir, here are some ideas from Ezekiel on when the Holy Spirit makes HIS appearance and why, after the Church is taken. You will need to read Ezekiel 38 & 39 a few times to become familiar with what it actually says concerning Israel and the Holy Spirit and what happens when the Holy Spirit is poured out. Then take notice of these verses found in Ezekiel 39:23-29. For instance, Ezk 39:29. When GOD pours out HIS SPIRIT upon Israel at the end of the Ezk 38 war. I don’t believe any one can prove or show me where GOD has HIS SPIRIT in more than one body of elect or group at a time. At this time, the HOLY SPIRIT is in the Church, the Body of CHRIST, correct? Yes or no? .
At Ezk 39:22-29 GOD at this time pours HIS SPIRIT upon the WHOLE HOUSE of Israel. The importance of this event is totally ignored by all the prophecy teachers I’ve ever heard.
But, this event should be 1st in each of their minds & study. GOD can not pour HIS SPIRIT upon Israel as long as the Church is here. Because when HE does, not only the entire world knows what GOD proclaims in Ezk 39:23 but Israel knows also as verse 22 shows that Israel knows that GOD saved them as does the world also.
How will Israel Know this without the SPIRIT OF GOD REVEALING IT TO THEM? Since Scripture tells us that it is GODS SPIRIT that reveals such to a person or persons. Ezekiel says they will KNOW it was GOD WHO won this war for them.
Since the Jews & Israel today don’t see this now but they will on that day. So the only logical logic that makes sense is that the Church will be gone by this time since we have the HOLY SPIRIT NOW during this age of Grace. I don’t believe that GOD will rip out the HOLY SPIRIT of the Church to pout HIM out onto Israel.
But on that day Ezekiel says that Israel will know something about what GOD is doing for them by HIS SPIRIT and this is a big change from the way things have been for the last 2000 years.
From that day forward Israel will want to worship YHVH. This takes the SPIRIT of GOD to change a heart to want this. At this time also the 144,000 will be given the SEAL of HOLY SPIRIT as Rev tells us.
Ezk 38 & 39 tell us that Israel will burn weapons for 7 years, the exact time of the Trib time, 7 years, and they will be building their temple at this point in time, once the Arabs are no longer a threat to stop the Building of this Temple. With GOD winning this battle nothing will be in the way of the Temple being built. And since the arabs will no longer be a danger to Israel they will have a free hand in re-building their new Temple.
Also never looked at by prophecy teachers is the 7 months needed to find & bury the dead. They always blame this on radiation but that makes no sense since there will be dead people all over the earth and GOD makes no mention of them being buried. And radiation will be a problem for the rest of the world where atomic weapons fell during this war.
It makes more sense to say what they teach when in the Torah it says that during the (any) feast of the LORD, that no dead thing can be above ground. That is a strict LAW that GOD gives.
So GOD gives the command to bury the dead in 7 months because the next feast, most likely the Passover Feast that could occur at this time in 7 months from the end of the Ezk 38 war, and Israel could construct a temporary Tabernacle like they used for 400 years before the 1st Temple to offer their 1st Sacrifice to GOD and they must have the land cleared of all dead things before that date as they go about constructing the actual Temple.
That’s why this 7 month time period is mentioned by GOD. GOD would be much more concerned about the dead above ground than HE would about radiation.
Most likely the Rapture will occur at the start of the Ezk 38 war preparing the people the people of Israel to be blessed by the HOLY SPIRIT at which time also would be a perfect timing for the 144,000 to be indwelt by HIM so they can preach the Gospel as Rev tells us they will be doing.
This Ezk war could also do allot to hide the Rapture from most people from all the turmoil caused all over the earth by this war in which the US may also be destroyed with atomic weapons from the secret terrorist here and the Russians and or the Koreans who would be helping Russia. I believe hiding the Rapture is important to make sure people believe by Faith & not sight as GOD wants us to believe by according to Scripture.
I know this is allot to swallow, but if you consider it for a few days and compare the Bible to what I’ve posted, you might find it makes much more sense than most everything else you see.
Just saying. . . . . . . . . . Thanks and Praise YHWH for HIS mercy.
( P.S., The Psalms 83 war will occur prior to the Ezk 38 war preparing GOG to take advantage of the peace Israel will be enjoying after they win the Psalms 83 war. )
Milan,
Thank you. The Holy Spirit indwelling believers in the body of Christ is permanent. Nothing indicates He will leave and we nothing to fear as David (Psalm 51.11). Ultimately, the Holy Spirit will indwell all Jews who enter the Messianic Kingdom and it appears this process will begin during the Tribulation. All who enter the kingdom will be believers and all of Israel will have repented to initiate the Lord’s return (Matthew 23.37-39). It seems the Gog/Magog invasion will take place at the beginning of the Tribulation which would allow for burning the military equipment for 7 years. It is also possible the invasion could begin earlier. The Antichrist does not have to appear immediately after the Rapture of the Church. A long time could elapse before his appearance.
“It seems the Gog/Magog invasion will take place at the beginning of the Tribulation”
I’m confused then, as Revelation 20:7-8 says: 7.. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8..And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Isn’t this saying Gog/Magog is after the Millennial Kingdom?
Okay, brother, no more questions tonight.. thanks so much.. God bless!
Marie,
I was writing about the Ezekiel 38 passage. Having said this, I am mulling over the timing of this invasion. The Gog/Magog battle of Revelation does take place at the end of the Millennium.
In the same sense that the Holy Spirit worked before it was given as the “helper” at Pentecost. Before the helper came down from heaven to indwell believers it still had a role on the earth before that. So, when the Church is removed by rapture, so will the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will act in the same way as it did before the cross; the same way it did during the old testament days with David, Daniel, Isaiah, and so on. This is also why it will be possible to lose one’s salvation during the tribulation period; endure till the end, the five virgins without, etc. The Church is unique in that we have the “helper” inside of us. Hope this helps. God bless you !!!
Launie,
Thank you. Remember, however, the Holy Spirit is not an “it.” The Holy Spirit is God, a member of the Godhead, and is properly referenced as “He.”
From my studies one will find that when the Rapture takes place the restrainer Holy Spirit as you guys speak of is true removed it is and a NEW dispensation will take over in Revelation it says Angles will be around proclaiming the Gospel and the 144k will do the same and the 2 witness so there will be plenty of ears that will hear of Salvation of the Lord is at hand for them it just wont be grace by faith like it was before in the Church age.
I really enjoy your studies, and they have helped me to understand more of God’s Word. I have a question concerning the “out resurrection”. If it is the rapture, can you please explain the verses following where Paul is writing about attaining it. It seems to me like he is striving for a more glorious resurrection. I know that works do not earn salvation, but they do earn rewards. I don’t think Paul would have to be striving to attain to the rapture. In Phil. 3:14, Paul says he is pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling. All this seems to refer back to the “out resurrection.”
I hope I am making sense to you. I would like your further thoughts on the “out resurrection.
The “out resurrection” is the Rapture. Paul simply hoped that The Lord would come in his lifetime and that he would experience the Rapture. This is the believer’s “blessed hope” (Titus 2.13).
Great article, thank you. What about John 14, didn’t Jesus introduce the Rapture there? Taking us to the Fathers house? Although they really didn’t understand it—but it seems quite clear in retrospect.
Matthew,
Thank you. The Rapture was a secret (1 Corinthians 15.51). Because of this, it is only found in Paul’s letters, nowhere else in Scripture. Jesus did not reveal this secret until He commissioned Paul as the apostle of the Gentiles, and He revealed it to Paul alone. See my article, Paul’s “Mystery.” The Lord has many dwellings for His creatures. The dwellings for Israel will be enjoyed on earth but are being prepared in heaven (John 14). The dwellings for the Church are in heaven. God also has dwellings for the angelic host. Thus, in My Father’s house are many dwellings.
I will come again and receive you unto myself …. John 14
Matt,
This refers to Christ’s return at the 2nd Advent when He returns at the end of the Tribulation to set up His kingdom on earth. Jesus promised the Twelve they will rule the twelve tribes on earth in His kingdom. That is what “receive you to Myself” means.
If Paul had included your explanation of his own words, how would they have comforted his audience ‘who were grieving over those who had fell asleep in death’?
The comfort Paul spoke of has several aspects: 1) the dead in Christ will be resurrected, i.e., “not grieve as do the rest who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4.13); 2) when the Lord returns He will bring the dead in Christ (their souls and spirits) with Him when He returns and they will receive their resurrection bodies (1 Thessalonians 4.14); 3) a nanosecond later, those who are alive will be transformed into resurrection bodies and be reunited with their fellow-members of the body of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4.17).
Jesus spoke of gathering His elect in conjunction with the Day of the Lord, as did Paul, and everyone else who commented on the return of Christ. That’s because they occur at the same time. All this happens post trib, the church is removed as Christ is returning and we meet with the Lord and will be with Him for the age.
John,
Paul explicitly stated that the Church, the body of Christ, will not experience the Tribulation, the Day of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9 and he wrote 2 Thessalonians to correct the false doctrine of post-tribulationism, which was present in the 1st century (2 Thessalonians 2.1-3). The “rapture” was a secret, until the risen, glorified Christ revealed it to Paul (1 Corinthians 15.51). In the former Christ will meet believers in the air. In the latter Christ will meet believers on the earth. Completely different meetings.
From what I understand as of today, the Tribulation and the Wrath of God is two different events. All are part of Daniel’s 70th week. We will be raptured just prior to God pouring out His wrath. After checking out the verses more carefully, I agree this is most likely the case.
Nancy,
The Tribulation and Wrath of God are the same. The Tribulation lasts 7 years (Daniel’s 70th week). The last 3 1/2 years will intensify after the Antichrist stops the sacrifices in the Temple, declares he is God, and kills the 2 witnesses. At this midpoint, Satan will be thrown out of heaven and indwell the Antichrist. Paul made it clear that the Church, the body of Christ, will experience none of this (1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9).
Jesus Spoke that we would not know the day or the hour and that it would come like a thief in the night. He was speaking to Jews/Believers or those who have been saved by the Kingdom Gospel even Prior to Pauls Gospel about the Rapture. If Pre-Trib Believers were present during the Tribulation then we would know the hour wouldn’t we.
Please excuse the multiple questions, but some of your teachings are new to me and I really want to understand what you are saying. Here are my questions:
What will the church be doing after the Rapture? Will that be when the church is undergoing the bema judgment seat in heaven while the Time of Jacob’s trouble is taking place on earth? Is there any mention of the church in Heaven in Revelation and finally, does the church make up the ” armies of Heaven” who are dressed in white robes that return to earth with Jesus at His 2nd coming?
Thank you.
Alice,
We don’t know what the Church will be doing following the Rapture other than we are told that in the Day of Christ God will judge members of His body regarding works (1 Corinthians 1.8, 3.12-15). The Church is not mentioned in Revelation. Revelation is a Jewish book and during this time God is dealing with Israel and Gentiles, not the Church (1 Corinthians 10.32). Whether the Church makes up the “armies of heaven” I do not know. What we can know is what Paul declared in 1 Corinthians 2.9 and Romans 8.17.
I understand what you say, and your position that Revelation does not talk about the church, but the text in 1 Thessalonians 4.17 does say that after the rapture, we His church, His body, will be with him forever (after, emphasis implied), and when He returns at the end of the 7 years, to reign for the last day of Hosea (1000 years or the millennium), we should thus return also (somehow in some capacity, army like Alice ponders, or not) even if it is just to be with Him (which we be reward enough).
Is this contradicted by scripture somewhere? Or am I taking it out of context?
Esteban,
It could be. We just haven’t enough information.
Thank you for sharing this great work, the article is very will presented and is simple to understand for the any reader and it gives a great understating of the rapture.
God bless you
Since born again believers who are still alive at the end of the tribulation will enter the Millennium Kingdom in their fleshly bodies I have two questions. Will they who are born again get a glorified body like the rest of us who where risen from the dead and if so when?
Renee,
We have no specific information on this. Christ was the firstfruits along with others (1 Corinthians 15.20-23; Matthew 27.51-53). Then the main harvest, the Church (1 Corinthians 15.51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4.14-17). Then the gleanings, the OT believers (Daniel 12.1-2; Isaiah 26.19-21) and resurrection of Tribulation believers (Revelation 20.4-5). If I had to guess, believers alive at the end of the Millennium will get new bodies then. All these constitute the “first resurrection.” Lastly is the resurrection of unbelievers who will also receive eternal bodies (John 5.28-29; Revelation 20.11-15).
What do you mean when you say, when the boy of Christ is complete?
Theresa,
At some point God will complete His Church, the body of Christ with those who believe Paul’s gospel (1 Corinthians 15.1-4). When the Body is complete, God will remove it (the Rapture). At that time He will renew His prophetic program with Israel. In that program, the gospel of the kingdom will again be preached (Matthew 24.14). At the end of the seven years of Tribulation the Lord will return and set up His kingdom on the earth and fulfill all of His covenant promises He made to Israel.
Thank you. I stumbled upon your teaching, Thank God and have been learning every day!! My church on Long Island has been teaching on Gods Grace as revealed to Paul for 3 years now. But I learn even more from your writings! Ty
Thank you for your kind words. I’m glad the articles have been helpful.
I did not see a mention of who the members of the Body actually are–those who leave in the rapture.
I will state what I am taught on that subject. I am taught that salvation (Rom 10:9-10) is the first step in becoming one with God; that relying on the blood of Christ makes us a fit temple to receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The second Phase is to be baptized in the Holy Spirit to make us Born Again, a work of the Spirit as discussed in John 3:3-7. A further refinement is that we be led by the Spirit (Rom 8:14) This makes us Sons of God who will leave in the Rapture.
I am asking who you teach are the one who leave in the Rapture. I have heard that any whoever named the name of Jesus is raptured. I have heard that only the Baptist Briders (Bride of Christ) will leave in the rapture.
I think this is important because people could get a false sense of security when the subject is poorly taught. A moment after the rapture they may find themselves still on the earth.
Curtis,
The Rapture involves the Church, the body of Christ. It is the the Church’s resurrection. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18 that all who have believed his gospel (1 Corinthians 15.1-4), that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead (v.14), will participate in the Rapture. The dead will rise first, then those who are alive will be transformed and meet the Lord in the air.
Curtis,
This teaching that you have received….what does it have to say about Col 2:10? Do you think that Paul was implying that we will be complete only once we reach “phase #3”?
Grace – You asked about Colossians 2:10, about – here it is:
“This teaching that you have received….what does it have to say about Col 2:10? Do you think that Paul was implying that we will be complete only once we reach “phase #3”?”
Colossians 2:10 has nothing to do with the Rapture or a “Phase #3”. Col. 2:9 tells us that Jesus is the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and verse 10 tells us that thus, “we are complete in Jesus, which is the head of all principality and power” We’re complete in Christ as He is the fulness of the Godhead bodily.:Really simple and there’s nothing there in 2:10 about the Rapture. I pray this helps you!
Hi there and thanks for this text but I am not sure if I understand it as you have put it because I have studied this quite a bit and some things are just not adding up for me. I have a few questions and hope that you can bare with me. I hope you can answer them so that I may be able to understand them a bit better.
First, I have read that the restrainer is Michael the archangel and it seems as though it fits clearly that it could be him. Have you studied that before and why don’t you think that it could be a possibility?
Also, how long do you think the Day of the Lord is for? Many have said it is the complete 7 years while others say it is exactly as it states, a DAY only. That in that day is when the church will be raptured because it is before Gods wrath takes place.
I have studied that the book of revelation is not chronological but more themeatical. If you have a chance you should look into Doug Hamps videos on youtube regarding this topic because it is super interesting and has come up with a good view of how the end will come about.
Also I wanted to point out Rev 14:1-4 about those first fruits. I believe those are the 144.000 and i think those are the ones that are raptured(redeemed) first.
Lastly, I had read your article on the Creator and you point out 2 peter 3:10 as the end. Wouldn’t all the verses that talk about the Day of the Lord and the thief in the night relate together? Some seem like they are before and others after.
By the way do you have an outline of the tribulation, the rapture, when the millenium begins, when it ends, when the judgements are. Just a little confused as to what happens when, like is satan going to be loosed for a little while and then the 7 months or is it years when the earth has to be cleaned up because of all the shedding of blood. I just don’t know how to put them all together. It just doesn’t make sens to me how it sounds as though the millenium will begin with peace and all the animals getting along but yet satan will be let out for a short time it’s pretty confusing. If you can clear any of these points for me it would be great. sorry for the long comment. I appreciate your time and effort in all of your studies.
Angelina,
Please see my article Understanding the Book of Revelation. You must understand that Revelation has NOTHING in it that concerns the Church, the body of Christ. God has removed the Church before any of the events John witnessed and recorded. The Scriptures are explicitly clear about this. Technically, the Day of the Lord goes from the beginning of the Tribulation (7 years) all the way to the creation of a New Heavens and New Earth, which follows the 1,000 year Messianic kingdom in which Christ reigns upon earth (Zechariah 14.9; see the Lord’s Prayer–“thy kingdom come…on earth”). To understand these things one must realize that all Scripture apart from Paul’s letters (Romans-Philemon) relate to Israel. Only the books written by Paul relate to the Church. All prophecy relates to Israel. No prophecy relates to the Church. If you keep these things separate, confusion will cease. If you do not, the Scriptures are full of contradictions. That is why most of Christendom is so confusion. But God is not the author of confusion.
Appreciate your response and will be reading your article today. By the way you didn’t respond if you were familiar with Douglas Hamp. He has a couple of videos that I recommend that you watch on youtube One is Millenium: heaven on earth which is in 3 parts I believe and and the other is the final rebellion satan’s assault against the New Jerusalem. Although he doesn’t have it all sorted out as far as some things go, he does bring up such an excellent points throughout the videos. That many have believed the New Jerusalem is after the 1000 year reign but he puts the New Jerusalem during the 1000 year reign. It is quite remarkable and many verses begin to make sense when he lays them out. If you haven’t seen or heard of those videos yet, I would appreciate your feedback on them for they really put a new perspective on things and it seems to fit pretty well. Have a good day.
Angelina,
I am not familiar with Douglas Hamp but thank you for the information.
First, I want to thank you for this website, it is obvious you have put a lot of work into it. For most of my life I was raised in a “Mid-Acts” church, I also attended Grace Bible College in Grand Rapids, Mi. So, I know and agree whole heartily with what you are teaching here. I do have a question though regarding 2 Thessalonians 2, to be specific, verse 3 and 7, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition….For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.” I realize that the popular view among both “Acts 2” and “Mid-Acts” dispensationalists is that the “falling away” in verse 3 refers to “an aggressive and climactic revolt against God which will prepare the way for the appearance of the man of sin” to quote Ryrie; and that the “he” in verse 7 refers to the Holy Spirit. I would like your thoughts on another view/interpretation of these two verses.
First, I have read, and somewhat agree with, the view that the “falling away” in verse 3 could be an improper translation and should actually say “departure.” Granted, I am NO Greek scholar but it has been explained to me that the Greek word used here and its root word , also found in Acts 21:21, can easily be translated as such. Verse 3 is rendered “departure” in the Tyndale Bible. As a result, Paul could be telling the Thessalonians that the Day of the Lord won’t come until the departure “rapture” happens first, which does fit.
Second, the “he” in verse 7 could be referring to the Body of Christ which Paul does call the “one new man” in Ephesians 2:15. I have always had an issue with the idea that the “he” is referring to the Holy Spirit when it is obvious that He will be at work here on Earth during the Tribulation; i.e. sealing the 144,000, protecting Israel, people will be saved during this time, etc. I could be wrong, but it seems that the restrainer being the Body of Christ makes sense since this current parenthetical dispensation is what is holding back the prophetic time clock. Once the Body of Christ is removed at the rapture, Daniel’s 70th week will be able to begin at some point in the near future. I realize this isn’t that much different that what you said concerning who the “he” is, I just struggle with the idea that it is the Holy Spirit.
In 2 Thessalonians Paul was giving them, and us, a definite order of events. In verse 3 he could easily be saying that the Day of the Lord cannot happen until the departure/rapture happens first. He then reiterates/repeats this idea in verse 7 by saying that the “he” Body of Christ will be removed (rapture), then “the man of lawlessness will be revealed.” Either way, he is comforting the Thessalonians that no matter what they have heard, the Day of the Lord hadn’t begun yet and couldn’t because they, the Body of Christ, were still here.
This is only a slight variation on what you said, which leads to the exact same conclusion, but I was wondering what your thoughts on these interpretations are. Thanks in advance for your input.
Kenneth,
Thank you for your kind words. Please read my article 1 and 2 Thessalonians and see if it does not answer your questions.
Funny enough, after I asked my questions I saw your article on 1 & 2 Thessalonians and decided to read it. First, it is very well written, extremely thorough and spot on!!! You did address my questions, especially the one in relation to verse 3, you seem to have also come to the conclusion that the word “departure” fits what Paul is trying to relay; which is that the Day of the Lord cannot come until the rapture happens first. I always felt that the idea of a “falling away” or “apostasy” didn’t quite fit the text, especially since mankind has been doing that all along. A physical “departure” makes a lot more sense in light of what Paul is teaching. Again, I love this sight and look forward to reading all of your articles.
Don,
I really appreciate this great study on the doctrine of the Rapture. However I am a little confused. In your study on 1 and 2 Thessalonians you indicate that the Greek word for “falling away” is more correctly translated departure but here you seem to indicate it as a rebellion.
Thanks,
William
William,
Thank you. I did the study on 1 and 2 Thessalonians recently and have come to the conclusion that the evidence better supports “departure” rather than “rebellion.” I will correct in the Rapture article.
Hello,
I’d just like to report recent problems accessing your home page and articles. All I see is a lot of gibberish on the entire page. Whenever I type in your website in Google or Yahoo searches I am able to access a few pages, such as this one, but not others. I can’t access the home page by typing in the url at the top of the page. I don’t know if anyone else has reported this to you or not. I did take a screen shot with my cell phone so that you can see for yourself what it is that I see but I don’t have an email address to send it to you. If you’d like me to send it to you, I’d be happy to.
I’ve been a daily visitor to your site for months now and have been very blessed by the work you have done and by the way you have presented it here. Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
God bless you,
Vicki
Vicki,
Thanks for the heads-up. I think I know what was causing the problem. Please let me know if the weird characters return.
You wrote “This “last trumpet” signals the completion of the Church, the body of Christ and Christ coming for it.” Yet you do not provide Scripture to back up this assumption. Not only that, but Paul said 1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. This is quoted from Isaiah 25:8, which is obviously post tribulational. The mystery in I Cor 15 is not a pre trib rapture, it’s the instant changing and glorification of the body. The mystery the Thessalonians were ignorant of was their dead loved ones, not the pre trib rapture. Both I Thess 4 and I Cor 15 are in context of the post trib rapture and day of the Lord. Paul added new revelation about the one coming of Christ, giving us details the OT prophets and the Lord never did. But to assume he is speaking of a pretribulation rapture is just that…..an assumption. http://www.theposttribulationrapture.com
Matt,
No Scripture states explicitly that the “last trumpet” is the Rapture. We get there by examining Paul’s other writings. Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2.1-3 to combat the false teaching that the Thessalonians were experiencing the Tribulation. In his first letter he had taught them that this was not a possibility (1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9). Who these false teachers were is unknown. Today, the false teaching comes from those who do not understand Paul. The things he revealed he received from the risen Lord. Jesus had not revealed them in His earthly ministry for all of His teaching concerned Israel, not the Church. The teaching that members of the body of Christ will undergo the Tribulation is contrary to all of Paul’s teaching and his command for believers to encourage one another with the truth of the Pre-tribulational Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4.18). More detailed analysis of this subject is in the study 1 and 2 Thessalonians.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 is one of many Scriptures that changed my mind about the rapture. The day of Christ is not at hand as the KJV accurately translates. Our gathering together unto him is not imminent and anyone who believes otherwise is deceived. The antichrist shall come before our rapture so it must be post trib. As far as the wrath is concerned, I totally agree. The wrath of God mentioned in Revelation is after the tribulation (including the bowl judgments which are focused on the wicked and the kingdom of the beast). We will be snatched out before the wrath during the day of Christ. I do understand the teaching of hyperdispensationism very well. My current pastor preaches it. I actually have a great deal of respect for him and the position and agree with parts of it. He is a great preacher and even a better man but he and you are wrong in my opinion. The encouragemt the Thessalonians were to get was about their dead loved ones, not Jesus coming 7 years beforehand. You are assuming a truth from the text that is simply not there.
Matt,
The best manuscripts support the reading “day of the Lord.” The Day of the Lord is the Tribulation. The Bible reveals only one day of God’s wrath as described by the prophets and declared by the Lord Himself as the Tribulation (Matthew 24). The Pre-Tribulational Rapture is a doctrine so certain and so simple that I am amazed anyone disagrees with it. A Post-Tribulational position has no Scriptures to support it. I am also amazed that so many seemingly want to go through it–especially since Paul explicitly stated we would not! For a Post-Tribulational view to have any support one would have to demonstrate that the wrath of God, the Day of the Lord is not the Tribulation. I find no Scriptures to support such an idea.
Where is it “declared by the Lord” that the tribulation is God’s wrath? Dispensationalists equate wrath, tribulation, temptation, seventieth week and a multitude of other terms, even though the Bible NEVER states or even implies that they are the same. They must, for there is no other way for their unblibical theory to work. In the same way, they must wrongly handle the Word of God, by dividing Scripture into two categories, those for the Church, and those for Israel. And how do they decide which passages are assigned to whom? Again, whatever they need to do to prop up their theory.
God’s wrath comes after the darkening of the sun, moon and stars, which Jesus says happens AFTER the tribulation.
The Seals of Revelation are NOT the wrath of God, just because Jesus opens them. He opened them because He is sovereign over all this, including the number of His people who are martyred under the fifth Seal.
Scripture NEVER teaches that it will be secret. It was called a mystery, NOT a secret. The mystery was that NOT ALL WILL SLEEP. Some will be changed to immortality without dying first.
Neither did Paul EVER claim the Church would not endure tribulation. And we are not saved from wrath by being raptured, but by being IN CHRIST, as Noah was in the Ark. And no one outside the Ark survives. None. In I Thess 5, it is not wrath vs tribulation, but rather wrath vs salvation. Salvation is not a rescue from tribulation, but a rescue from the Lake of Fire.
And if Paul commanded believers not to fellowship with those who reject the PreTrib rapture, as you claim, how is it not a salvation issue? Or those who disagree with you not worthy of your fellowship.
Clearly, it is you who have “refused to believe the straightforward message,” and have resorted to twisting scripture to prove your point. II Thess 3 is not talking about a rapture. Take off your rapture-colored glasses so you can see clearly. The passage has nothing to do with the rapture. If you would read it in context you would see that Paul is talking about those who are “unwilling to work,” and who are “not busy, but are busybodies.” Then he commands them to “settle down and earn the food they eat.” Then he urges them to taken note of anyone who does not obey their instruction, not of those who don’t believe in a PreTrib rapture. Paul never even mentions a tribulation.
II Thess was not written to correct a believe that the Church would be in the tribulation, something that wouldn’t occur for centuries.
And the book of Revelation DOES teach that the Church will be in Revelation, UNLESS you reject the plain words of Scripture and resort to “rightly dividing” the word.
Revelation is an apocalyptic book, full of allusions to and quotations from the Old Testament. That does not mean it not written to, for and about the Church.
Toddott,
Apparently, you have not looked up the word μυστήριον. “Mystery” is a transliteration, not a translation. It always means secret. The Tribulation is the Day of the Lord, God’s wrath. The OT spoke of this day many times. It is God’s wrath. Read Psalm 2. That is its first mention. 1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9 state explicitly members of the Church will not experience the Tribulation. 2 Thessalonians 2 states this also. The Church is nowhere in Revelation. How anyone can say it is indicates missing the entire messsage. Revelation is the time of Jacob’s trouble (Israel) and the nations. The Church does not experience God’s wrath.
People want to believe that they can their salvation by works that is why they struggle with a pre trib rapture.I believe we are saved by grace plus nothing.Some folk have difficulty with this.
Suzanne,
Some may reject the Rapture because of this, but most reject it because they reject Paul’s statements about it and conflate the Old Testament and Gospels with Paul. They see only one return of Christ because that is all that is taught in the Gospels and Old Testament. Almost all theological error comes from the failure to recognize Paul’s unique apostleship: that he was not an appendage to the Twelve but an apostle who began a whole new program. Paul is to the Church what Abraham was to Israel.
I agree with you Matt. Pre-trib is not in the scripture. It has to be proof-texted in order to be there. Christ wouldn’t have spoken about the Anti-christ deceiving even the elect if the elect weren’t going to be here.
Tay,
Since Jesus’ audience in Matthew 24 was Jews, not the Church, this passage has nothing to do with our current environment. The Scriptures teach the Rapture was a secret (1 Corinthians 15.51). It is a Pauline doctrine. Jesus did not reveal it in His earthly ministry but revealed it to Paul in His heavenly ministry. Paul explicitly taught the Church will not endure the Tribulation (1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9). Paul also commanded believers not to fellowship with those who reject the Pre-tribulation rapture (2 Thessalonians 3.6, 14-15). While the Pre-Tribulation rapture is not a salvation issue, it is an obedience and fellowship issue.
Don, do you think that those believers who deny the pre-tribulation rapture, other than being surprised, will be rebuked, embarrased or humiliated when they are raptured with the rest of believers? I know they will probably lose rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Brian,
Interesting question. I think some shame is always attached to unbelief. To me, the Rapture is as clear a doctrine as Christ’s death and resurrection for our sins. I do not see how one can deny it since so many Scriptures declare it.
Dear Brother,
I have been studying dispensational teaching and the particular, unique apostleship given to Paul since the early 1980s. I own and have read probably every phamplet and book published by the Berean Bible Society and throughly accept most of this teaching. After accepting the “pre-tribulation” rapture timing for many years too many scriptures just did not allow this particular aspect of “Pauline doctrine” to survive in my understanding.
I believe that a key issue to the timing of the rapture is the definitions of “tribulation” or the “great tribulation” and the “day of the Lord” and their purposes.
It should be obvious that the “great tribulation” that Jesus described begins in the middle of “Daniels 70th week” when the “abomination of desolation”occurs. The tribulation is defined as the “time of Jacobs trouble”, it is not the equivalent of the “Day of the Lord” and does not last for the entire 7 years. It is a time of Satan’s wrath upon Israel that God allows for due to their final act of rebellion when they (again) reject the Lord and receive the “man of sin” as their saviour. I would say that this act is “the apostasy” that Paul describes and the act that brings about the revealing of the “Anti-Christ”. This “great tribulation” is God’s sovereign means to bring Israel to repentance and prepare them to receive Jesus at His appearing.
The Day of the Lord is God’s wrath upon the nations for their attempt to destroy Israel and their refusal to receive the truth of the Gospel. This is the time that the Church will be protected from. This period does not begin until after the great tribulation has run its course. Therefore, the Church, which is His Body will be on the earth during the great tribulation. I would characterize the timing of the rapture as being “pre-wrath”. I do not have a specific timing for the rapture other than it occurs when God is ready to judge the earth so He removes His ambassadors from the earth prior to declaring war. It is also triggered by the need to God to intervene on behalf of Israel before Satan is completely sucessful in his plan.
The one who is the “restrainer” is Michael the Archangel and Israels protector. He is identified in Daniel as the one who will “stand still” immediately prior to the revealing of the man of lawlessness. It is this removal of God’s protection from Israel that allows Satan to have his way for a time. This also correlates to Satan being cast down to the earth, having great fury because he knows that his time is short.
Because Paul’s teaching has distinctive aspects does not mean that it cannot be also integrated into God’s broader plan and purposes. Just as in Acts where there was a transition from the Gospel of the Kingdom to the Gospel of Grace, there logically must be a transition in the other direction.
I do not believe that any of these opinions I have expressed detracts from Paul’s doctrine and that they are consistent both with the Revelation of the Mystery and with Prophesy.
Blessings in Him!!!
Dan,
Thank you. Paul explicitly taught in 1 Thessalonians that believers of his gospel would not undergo wrath (1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9). This is the wrath taught by the prophets, the Day of the Lord, the Tribulation. Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians to correct the error that the Church would be in the Tribulation. The 70th week of Daniel is the time of “Jacob’s trouble” and involves Israel and the nations of the earth, not the Church (see 1 Corinthians 10.32). I find no Biblical evidence to support the view that the Church will be in the Tribulation. For example, the book of Revelation contains no evidence the Church is present during this period. Please see my study on 1 and 2 Thessalonians for more detail on this subject.
Yes, absolutely, I do not believe the Church will fall under God’s wrath. This is the definitional issue I am trying to communicate. “The Tribulation” is NOT equal to “God’s wrath”. The Tribulation is a time of testing and when Israel suffers for its rebellion. It is a result of Satan’s wrath and his attempt to destroy God’s plan for the earth through Israel. The timing of God’s wrath is pretty clearly declared in Revelation and it occurs after many of the events described.
Paul clearly indicates that the Church will see the revealing of the AntiChrist and this clearly occurs in the middle of Daniels 70th week and prior to the Day of the Lord. So the Church will, at least, be present to that point.
To say that “the Church” is not mentioned in Revelation is an “argument from silence” and can not be conclusive.
What you have identified as the “snatching away” in 2 Thes 2. is actually “the falling away” which can only refer to an apostasy either of the Church or Israel or both which allows the AntiChrist to rule.
The comfort Paul offered was not because they were afraid that they had entered “the Tribulation”, but that they were experiencing “the Day of the Lord”, which are not the same thing. When you consider that they are not the same I believe the timing of the rapture will become clear.
Mercy and Peace in His Holy Name!
Dan,
Thank you. This argument has merit only if it can be Scripturally demonstrated that the Tribulation is not God’s wrath. I do not think it can proved that the Church will see the Antichrist revealed. Please see my article 1 and 2 Thessalonians for details on this matter. I think I address all the issues raised in your comment.
Tim McHyde’s book “escape all these things” explains this whole thing the best and most logical I’ve ever heard it explained. He shows the difference with one clear scripture Jesus uses Matthew 24:29
Tay,
The problem with such explanations is they fail to address the fact that the Rapture was a secret taught by Paul alone and that Jesus addressed Jewish believers, not Christians.
Since the Church didn’t begin until Pentecost, then the Gospels have nothing to do with the Church? Is that what you are saying?
Sorry, but the message of the Kingdom IS the Gospel. The ONLY Gospel. The Gospel was first announced in the Garden, that the Seed of the Woman would crush the head of the serpent. The Gospel was then announced to Abraham, when He was told that the Promised Seed would come from His loins. “Scripture, foreseeing that the Gentiles would be justified by faith, announce the Gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In your Seed all nations will be blessed.” The Gospel was then announced to Israel in the Wilderness. Speaking about Israel, the writer of Hebrews says, “For we also have had the Gospel proclaimed to us, just as THEY had, but the message did not profit them, because they did not believe.”
The Law of Moses was a temporary message, meant to restrain sin, “UNTIL the Seed to whom the promise referred, should come.”
Jesus came as that Seed, announcing the Gospel, and prior to His death, made a New Covenant with the remnant of believing Israel. The New Covenant is the Gospel of the Kingdom, the Gospel of Grace, the Gospel of Righteousness by Faith, the Gospel of God. Interestingly, Dispensationalist claim that Paul’s Gospel is not taught during the tribulation period, which means the “eternal gospel” which is preached by an angel must not be the Gospel of Grace. Maybe Paul had PreTrib Dispensationalists in mind when he stated that anyone, man or ANGEL, who preaches another Gospel, is accursed. Hmmm, if the Church is raptured before the tribulation, to whom is that angel preaching Paul’s Gospel?
The Law and the prophets were until John. The Gospel came with Christ, the Seed, and the calling of His disciples, the FOUNDATION of the CHURCH.
As for the rapture not being taught before Paul because it was a secret, you are mistaken. Your misunderstanding stems from you not understanding that the rapture is part of the RESURRECTION, and happens AFTER it. The resurrection is mentioned throughout the Bible, and is plainly referred to in the Gospel. Jesus calls it the “harvest” at the end of the age, among other things. The rapture is NOT a SECRET. It was a MYSTERY. It was a revelation regarding HOW those living would participate in the resurrection, since they would not yet be dead. “Someone will ask, how are the dead raised…Behold, I show you a MYSTERY. We shall not all sleep, but WE SHALL BE CHANGED…for the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality…”
And it is not a rapture that happens in the twinkling of an eye. It is the change to mortality. “…we will all be CHANGED – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye…”
Another example of wresting scripture out of context and twisting its meaning.
Toddott,
The Church did not begin with Pentecost. It began with Paul. See my article, Paul: Chief of Sinners? The gospel of the kingdom was to Israel. Jesus did not have a ministry to Gentiles nor did Peter (Galatians 2.7-9). Paul was the apostle of the Gentiles (Romans 11.13). Paul’s gospel that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead and by believing it one is saved (1 Corinthians 15.1-4) was unknown until the risen Lord revealed it to Paul. Peter and the Twelve did not proclaim it until after Acts 15, see the article, The Great Hinge.
I read and reread your articles and am very thankful. I ponder the words. A word in the above fifth sentence probably should be changed from Jews to gentiles. Yes?
David,
Thanks!
Actually you yourself would agree that the vast majority of texts aside from the Paulinian ones are post tribulational. There will be a post trib rapture of the saints. The burden of proof is for pre tribbers to prove why there will be one before the tribulation. By the way, I don’t want to go through it. I would prefer to believe exactly as you do but my conscience would then accuse me. The arguments for imminence and God’s wrath are weak in my opinion. There simply is not one Scripture that emphatically says that Christ will return before his return to the earth after the tribulation. That in itself is a mystery. BTW, I apologize if I seem rude in my writing. I am probably way too passionate about this subject since it has caused me to resign as Pastor of a Baptist church because of it. I do respect your opinion, and do enjoy reading the articles on your site. May Christ’s love overpower our pride and prejudice.
Matt,
The main point is that we do have Paul. If we didn’t I would agree with you. No one taught the Rapture before Paul. Paul declared it was a “secret” (1 Corinthians 15.51-52). Paul taught the Pre-Tribulational Rapture in 1 Thessalonians (the main doctrinal thrust of the letter) and followed it with 2 Thessalonians to correct the error that believers would experience the Tribulation. I have yet to find anyone who can sustain an argument using Pauline texts to show believers will go through the Tribulation. No need to apologize. I have a thick skin. Beyond this I understand your passion as a fellow-believer.
I do agree that if a pre trib rapture is correct, Paul was the only one who taught it. And you would have to be firmly Paulinian in a your dispensational viewpoint if you believed it. Thanks for your response.
Matt,
Thanks. If words mean anything, Paul was the only one who taught the Rapture. Paul’s language, “ἰδού, μυστήριον ὑμῖν λέγω” can mean but one thing. The Rapture was a secret before Paul. A cannot be non-A. We also have no Biblical evidence anyone taught it but Paul. It is not found in the writings of any other apostle.
You say “The Rapture is the resurrection of the Church, the body of Christ”
No. The word rapture is not in the original text however the word “rapture” comes from the Latin word rapturo, which is a translation of the Greek verb “caught up” that’s found in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. G726 ἁρπάζω harpazo (har-pad’-zo) v. So it’s reasonable for one to accept the word rapture to mean the same as caught up or the catching up.
Also in connection with catching up (rature) we find the words parousia meaning, His coming in connection with apokalupsis, or revelation, (1 Cor 1:7, 2Tim. 4:1-8, Heb 9:28, Titus 2:13-15) Harpadzo meaning “caught up” (1 Thess 4:17)
Episunagoge meaning our gathering together ( Matt 24:29-31, 2Thess2:1, Heb 10:25)
And the word epiphaneia meaning appearing (1Tim 6:14; 2Tim 1:10; 2Tim 4:1; 2Tim 4:8; Titus 2:13) Also used in connection with brightness, as in 2Thess 2:8.
2thess2:1 tells us that there is one coming but 2 events happen at that coming.
In John 11:24 we see the word resurrection used G386 ἀνάστασις anastasis (an-as’-tas-is) n.1. a standing up again2. (literally) a resurrection from death
1Cor 15:20-23 says “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.”
We can see by the evidence of scripture that although these event happen together at the coming of the Lord, they are in fact two differing things.
Yours
Nigel
Nigel,
The event Paul described in 1 Corinthians 15.51-53 is the same event he described in 1 Thessalonians 4.13-17. The Church, the body of Christ, both the dead and the living, will receive resurrection bodies at Christ’s coming. At the Rapture the Church is resurrected.
Dear Doctrine,
Please elaborate on what you think happens between the Rapture and the beginning of the 7 year tribulation. …ex. Why it may take as many as 30 years? What would transpire during those years? Obviously there is a reason some believe such a gap is possible. …How would the unbelievers left behind not realize what had happened and become believers?…but would they be Grace believers or Kingdom believers? Wouldn’t the HS be taken with the Church? How would this fit with Daniel’s 490 years. thank you, Joe
Joe,
See my article, “When Will the Lord Return?”
Yes, thank you.
That is something I have never seen before.
Would the period between the Rapture and the beginning of the Tribulation be considered part of the ‘times of the gentiles’? Certainly not the Church age. But there are only 7 years left in Daniel’s 70 Weeks. Where am I going wrong here?
Thank you, Joe
Joe,
The Messiah was “cut off” after 69 weeks but the clock contiued for Israel from 30 to 70 A.D. The OT did not account for an interruption of 2,000 years for the Church Age. I would say any time between the Rapture and the advent of the Antichrist would be on Israel’s clock.
In the light of the Rapture how would you interpret or link Luke 21:36?
Thanks.
Cora,
1) Jesus spoke these words to Jews, not the Church, whereas Paul wrote to the Church, the body of Christ. 2) The subject Jesus spoke of was the Tribulation. 3) Jesus’ warning was cautionary about being aware of the times, most especially the deceit of the Antichrist. This warning fits with Jesus’ comments of Matthew 24, especially Matthew 24.24 and his words to the seven assemblies in Revelation 2-3 about “overcoming.”
Thanks for your answer Don, but how will it be possible for the Jews to escape the Tribulation?
Thanks.
Cora,
Survival in the tribulation will be nearly impossible (Matthew 24.22). According to Zechariah 13.8-9 some Jews will survive.
With respect but Luke 21:36 speak of “escape” and not “survive”. In other words it will be possible for the people Jesus addresses to escape all these things.
Cora,
The word “escape” is ἐκφεύγω which means to “escape by flight,” “to flee” and refers to what Jesus said in Luke 21.21. The mountains will provide a safe haven where the Jews will be able to survive.
Just a couple of general questions:
The Church is taken at the Rapture. Most of the details of the Rapture and tribulation and all the things that occur during those 7 years are in the New Testament (Matthew 24 and 25 and the book of Revelation). What group of people will read the new testament after the Rapture? the Jews won’t…they don’t accept the NT. The church won’t….the Church won’t be here. Why all the details when few (who need it) will read it and even fewer will understand? Seems most of the preaching is done by the 144K.
Will/can nonbelievers before the Rapture (but knew how to be saved) be saved after the Rapture?
Joe,
The 144,000 will certainly use the NT and point their audiences to it. I do not think we can be dogmatic that unbelievers who have reject the gospel of grace cannot be saved in the Tribulation. Some teach this is what 2 Thessalonians 2.10-12 means but I think it is more general: all who believe the lie (you can be God) and worship the Beast will perish.
Interesting that 144000 Jewish men will use the New Testament….Will the Holy Spirit work the same during the Trib. as in the Old Testament…(rarely, coming and going as needed)….not indwelling believers?
Joe,
The 144,000 will preach the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 24.14). Since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit indwells all believers.
Doesn’t the Tribulation default back to the law? ….temple worship etc. Did the HS permanently indwell believers in the OT?
Joe,
The Jews will be under the Law but since Pentecost the Holy Spirit indwells all believers. Before Pentecost, in the OT He did not (cf. Psalm 51.11).
Don,
It is a true blessing that God is using you with this website and Les Feldick with his ministry. Dispensational biblical teaching today is becoming more and more rare to find as well as in the church today.
I do have a question about the rapture. Les Feldick has said that when the rapture happens it may go to a extent not noticed because true believers are becoming more and more of a minority in today’s world which I agree. The question I have is I believe children will be raptured and that will certainly create, it would seem, quite a event worldwide especially children from unbelievers being raptured.
Yours thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Jim,
Thank you for your kind words. It’s hard to know what impact the event will have or what explanations will be offered. We are now witnessing increasing manipulation of the media and the media being accomplices of the powers that be. We also do not know how long it will be before the Beast is revealed following the Rapture. I deal with this question in the article When Will the Lord Return?
Hi Don,
First of all…excellent article and hats off to you for fielding the many questions from the skeptics, I know first hand how tiring it can be to stand firm on Pauline doctrine.
About the rapture event, and these are just my own thoughts on the matter, but consider this. At times, when God spoke, take Mt Sinai for example, the earth shook, there was thunder and such. What do you think might happen to the planet if God gave a “shout”?!!
Also, when Jesus gave up the ghost, the tombs of many were opened. Will the grave sites of “the dead in Christ” be opened up at the rapture as well? If so, what would that do to the landscape? Then, will countless billions of persons, all of them having superhuman bodies simply pass through objects, or will the objects and structures standing in between us and our destiny be destroyed as we ascend into the heavens? The house we live in, the car we drive and even if we are in the basement of a skyscraper…one way or another, were are going through it.
I can’t help but wonder what utter devastation a scenario such as this might leave behind in it’s wake. If the rapture is simply viewed to be a global cataclysmic event, there would be no reason to wonder where all the Christians went. They would be viewed as casualties of the event and non Christian nations would experience very little of this effect.
Could the rise of the 10 nations be the rebuilding of a global society after the rapture? Is the reason why the United States, the largest Christian nation in history is not mentioned in bible prophesy because of all the Christians who live here are gone and those who died before us came out of their graves and together we wrecked the place when we left?
I realize this is all speculation, but I do believe in a pre-trib rapture for all the reasons you stated in your article and subsequent post responses.
Again…great job!
Chuck,
Thank you. We have no Biblical indicators of global calamity attending the Rapture. It seems believers will just disappear. I take it that resurrected believers will have no impact on physical structures as Jesus in His resurrected body passed through walls without damaging them. I doubt the Rapture will have a significant impact on society. I don’t think there are that many Christians alive (think of Elijah–7,000 out of 7 million). Also, it will be explained away or suppressed by the mass media. We see this daily.
At another site, they state Romans 11:25 (summarization)
That the Rapture is not Date specific but number specific; meaning there is a set number of people (known only by God) that make of the Body of Christ and once that number has been reached the Rapture will occur.
Have you heard of this theory before? Do you think it is scripturally sound?
KJ,
Paul used the word πλήρωμα to indicate completeness. When the Church, the body of Christ is complete, He will remove it. At some point some believer will complete it. So yes, I think this is sound.
Hi Don, I never thought about it until now, but i dont see where it says the rapture will occur after the fullness of the Gentiles. Would Eph 1:10 cover this?
Becky,
God deals with but one program at a time. The fullness of the Gentiles completes the Church, the body of Christ. When that occurs God will remove it and regraft Israel into the place of blessing in the olive tree.
Thank you, makes sense
surely the old testament saints will raise with the church
they with out us cannot be made perfect (Hebrews) Whose they old testament believers like Abraham Sarah,Noah Enoch Abel etc.
those who sleep in Christ includes old testament saints who by faith look forward to the atoning sacrifice of Jesus
The Church and the Patriarchs will receive they rewards at the same time.
agreeds .
Rev 20 writes of tribulation saints not old testament saints
Vic,
There is an order to the resurrection. Please see my article, The Resurrection.
Hi Don,
I was reading John 14 and verse 4 reminded me of I Thess 4:17. It was an immediate and clear connection that I dont believe i have made before. Obviously, they didn’t have a clue what He was speaking of, but this is not a “kingdom on earth” statement. Your thoughts…..
Becky,
The Lord’s words in John 14 cannot refer to the Rapture because Paul declared the Rapture was a secret (1 Corinthians 15.51). We can’t have something revealed and unrevealed. Israel’s hope was earthly. They looked for the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth (Matthew 6.10; Matthew 19.28). Jesus had the regathering of Israel in mind (Matthew 24.27,31), not the Rapture. He told them He was going to prepare a place for them and return (to earth) and receive them (John 14.3) and rule on the earth (Isaiah 9.6-7). Jewish believers will reign with Him kings and priests (Exodus 19.5-6; Revelation 5.10).
One more question. What is it that He is going to prepare?
Becky,
One can only assume that the Lord preparation of a place was related to their destiny to rule the 12 tribes (Matthew 19.28).
Don,
My comment is in response to Becky’s question – “What is it that He is going to prepare?” (I go to prepare a place for you…). Christ would be going to prepare the New Jerusalem, as detailed in Rev. 21:1-2, 10-27, that would eventually be placed on the New Earth, populated with/by Israel. I agree with you that the Church – the Body of Christ is not in view here in John 14.
Thanks, Rob. After I received Don’s answer, I studied out further on my own and found exactly what you share. Makes sense. Thanks again.
The tribulation will start when the Antichrist &False Prophet create the 7 yr peace covenant between Israel & the Palestinians, with Jerusalem not decided on but temporarily shared. The first 42 months (3 1/2 yrs) Israel will have a false peace while the Antichrist establishes his one world government & one world religion. Christians &Jews will be beheaded & martyred much like now but to an even greater extent. When the Antichrist enters the rebuilt temple at the 3 1/2 yr midpoint & claims he is God, the Lords “WRATH” will begin! But first the earth will be harvested (raptured)of all believers that meet the King of Kings in the clouds because we believers are not meant for God’s wrath. Satan thru the Antichrist &False Prophet will persecute & kill as many of Gods followers as possible, including the 2 old testament witnesses that will rise again after laying in the streets of Jerusalem for 3 1/2 days & will be taken up to heaven in their spiritual bodies. I think people confuse the tribulation of the Antichrist with Gods “wrath” which we are not meant for. However, it’s entirely 2 separate entities. The bible is clear that we will see the Antichrist “for he must first be revealed,” this man of lawlessness. I have no desire to see him or his sidekick. It would be wonderful to escape into heaven on the day of the signing of the peace treaty, but that’s not what the Bible states. Many will be persecuted & under the heavenly altar they will ask how much longer before retribution & justice is served. Our loving God doesn’t want to lose any of his children to Satan. God said that when the earth was ripe for harvesting we would rise in the air in our spiritual bodies to meet Jesus in the clouds. And then His WRATH against the evildoers will begin. With a breath, the sea of all the nations armies surrounding His Jerusalem & His chosen people will die. Those that are still alive & have become Christians will be transfigured into their spiritual young & healthy bodies and will reign with Jesus for a thousand yrs. Satan & his minions will be locked up in Hell where they belong. So there you have it. Altho the 7 yr agreement hasnt been signed yet we clearly are in the Tribulation. Just ask the 21 Coptic Christians that recently were beheaded or the people of Napal dead or clinging to life after the major earthquake. If you haven’t surrendered your heart to Jesus for dying on the cross for your sins & being resurrected on the third day I strongly advise you to do so. The way things are happening in this world you don’t want to lose your only chance for heaven. Eternity is a long time to spend in Hell. It must be a horrendous place as Jesus warned against it throughout the Bible. All you have to do is sincerely thank Jesus, out loud , for dying on the cross as a sacrifice so all your sins would be forgiven. Past, present & future. Wow, if He is willing to die for us what do we have to lose by surrendering our hearts to him for a few minutes? He is standing at your door waiting. Open it, talk to Him, & experience peace like never before.
Terri,
The Scriptures reveal the Church, the body of Christ, will be gone before the 7 year period begins. That is the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30.7). The 7 years are part of Israel’s timetable, not the Church’s. The tribulation lasts 7 years and Paul wrote we are not appointed to wrath (1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9). The Scriptures state the Rapture occurs before the advent of the Antichrist. No member of the body of Christ will be present during any part of the Tribulation. Please see my article, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, especially the section, “Examination of Ἀποστασία.”
Hi Don, I really appreciate what you said under the “last trumpet” notation that,
‘The trumpets in Revelation signal God’s judgments upon the earth. No hint of judgment exists in Paul’s passage.’ This is an important statement for me.
When Paul made the statement, “the last trump,” he didn’t explain what that meant. I know people have related this to something from the OT, but I’m just wondering if “last trump” meant something different to the Corinthians. Like something that they were familiar with before they were saved. thanks…..
Becky,
We just don’t have enough information to know what this trumpet is. Whatever it is, it signals the completion of the Church, the body of Christ.
Don, do you ever read the books that are outside of the bible, i.e., the book of Enoch, etc? I haven’t but wondering if the rapture is addressed in any of them. thanks so much.
Becky,
I have read some of Enoch as I was doing a study on Genesis 6. The rapture was a secret (1 Corinthians 15.51). No one knew of it before Paul.
The last Trump of 1 Thes 4 is the Trump of God — The Revelation Trumpets are sounded by Angels.. as your work says.(and my own studies have shown me this) The Trump of God signals the end of the Age of Grace, the Church is complete. You may have forgotten after so many comments, it’s easy to do. Thanks for your hard work, again. God bless!
Marie,
Yes. The “last trumpet” of 1 Corinthians 15.52 signals completion, not “last,” ἔσχατος, in the sense of last in a series of trumpets like those in Revelation. The trumpet is sounded when the Church, the body of Christ, is complete.
Dear Doctrine,
With all due respect and as much meekness as I can muster, you are in error.
While your spiritual insight into the truth of the Rapture is correct, it’s source seems to be from the Satanic corrupted Bible versions.
The NASB, NKJB, ESV, NIV!, Amplified, the Message, and all the rest of “modern bibles” from the Luciferians Westcott and Hort, have added to , taken away and twisted the Word of God.
Rev 22:18-19
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”This is Very Serious to God…”
Doing this is Extremely important to our Adversary the Devil.In his first appearance in the Bible, Gen 3:1, his AGENDA for the Word……………..”yea hath God said?”
Doubt toward the Truth-Word.
Math 4:
It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Notice, “Every Word”.
God has given the whole world in English…His Word…by the Holy Spirit.God has Kept His Word…God has Preserved His Word.Not the LIE of “original manuscripts”. God is fully capable of preserving His Word without needing the “original manuscripts” Non-Sense…..
The Adversary says, “And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.”
Notice 2 things, the Devil Always try’s to instill Doubt in the truth-the Word-Always.He also Left out a verse, “to keep thee in all thy ways.”Psalm 91:11
I say all this to show by the Spirit of Truth that your use of the Day of the Lord in 2 Thess 2:2 is in error.The Word of God-KJB AV 1611, says the Day of Christ.
The Day of the Lord and the Day of Christ are 2 completely different things.The day of Christ is the Blessed Hope is the Catching away is the Rapture.
The Day of the Lord is as a thief in the night and will come with the Wrath of God.
It is Very important to the Adversary to confuse the body of Christ about the Rapture and the Word of God.
Seek the Holy Spirit from a humble,meek and contrite heart to “test” my words and the truth..
Throw away those Satanic “modern bibles”. Their true author is the Devil.
Be blessed in Jesus mighty name!:)
Joe,
Only the autographs were God-breathed. The KJV is a very fine translation but it is a translation. It was not God-breathed. It contains some errors. For example, 2 Thessalonians 2.2 should read, “day of the Lord.” Romans 8.1 is another example. It should read, “Therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.” The rest of the verse in the KJV, “who walk not after the flesh” was pulled from verse 4 and added by a scribe to verse one. We have great accuracy in the translations but none are perfect. Transmission and copying errors occurred throughout the years. Recognition of this is part of being a diligent student of the Scriptures.
Doc.
I agree with Joe.I believe God hovered over his word through out the seven translations from Hebrew, to Aramaic, Greek, Syriac, Latin, German and finally English. The KJV has seven editions not revisions, 1611,1613,1617,1629,1638,1743 and 1769 the one we use today, perfect and complete.Some of us still like to use the one that has stood the test of time, the only one translated from the antioch manuscripts not the corrupt ones from Egypt that Westcott and Hort used. I believe Acts ch.6;5,8,9,and 10 and ch.18; 24-26 defend the antioch text over the sinaticus and vaticanus which all other versions are taken from today.Opponents of the King James Bible have called Bible believers, “cultists,” “Ruckmanites” and a few
other choice names. What we are actually witnessing is the “No Perfect Bible Controversy.”
Why do I say this?
If tomorrow all of the King James Bible advocates stood up and said, “We are changing our ways.
We no longer believe the King James Bible is perfect. In fact, we agree 100% with our former opponents
that the King James Bible is riddled with errors.” there would be a massive “Amen!”
But! then, right after we made that statement we said, “The reason we no longer believe the King
James Bible is the perfect word of God is because we now believe the New International Version is the
perfect word of God.”
As soon as our anti-King James opponents heard that, they would rend their cloths, cast dust in the
air and cry, “They’re still crazy!” Overnight all the anti-King James Bible critics would become anti-New
International Version critics.
Why would this happen? Because their opposition isn’t to the concept that the King James Bible is
the perfect word of God. Their opposition is actually to the concept that there is a perfect Bible anywhere
on the planet. They don’t simply hate the King James Bible, that’s not it at all. What they hate is the thought
that there is a perfect Bible anywhere, no matter which version it might be.
Tommy,
The doctrine of inspiration is that only the autographs were God-breathed. God has providentially preserved enough copies to allow us to assemble an accurate Bible. Small points may be argued and disagreed with but none of these affect doctrine. When there are textual variants and disagreements they can be resolved by comparing Scripture with Scripture. God has provided enough internal check or witnesses to ensure a reliable Bible.
Hadn’t commented in awhile Doc ,but your wrong. We believe in a God who is able to preserve his word,every jot and tittle but that is beside the point.You say the falling away is the rapture,so lets put the meaning of apostasy as “Rapture” into the above verses, and tell me if it makes sense, for ease of reading lets change the following:
Gathering unto Him – Rapture
Day of Christ – Rapture
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, AND THE RAPTURE
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the RAPTURE HAS OCCURRED
Let no man deceive you by any means for THE RAPTURE SHALL not come , except there come a RAPTURE first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition
How can the rapture not come, until the rapture comes first….
its nonsense………….apostasy cannot mean Rapture.
Thomas,
Not so fast. The text reads, Now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and [even] our gathering together with Him, that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of the Lord is at hand [present]. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [the Tribulation, Day of the Lord] shall not come, except the Rapture come first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians for one primary purpose: to correct the false teaching that the Thessalonians’ persecution was the Day of the Lord, the Tribulation. Paul had taught them they would not experience that day (1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9). See my study on 1 and 2 Thessalonians for an analysis of ἀποστασία.
Even the KJV has some translation issues, it’s why we use all resources when something doesn’t sound as if it is jiving or in accordance to Gods will. Quoted from the KJV Lords Prayer in MT 6. “And lead us not into temptation” How many times have we made this prayer or read this prayer before we realized the Lord would never lead us into temptation or sin. So we hit the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek text to understand what was really said.
Hi Don,
I hope I will explain myself properly in order to put forward this question. The Rapture happens. We do not have any biblical verses to support a Gap between the Rapture and the Tribulation. But. The Holy Spirit of God is the only Person with sufficient (supernatural) power to do this restraining. Through Christians, He works in society to hold back the swelling tide of lawless. At some point, though, He will be removed (Restrainer) from the earth, allowing rampant sin to run wild. This can only happen when the Church—all true believers in Jesus Christ—is removed. This then does not allow for a Gap as the word says2 Th 2:3 let no man beguile you in any wise: for it will not be,except the falling away come first, (RAPTURE) and the man of sin be revealed,(HOW LONG A PERIOD WILL THIS BE I WONDER AFTER THE RAPTURE) the son of perdition, 4 he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God. 5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?Then if there is a gap I wonder what dispensation will that be. Thank you.
Vanessa,
Impossible to know. We know there was a transitional time in Acts, particularly from Paul’s conversion, or more precisely from his receiving the gospel of the grace of God and other secrets, until the Council of Jerusalem. Theoretically, it was possible for Israel to repent until the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem. But the die had been cast at the stoning of Stephen–it wasn’t going to happen. We are given no information about how long a period will exist between the Rapture and the ascent of the Antichrist. We do not know how soon there will be believers again. It is an astonishing thought that for a period of time, no believers will exist on earth. The churches will have lots of people but no believers.
Wow that thought is really scary in many ways to think that there wont be any believers on earth for that time. Thank you for the reply.
Vanessa,
Thank you–as always.
Hi Don, Paul was saved under the Kingdom Gospel so does this mean he wont be raptured with the Body. Thank you.
Vanessa,
Yes, Paul was saved under the kingdom gospel but he will be raptured. That gospel was all that was known but Paul laid the foundation for the Church, the body of Christ (1 Timothy 1.15-16; 1 Corinthians 3.10-11). Also, Paul stated he looked forward to it (Philippians 3.10-11) and included himself “we” in his dissertation to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 5.6-9).
Hi Don,
Sorry if you have already answered this question somewhere else on your site but I was wondering if you had any thoughts about the connection of the Last Trumpet on the Jewish Feast of Trumpets and the Last Trump that Paul was referring to at the time of the translation of the body of Christ? Do you think it is the same trumpet? I very much respect your viewpoint and opinion.
Thank you for your article – brilliant as always!
Elaine
Elaine,
No relation. Israel and the Church are separate programs. God removes the Church so He can renew His program with Israel. The trumpet that announces the Lord’s return for His Church relates to the Church. The Jewish Feast of Trumpets, the trumpets of Revelation, relate to Israel. Unless we keep these two programs separate we run into all kinds of conflicts and contradictions.
Hi Don,
Yes, I agree that the church and Israel are two separate programs, I came to this conclusion after I had read all your articles which makes this abundantly clear. There has been a lot of speculation about the rapture occurring in the last few days as it has been the Feast of Trumpets and I was interested to hear your view.
Very kind of you to respond – much appreciated, thank you.
Elaine
Elaine,
Thank you. If people would simply believe that when Paul writes that something was a secret that it was a secret and keep the programs separate about 95% of the problems would disappear. The reason we have all the contrary views, denominations, churches, etc. is for this simple reason.
Hello Don, I am busy reading the Parable of the fig tree again. In luke 21 verse 29 it says and all the other trees. Is this in reference to Israel being formed as a nation as well as all the other countries. The parable also says this generation shall not pass away until all these things happen. What generation is this? The ones who saw Israel being formed or the ones that will see wars and rumours of wars. Thank you.
Vanessa,
Had Israel repented, “this generation” would have referred to the present generation. Since they wouldn’t it refers to a future generation who will. See the article, How “Near” is the Day of the Lord.
Thank you I shall.
Excellent overview Don: I believe the second order of the resurrection/rapture will be concluded on the Feast of Pentecost (Feast of Conclusion) the second harvest feast, in a future year. We have been given a deposit against the final payment, the deposit of the Holy Spirit, against the concluding payment, the redemption of the body at the resurrection/rapture of the dead and living in Christ. That which began on Pentecost will be completed on Pentecost at the closing of the Age of the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit. As the Age of Law/Instruction began on Passover in Egypt, it too ended on Passover with the slaying of the Lamb of God for the remission of sins, once for all.
Greg,
Thank you. I don’t quite follow your logic since the resurrection has nothing to do with the giving of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost occurred 50 days after the Lord’s resurrection (on the Feast of First Fruits).
Hi Don,
Thank you again for all the great work on this site. I noticed several people were saying mid or post trib. I also had struggled with these things but one day I prayed for understanding and I found in 1Thessalonians Ch. 5:2-3 and as it states,
Since the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night, how could one not be expecting it during the mid or post? When the world is going thru awful things,
It has to be pre-tribe. I agree with Don
Kathy,
The mid/post-tribulation position has no Scriptural support. Paul explicitly stated the Church is not appointed to wrath, i.e., the Tribulation which last 7 years (1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9 cf. Romans 5.9).
Don, I agree totally with pre-trib but my sister is scared and believes in pre-wrath. Do you know of any scriptures that I can show her that the 7 years are wrath and not just the last 31/2. I have tried to explain to her about Daniels 70th week, also the difference between church and Israel but nothing is working. Do you know of any verses that show the 70th week of Daniel as wrath? God Bless
Kathy,
Well, if you’re scared, I say, you definitely want to be pre-trib! I think it is nearly impossible to convince someone of this truth if they cannot see the 70 weeks relate to Israel. The Bible states this is the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30.7). Jesus addressed Jews in Matthew 24, not Gentiles, not the Church. Daniel was told, “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city” (Daniel 9.24). “Your people” referred to Jews. The context of all these verses regards Israel. The Church did not exist in Daniel’s day, nor in Jesus’ day. Why would Jesus give His disciples prophesy about the Church when they knew nothing of it? This would have only confused them more. If such evidence is insufficient, one can only pray. If your sister wants the truth, it will be given to her.
We know according to Matthews gospel account, that (after) Jesus rose from the dead the third day, we have the bodies of many saints that also came out of their graves and appeared to many in the holy city.
My questions are these: What happened to these saints after they appeared to those in the holy city? And what kind of bodies do you think they had? Did they have bodies like resurrected Lazarus or bodies like resurrected Jesus? The Bible doesn’t mention anything of them ascending to Heaven. It seems as if they remained on earth, because they only appeared to others in the holy city. What is your take on this scriptural account?
Curt,
They had resurrection bodies and presumably went to heaven (Hebrews 9.27). They were part of the firstfruits of resurrection (1 Corinthians 15.20) and a preview of the OT saints who will be resurrected after the Tribulation (Daniel 12.9-13).
Doc
Strongs defines the falling away as , defection or apostasy from something. How in the world do you come up with departure to heaven from these two words when Paul is clearly talking about the faith?
Tommy,
Please read 1 and 2 Thessalonians under Examination of Ἀποστασία for the reasoning. Thanks.
Thank you so much for your teaching. My mind has been opened to understanding. I do have a question, however. Will Messianic Jews who believe Christ as their King go also in the rature? Are they also considered a part of the body of Christ? It is not clear to me if Jewish believers in Christ as Messiah also adhere to Paul’s gospel of grace by faith. Do they understand His blood as their redeption and forgiveness through His blood as the means of having been cleansed from sin? I can see how messianic Jewish believers may be ignorant of the blood of the Lamb consisting of their sin atonement. Is this the case?
Thank you,
Donna
Donna,
Thank you. Anyone who believes Paul’s gospel (1 Corinthians 15.1-4) is a member of the Church, the body of Christ, and will participate in the Rapture. Apart from Paul’s gospel there is no salvation in this age.
This might sound like a weird question, but a saw a movie awhile back about the rapture and how they spun it was a bit different than the traditional outlook.
In some movies about the rapture (I know it is just movies) they depict the body of Christ – disappearing with maybe leaving their clothes, glasses, hearing aids …. All behind….
The movie I recently saw, depicts the rapture as removing the spirit of the body of Christ; with the physical bodies remaining as “dead”.
I know this is all hypothetical about the “how it (rapture) will occur” – but do you have an educated guess which scenario would most likely occur?
1) Physical Bodies Disappear (leaving Clothes, jewelry)
2) Physical bodies being left (as dead)
3) Neither scenario
KJ,
Certainly not 2. Living, mortal bodies will be transformed (1 Corinthians 15.51-52). Whether clothing will be left is unknown. Seems a bit tacky.
Don, others have said while citing scripture that transformed raptured believers’ mortal impure human blood will be left behind. I wonder if this could cause mass disease outbreaks.
Brian,
The Scriptures indicate resurrection bodies are flesh and bone but I do not know of a Scripture which states that blood will be left behind.
I believe that we, Christ’s bride, will not have to undergo the sufferings of the tribulation. We are His believers, we have already accepted Him, and given our lives to Him. We have a loving, and merciful God. We are not the ones who need cleansing. We will be raptured before the tribulation, and will go with Him to Heaven, and will then come back with Him after the Tribulation, for the thousand year reign of Christ on earth. And before He raptures us, His beloved, God will offer the wicked, and those who rebel against, him, the chance to repent, and accept Him, by means of the chastisement of the three days of darkness. During this chastisement, before the rapture, God will keep us, His people, safe. He has promised us this. At a certain point, after this, God will rapture, us, and spare His believers from the tribulation. God is merciful! Come quickly Lord Jesus!
Ever faithful to Christ,
Thank you. Where do you get the three days of darkness and chastisement before the Rapture? How do you know we will reign with Christ on earth? The Church is the Body of Christ, not the Bride. Please see my article, The Bride of Christ.
wrong, you will if still alive during the time of the two witnesses will go through more suffering, just like we are going through suffering now just read the books of peter that we are to endure suffering not shy away from it.the tribulation period of Daniel and Revelations is not Gods Wrath, go to the Greek to see that tribulation and Gods wrath are two consitently diffetent words. Gods Wrath is after the Great Tribulation when the sign of Jesus appears. Jesus says immediately after the tribulation of those days (which is the suffering you want to avoid by a false rapture) is when Jesus will return without sin towards the Elect of both Jew and Gentile but wrath for those who loved not the truth. and only after Jesus ressurrects the dead in Christ at the Last Day will then the rapture of both those whom resurrected and those whom were alive to see Jesus in the clouds be caught up together to the sky to then prepare to enter the Millinial Kingdom.
Joseph,
The rapture was a secret until Paul (1 Corinthians 15.51). Jesus did not reveal it in His earthly ministry and Peter did not write about it. It was a Pauline doctrine. Paul wrote the Thessalonians they would not suffer in the Tribulation (1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9). He addressed this matter again in 2 Thessalonians 2 because false teachers were telling the Thessalonian believers they were in the Tribulation. The Tribulation concerns Israel and Gentiles, not the Church. Trust the Scriptures.
Dear Doctrine, Not every answer can be explained to you by another human being- when it comes to spiritual things- or things of faith. For if I go on to explain why I believe these things, it will most likely result in others trying to disprove or contest what I have stated. I don’t believe that this is what God wants. God doesn’t want us Christians arguing in these end times, He wants us united in the body of Christ. For many years the Lord has been showing me that we are indeed in the end times. I strongly believe this. If the things I say are true, then the Lord Himself will show you- just as He showed me. Seek the Lord to show you the truth. He is the one who has the truth, and all of the answers. God bless you, as you do so. Ever faithful to Christ
Ever faithful to Christ,
All doctrine must be based upon Scripture. Apart from this, teachings are unreliable, houses on sand.
Don, thank you for the article and the time it must have taken to write it! I have a question and a comment. Who are the nations mentioned in the beginning of the article with Israel, are they the same as mentioned in Zech 8.22, if not please explain the difference between the two. Now a quick comment…..prophecy is extremely important, it’s actually all we have to look forward to. However, comparatively speaking, we are given little insight on things to come with more questions than answers. We are given small “glimpses” of what heaven and eternity with our Lord and Saviour will be like, which again leaves us with more questions than answers. God in his in infinite wisdom has told us what He thinks we need to know about Creation, the Flood, Old Testament historical facts, Christ’s earthly ministry and his miracles. The person who reads, studies and earnestly seeks God can’t help but come up with many questions that our FINITE minds can’t answer (in Mat22.41-46 Christ even shut up the Pharisees, Rom 11.33 helps me a lot too). BUT…..the Apostle Paul, who wrote half the NT was used by God to make our salvation: the belief in Christ’s death burial and resurrection perfectly clear. THE GOSPEL (1cor15.1-4) is mentioned in one form or another in every one of Paul’s books (3 times in 1 verse in Gal 2.16!). There can be no misunderstanding in what God declares important above all else….His death, burial and resurrection, period! Again, the OT is very interesting and Prophecy gives us hope, but God’s plan for our salvation is found only in Romans through Philemon, I believe this is what God wants us to dwell on and talk to others about (2 Cor.5.18-21)….Thank you for your ministry.
Mark,
The nations are those mentioned in the Scriptures and will also include modern nations. Basically, they are the whole Gentile world. Thanks for your comment. You are right. We only see a glimpse of God’s plan and glory.
Don
Do you give any kind of lectures, seminars, speaking engagements etc….?
Mark,
I teach a Bible study. I have not been asked to lecture. :)
Dear Doctrine, I saw where you brought up St. Jerome, and how he used the word rapture, ( to support your belief in a pre trib rapture), and yet THIS is not from the scriptures. So how can you say that what I refer, to, is sinking my house on sinking sand? I believe that what the Lord has shown me, or has revealed to me, by His dear Holy Spirit is ALSO valid. The Lord said, Himself, in His holy scriptures, that in the end times He would provide dreams, and visions to His people. He wouldn’t have said that, if He didn’t know that at least SOME of those dreams and visions would be valid, and would come from God. The prophets of old delivered God’s word through prophetic word. We are God’s people in this age, too, and if God chooses to speak a prophetic word, or words, that come from Him, through one or more of His holy people, today, He can do that, too. God is the authority on these things, not yourself. Be careful that Satan does not trip you up. You do not know everything. It is God who knows EVERYTHING. You do not have all the answers. GOD has all of the answers. My last message, you did not even print, and this one you will most likely not print, because it appears that you want to be TOTALLY in control. But just a reminder, my dear brother in Christ, that God is the one who is TOTALLY in control. His blog, or website, is far bigger than yours. God bless you. Ever faithful to Christ.
.
Ever faithful to Christ,
God said he would give visions and dreams to his people. To whom did He promise this? Not the Church. He made this promise to Jews. You seem to be under the impression your ideas are equal or superior to the Scriptures. That is my problem with your comment. God does not communicate through visions and dreams any longer. He communicates through His word. You write I want to be in control. No, the Scriptures are the control, not your dreams. One of the reasons for confusion in the Church is because too many people claim God had told them something and these things are contrary to the Word of God. This is not the Holy Spirit for He never goes against the Scriptures. The Scriptures are the test for truth. As for the Rapture the word “rapture” is unneeded to support the truth of it. Paul wrote about in several places and used the word ἁρπάζω “snatch away.” Stay with the Scriptures and you’ll be fine. Stay particularly with Paul for he is the apostle of the Gentiles, to us.
Acts 2:17 is what this man is talking about – “In the last days, men will dream dreams” etc..which was already fulfilled at Pentecost.. Yet so many who do not know Scripture believe it is for today. That’s the verse he’s talking about brother. I hear it ALL the time. People don’t realize that the last days actually began at Calvary. The rest of his post shows no love, just scolding, and that’s pretty sad. NONE of us knows everything, just what we learn when we study.
I admit I have not read the essay above and I appologize if the information is there.
My question….Who are those in white linen in Chapter 19 of Revelation? There are two mentions…one at the wedding (maybe the Bride and maybe guests?) and then those at the return with Christ. I have always thought these were either angels or the Church.
I ask because in Titus 2 vs 13 Paul says were are to be ‘looking’ for the Blessed Hope. This vs , to me, suggests those on earth are to be looking. (Rapture). If those in ‘white linen’ represent the Church then that must be the Second Coming.
Joe,
The wife is Israel. Believing Israel, saints, are attired in white. Revelation deals with Israel and gentile nations, not the Church.
Just to make sure……the ones on the horses WITH Christ are Jewish people saved outside of the Church age (gospel of the Kingdom believers–both before Paul and during the Tribulation)? and Church Age believers (Gospel of Grace) who were raptured earlier are somewhere (but not riding the horses)? Where are the Church age believers at this point (Rev. 19)?
Joe,
John wrote to believers of his day saved under the gospel of the kingdom and, looking forward, those who will be saved under the gospel of the kingdom after the Rapture (Matthew 24.14). His writings did not address Church, body of Christ, issues since the Church will not exist in the Tribulation. The Church will be in heaven with the Lord and will observe what is going on but is not addressed because it is outside of God’s prophetic program.
Revelation tells us Christ comes back with a great army;
Rev 19:14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (Note fine linen)
I tend to think that this army could very likely be these in Ezekiel 37:9, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
And I believe these are those resurrected of “The whole House of Israel”
Ezekiel 37:11
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. 12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
This is how it seems to me.
Thanks, Dawn! I always look forward to reading your posts!
Really? Thanks
Sir, am just quite interested with your statement, “When the Body of Christ is complete…” Is this something to do with the replacement of the number of fallen angels that Revelation 12:4 mentioned “…third part of the stars of heaven?”
Uzziel,
I don’t think any Biblical support for this view exists.
Don, can you explain what will exactly happen to that “change” from corruptible to incorruptible body?
Uzziel,
No. God can transform matter. Believers will metamorphose from mortal to immortal like worms to butterflies. Supernature is a higher plane of reality than nature. God has provided the natural world as a primer for the supernatural world.
I just throw this Q to you because of what 1 Corinthians 15:50 says. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Therefore, during rapture we will leave this earthly and corruptible body and the unbelievers will take care of the dead bodies as they are going to notice it.
But, Matt. 28:6; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:6 declares that the body of Jesus was not found when He was risen. This is also the truth that I am holding on that during the rapture there will be no evidence of our bodies like of Jesus.
Uzziel,
There will not be dead bodies. God will transform our bodies. Even the graves will not have bodies. The caskets will be empty!
Don,
What will be the scenario in heaven after rapture for you?
Uzziel,
No information is given except what John wrote in Revelation.
Don,
If we can find no information on what`s gonna to us believers after rapture, then what are we gonna do during 7 years before Christ` return for Israel? And, where and when that giving and receiving of rewards takes place as what 1 Corinthians 3:14 declares? “If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.”
Uzziel,
I just don’t know–the Scriptures are silent as to our activities after the Rapture. But you make a good point about judgment of works in 1 Corinthians 3. That must happen after the Rapture and we will be assigned rewards and responsibilities. Paul wrote, “the day will declare it” which is certainly the Day of Christ. Just a point–the Scripture do not indicate the Tribulation will begin immediately following the Rapture. It may take place years later. See my article, When Will the Lord Return? for thoughts on this.
Speaking of a gap of time between the rapture and the tribulation, it seems as if there may also be one between the 1000 years and the eternal state. Satan is released after 1000 years, but there’s really no specification of time after that. Any thoughts? (Or did I miss this topic in one of your articles?)
Grace Receiver,
That’s true. The Scriptures do not indicate how much time will elapse after the 1,000 years and before God creates the new heavens and new earth.
Uzziel, I have enjoyed your questions as well as Dons answers. It aides me in studying further and each morning as I awake I open up on Dons site and read all the comments with a hot cup of coffee my beloved husbands makes for me. I read them to him and we have lengthy discussions. We too have talked about what happens to us over the 7 or more years after we are raptured. We fantasise what may be as the word does not tell us. I think we are in for a big surprise. Eyes not seen ears not heard what the Lord has in store for us. Take care.
Vanessa,
What a great beginning to the day–speaking of the wonderful things of the Lord. Good job, Vernon! Grace and peace.
We would not have it any other way. Thank you Don for all the wonderful articles you have blessed us with. So grateful to you and the Lord.
Thank you!
Vanessa,
Thanks and I appreciate that “studying” u said. Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” But 2 Peter 3:18 also says, “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”
Keep runnin` the race. God Bless you.
One of the clearest scriptures to me is found in Philippians ch 3 v 13 forgetting those things which are behind I press toward the mark of the high calling [the upward or out calling] of God in Christ Jesus. He then goes on to explain the result of that call v20-21 our citizenship is in heaven from whence wee look for the Saviour our Lord Jesus Christ who will change our vile [bodies of humiliation] bodies and fashion them like His body of glory”
I do have a question regarding 1Thess 4 What is the difference between the statements
“those that sleep in Jesus ” and the “dead in Christ”
Ian,
It means the same. Paul used “sleep” for physical death.
Just a note to distinguish between the Rapture and the Second coming. .1 Cor. 15:51. “I show you a mystery”. When was the return of the Lord to the Mt of Olives ever a New Testament mystery?
I’ve believed in a Rapture story all my life, one version or another; either an apostasy or an “abduction” – I say abduction because that’s the word that comes to mind when I hear the word ‘Rapture’; so when I read your article today on The Rapture, it would seem that a lot hinges on the proper translation of the word “apostasia” . . . so I revisited 2Thes 2:3 and looked up the Greek number 646 for “apostasia” (as well as various related numbers) and learned the following: apostasia is defined as standing, revolt, rebellion, separation, divorce, apostasy, defection, insurrection, sedition, etc., but it is not defined as depart or departure – the Greek number 868 – from which 646 is derived based on HELPS Word-studies: 646 apostasía (from 868 /aphístēmi, “leave, depart,” which is derived from 575 /apó, “away from” and 2476 /histémi, “stand”) – properly, departure (implying desertion); apostasy – literally, “a leaving, from a previous standing.” It would makes sense if 2Thes 2:3 reflected the Greek number 868 but it reflects 646.
I also checked the Vulgate and was surprised to find ‘apostasia’ was translated in Latin as “discessio” (not “rapiemur”). Discessio is defined as withdrawal or dispersal which sounds more like the ‘diaspora’ rather than a mysterious abduction.
Also, 646 apostasia is translated as “forsake” in Acts 21:21 why is it translated as “departure” in 2 Thes 2:3? [Forsake means abandon (someone or something).
synonyms: abandon, desert, leave, leave high and dry, turn one’s back on, cast aside, break (up) with; jilt, strand, leave stranded, leave in the lurch, throw over; informal walk out on, run out on, dump, ditch, renounce or give up (something valued or pleasant). renounce, relinquish, dispense with, disclaim, disown, disavow, discard, wash one’s hands of; give up, drop, jettison, do away with, ax; informal ditch, scrap, scrub, junk; formal forswear. ] These words are more synonymous with a scattering, than a gathering.
It seems “apostasia” is being translated to fit preconceived ideas, one way or the other, depending on what one believes or is taught. I’m not convinced that ‘apostasia’ really describes the mystery event (Rapture) based on either the Greek or Latin translations but I am convinced that Jesus is coming and the corruptible will be raised incorruptible.
Don, thank you for your devotion to the Holy Scriptures and for ministering to the body. May the Lord richly bless you.
Becky,
See my article, mini-commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonanians. I deal with the word ἀποστασία in some detail. Grace and peace.
Thanks Don,
I read your “mini” commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians. I learned a lot but I’m a bit confused. The Strong’s number used for “apostasia” is 646 (meaning to forsake) and “departure” which is Strong’s number 868 and is defined as (the) departure from the faith, which doesn’t compare to harpazo Strong’s number 726, defined as ‘to seize’ by force (by force?); and although “apostasia” in Jerome’s Latin Vulgate (circa 400 A.D.) translated ἀποστασία with “discessio,” which is Armenian for “departure,” in Latin discessio means withdrawal, dispersal, separation, division so don’t understand how you reach your conclusion(s).
Granted, these words may not align with Paul’s warning to not be deceived and that the Day of the Lord hadn’t happened yet, but then the signs provided (the Rapture and Son of Perdition revealed) wouldn’t necessarily have to align, would they?
Also, were Gentiles aware of the Jews belief in a resurrection? If not, wouldn’t it have been a mystery to them?
I guess I can see how it all might seem to fit but I’m still not wholly convinced that ‘apostasia and harpazo’ were originally used to describe “the Rapture” . . . I’m no scholar, it’s just an opinion I’ve formed after 40+ years of personal bible studies.
In the meantime, I do believe in Jesus’ resurrection and that he is coming back for his Church and that this corruptible must be raised incorruptible and that the Church was not appointed to wrath.
Blessings
Becky,
The primary way to determine the meaning of words is by context. When I did the study, I rethought the matter and came to the conclusion a strong case existed given the context and how ἀποστασία and its associated verb were used to mean departure, i.e., rapture. The primary problem Paul had to address was to correct the teaching that the tribulation of the Thessalonians was the Day of the Lord. So he had to tell them that was not possible for the Rapture would take place before that day (1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9). Some Gentiles knew about resurrection but probably not many. When Paul taught on Mars Hill, the philosophers did not seem aware of it. It was antithetical to their thinking. They may have believed in the immortality of the soul but immortality of the body was not a teaching of Greek philosophy.
Thank you Doctrine for these encouraging words and I thank God for the truth of His Word. I am among few who still believe in a rapture; many believers in Jesus are swayed by other teachings like post-trib, mid-trib, ect. and are very fearful and depressed. Sometimes this gets me down and I start to doubt my own beliefs in this regard, but reading Scripture and reading this article really helped me again to get back to what Paul said and solidify my hope. Paul talks about the church as being a mystery and the rapture is a mystery because it is something that the world cannot comprehend- it seems foolish to the world. Believing in the rapture frees the Christian to get along with the work of Christ and not be burdened with a heavy albatross, such as a Tribulation. It frees us from living in a world of fear and worry.
Thank you Doc, for the elaboration in the article and the responses to various questions raised in the discourse. I am labouring with one question, when you say that the rapture was a secret only revealed to Paul and you discount Jesus Christ’s discussion of the same, I find some difficulty, especially that Jesus was addressing Jews in 24 especially verses 36-51, and the discussion of the parables of Matthew 25. Could you please shade some more light on the link between Jesus’ teachings and Paul’s revealed secret of 1 Corinthians 15:51? Do you mean to say that the teachings of Jesus apply mostly to the Jews?
Joshua,
Jesus’ earthly ministry only involved Jews. Jesus came to fulfill the prophetic program (Romans 15.8) which began with the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12.1-3). He came to present Himself to the Jews as the Messiah. He had no ministry to Gentiles (couple of exceptions). The Abrahamic covenant began a new program in which all Gentile blessing was to come through Israel. The OT contains no prophecy or revelation of the Church (Jew and Gentile equal in Christ). The Lord’s return of which He spoke in Matthew 24 is part of the Day of the Lord, which primarily involves God’s judgment of earth. The Lord’s return for His church involves no wrath and was not revealed in the OT/Gospels. It was new. See my articles, The Day of Christ and Theology of the Old Testament. Pretty much all Pauline doctrine was new. For specifics, see my article, Paul’s “Mystery”.
I think I found the answer in 1,2Thessalonians article. So it is to be used in the verb form because of the definite article before it…correct?
Bobbi,
Take a look again at the chart where I deal with ἀποστασία and ἀφίστημι and the points underneath. See point #2 especially.
Ok, thank you. If I May be so bold as to ask, how does one know when to go back to the root of Greek words? Although Paul isnt speaking of false teaching I would have just thought “the apostasty”. Although the other fits much more in context. One has to go through three roots to get to departure.
So before the man of sin (who is later resurrected as the son of perdition) is revealed, the Body will be taken?
Just fyi the chart of these two words usage in the 1&2Thessalonians lesson… the first scripture should read 2Thessalonians 2:2, am sure because I’m studying that one.
Thanks for the help Don. God Bless.
Bobbi,
Thanks for the correction. Going “back to the root” is only marginally useful in doing word study. It can be “interesting” but can lead to a false conclusion. The real way to determine what words means is to see how they are used in context by a particular writer, in a particular time, circumstance, etc. Yes, it is doubtful any member of the Church will know who the Beast is. The Church will be gone.
Good Morning Don, Thought you may enjoy this read. http://nopretrib.com/an-open-letter-to-thomas-ice-and-the-pre-trib-research-center/
It is freighting to see how the Christians fight amongst themselves on the issue of the Rapture when Paul said in 2 Timothy 2 verse 14. Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers And another “The Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach … those who oppose him … in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.” 2 Timothy 2:24-25 Take care.
Vanessa,
It is unprofitable to argue about foolish things but the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is a sound doctrine. Those who oppose it apparently have not read Paul’s letters since he explicitly taught that believers would not experience the Tribulation. The Pre-Tribulational Rapture is our “blessed hope” and Paul commanded believers to comfort one another with this hope (1 Thessalonians 4.18). Those who oppose a PTR are disobedient Christians.
It is interesting that Ice decided to not have the debate in this article. As it is also one of the mysteries which means it has to be revealed by the Lord. Meanwhile “the just shall live by faith”. Habakkuk 2:4, Hebrews 10:38, Romans 1:17. It is so fun to get to see the mysteries. I pray that all who will come, will get to see the mysteries… in Jesus name, Amen.
Nice to see you Vanessa. Thank you for the article.
Bobbi,
The battle line is not the Rapture but recognizing that Paul was the apostle of the Gentiles, that the Church and Israel have different programs, and that God began a new program with Paul. Those who argue against the Rapture confuse Israel’s prophetic program with the revelation the risen Lord gave Paul. Those who argue against the Rapture force Christ’s second coming and the Rapture to be one event. That is an impossible and unscriptural task. If one can see the difference between God’s prophetic program and His Church program, the Rapture is easy.
I completely agree the ‘rapture’ is our Blessed Hope!
I must have not been clear as was my worry.
I was stuck for a minute. What I was working on was settling in my own mind whether the apostasy was a departure or a turning away from faith. But I have for two days been praying and studying the koine greek for myself lol, which is no simple task. After all of it I have to say in the context of the passage, the event of the rapture or departure makes the scripture flow perfectly. Either way, He is coming for us . But I am understanding it better.
I know your intelligent and a scholar, and a wonderful teacher of truth. Sometimes I just have to work through the text myself, until the truth settles.
Thank you.
Hello Don and Bobbi, Indeed the matter of the rapture HAS to be seen and understood through the different dispensations. When listenin to sermons on the rapture by any given person who does not rightly divide it becomes very confusing. And might I add what a blessing it is now for us to see this making studying the word so much easier. Bobbi nice to see.
Should Christians study/learn anything that follows the rapture? Other than the gospel and the functions of the Church what is the Christian supposed to be concerned with? How would the “Christian” book industry exist without the earthly post rapture/pre-Kingdom events?
Joe,
Sure. Should Christians study Genesis, the Gospels? All Scripture is profitable.
Many believe the people who believe in the rapture are really confusing the rapture with the second coming. Here’s a point that leads me to believe the rapture and the second coming are separate events. Is the second coming a mystery? No, the Lord’s return is referred to in many places in the bible. The second coming is certainly not a mystery/secret. So why does Paul call what he’s talking about a mystery/secret?…answer: because Paul introduced it. It’s a Church thing. Just as The Body of Christ is a Pauline introduction/revelation. ….just my 2 cents worth.
Behold, I tell you a secret; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed (1 Corinthians 15.51-52).
Another thing that is of note about the rapture is the simple fact that The Lord Jesus “appeared” to Paul! (Outside of prophesy)
Acts 9:17 KJV — And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
The reference I think to what Steven’s words alluded to in Acts 7:56, was Ps. 110. So the next even in the prophetic calendar is
Jacobs trouble.
The fact the Lord “APPEARED” outside of prophesy should really get one to think.
Plus Paul says when he comes for us he calls it his appearing!
1 Timothy 6:14 KJV — That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Titus 2:13 KJV — Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
So, as he appeared outside of prophesy, thus it makes sense when the body is full, he shall appear again!
Hello Don,
I’d like to make a point about what people call ‘the tribulation’. Most believe it entails a particular period of time being the final 7 years which are Daniel’s 70th Week. I don’t see anywhere in scripture that actually uses the term ‘THE tribulation’ and gives it a defined space of time. There is ‘ great tribulation’ which we know occurs the last 3 1/2 years and seems to be triggered by the appearance of the abomination of desolation in the holy place. (Matt 24:15-21). I believe this is what the bible refers to as ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’.
All throughout scripture we see warnings about ‘tribulation’. In John 16:33 Jesus said this to His disciples “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
I believe the term ‘tribulation’ is not limited to a small period of time at the end of the age that we have commonly been taught to be 7 years but instead is simply what the Body of Christ would suffer from it’s inception through to the end of the age. Tribulation has always been part of the life of believers in this world.
So, just to sum up what I am saying and to be clear….
The word ‘tribulation’ seems to simply be used to express the troubles believers would go through as long we are part of the world. The determiner ‘the’ is never used in conjunction with the word tribulation and thus does not qualify a particular time period. On the other hand, scripture does seem to limit the ‘great tribulation’ to a defined period of time.
Hope this makes sense. Let me know your thoughts. Blessings!
Tracy,
Jesus warned of a special time that the earth would suffer immense tribulation, far beyond anything previously experienced. Believers have always had tribulation but this period is something entirely different. The prophets referred to this time as the Day of the Lord. It will come upon Israel and the nations, not the Church. Members of the body of Christ will not experience the Tribulation, the Day of the Lord, the period of time the Lord spoke of in Matthew 24. Paul made this explicitly clear in 1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9. This period of time fits with the 70th week of Daniel and in Matthew 24.29, Jesus spoke of “the tribulation.” Greek does not require a definite article for the noun to be definite. Greek has no indefinite article like English (a, an).
Good evening
I need some clarification on a couple of issues. One, what is the difference between the day of the Lord and the day of Christ, and I understand that the AV (King James) has mistranslated one for the other somewhere in the NT., do you know where?
Second, is 1 Thes 5:1-…. referring to day of the Lord or day of Christ? Sorry, but even after reading your excellent article I’m still very confused.
As always thank you for your time and effort.
Mark
Mark,
See my article, The Day of Christ.
Very nice article. I’m glad to see people defending the pre-trib rapture. There is so much misinformation out there. I’d glad to see a well written article on the pre-trib rapture.
God bless.
Good evening
Have you written an article on the Olivet Discourse compared to the Rapture, if so, what title would it be under?
Thank you.
Mark,
My article, The Day of Christ, contrasts the Rapture with the Day of the Lord (Jesus’ Olivet discourse).
II Thess 2:3. Is ‘A falling away” the rapture? (KJV) “Departure”, “Rebellion” “Apostasy” are others reference.
Joe,
It’s a reference to the rapture. See my analysis of this in 1 and 2 Thessalonians.
I just finished reading and I’m glad you suggested it.
I Thessalonians 1:10 speaks of the wrath to come. What does someone who does not believe in the Rapture suggest the wrath could be if not the Tribulation? What wrath occurs after the Resurrection following the Tribulation???
Joe,
I’m not sure. Preterists would probably state it was 70 A.D. destruction. Others might think it referred to hell. Maybe you could research and share this with readers.
Like most pre tribers you take a idea and then try to find scriptures to back it up. The church has always taught that we would be here during the tribulation. This is taught very plainly in the word. If you had no opinion about when it would happen a simple reading of the word would show that the church will be here.
Paul,
On the contrary, it is just the opposite. Pre-tribbers views come as a result of reading the Bible. Paul explicitly stated believers will not be present during the Tribulation (1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9; Romans 5.9). These are but a few verses that teach this basic truth. The Scriptures teach that Jews and Gentiles will be present during the Tribulation—not the Church. A non-Pre-Tribulational view is the result of ignorance of the Scriptures or unbelief.
Don,
When is the Day of Judgement for Christians as written by Paul?
2 Corinthians 5:10 – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
I can’t locate the “when” in the scriptures. Is it immediately when we die or after being called together with the Lord in the air?
Thanks
Ken,
We’re not told specifically but I assume it will begin shortly after the Rapture when the body of Christ is complete.
Don,
I wanted to ask for clarification on the O.T. saints buried near Jerusalem, who came back to life at the resurrection of Christ. You group them with the Harvest of First Fruits – along with Christ. But these guys, as best as I can tell, like Lazarus, were raised from the dead, but they all died again. Elsewhere I think you say Lazarus was resuscitated. But Lazarus hadn’t just stopped breathing; he was dead – and had been for several days Anyway, if these guys were not permanently raised, why do you classify them with Christ – Who was permanently raised from the dead? Thanks,
Rob,
Jesus was the first to be resurrected. The OT saints buried near Jerusalem were resurrected after He was raised. They were a picture of the larger resurrection for Israel. Resurrection is to die and be raised never to die. Resuscitation is to be raised from the dead to die again. Jesus in His resurrection and the other saints were raised in new, immortal bodies.
Don,
If I am understanding you correctly, these guys who came out of their graves at/after the resurrection of Christ were permanently raised from the dead. If that is correct (and I do not see it that way myself, at least not right now) what happened to them? Christ ascended to the Father. As far as I can tell, all other humans – including Lazarus and these – must have died again. Otherwise they would have to have been miraculously removed from the Earth like Enoch and Elijah – or else they are still alive on Earth. Personally, I am not aware of any additional information Scripture gives on these men. THanks,
Rob,
If they came out of their graves, it must mean their bodies had decayed. They were resurrected, given new, resurrection bodies. We’re not specificically told, but I presume they went to heaven. If not, they are still alive on the earth.
Wow! I’ve never considered that. Hard to imagine.
Dear brother Don,
What will happen to the children when the rapture takes place? All of them will be gone, lefting a world without children? Because if it’s not the case, imagine the situation if both mother and father are rapture out of here, and left behing an infant. Now imagine if all the children are rapture, if the parents aren’t saved, they will go nuts thinking “what happened to my children?”. I don’t know what to say. This thought just occured to me.
Thanks, brother! Regards from Brazil.
In Christ, Bruno.
Bruno,
While there will be some disruption, only a very small percentage of the world’s population will be Raptured. With no believers left on earth, their disappearance will be quickly explained away. If you consider the propaganda and misinformation on the major news outlets in our world today one can imagine what they will say after the Rapture.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
This verse limits those taken only to those believing in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ……
14a is the Gospel of Grace….. Paul’s gospel is for this dispensation (program)? These believers makeup the Church…The Body of Christ. Paul explains this Gospel was not known until it was reveled to him by the risen Lord….(not known by the 12 or any other before Paul)
Who was/will be saved by the Gospel of the Kingdom?. answer: Old testament and Tribulation believers. The Gospel of the Kingdom was preached by the 12 and will be preached by the 144,000.
The Church is taken in the Rapture (those that believe Jesus died and rose again). One day after the Church has been taken (not less than 7 years) the Lord will return to the Mount of Olives and present himself to those believing Jews who have said, “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord”…..
Hello Joe, I read a very interesting teaching regarding the time of gap between the rapture and the start of the 7 year. Often people assume the start of the tribulation begins immediately after the rapture. No where does the bible tell us this. The article said there would be a 33 year gap and then the 7 years making it a total of 40 years. Israel is not a nation today. No prophecy is being fulfilled today. After we go home God will begin to deal with the Jews as a Nation and I see the 40 year gap as it was during the Wilderness period, then after Christ. The final 3rd 40 year period is when this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened and that generation are the children under 18 years. All Jews today will die and their children will see the 2nd coming. Just a very interesting angle on end times.
Vanessa,
I guess the point I was trying to make was that many don’t accept the Rapture as biblical. Most (IMHO) of today’s “Christians” believe only the second coming is ahead for believers. They mix verses referring to the Rapture with Christ’s return to the Mount of Olives at the close of the Tribulation. A close reading of the verse I was referring to says that those who believe in the resurrection will be taken. Think of all the believers who died before Paul who believed in the Gospel of the Kingdom..which was not about the Resurrection but about believing in His Name…….those believers are not members of the Church–the Body of Christ.
Yes, I’m aware there may be a time period between the Rapture and the beginning of the 7 yr. Trib. There is at least one question about the 7 year clean up of the mess caused by the destruction of all the weapons and the need for believers to leave at the mid-point—-here’s a comment from a fellow by the name of Ron Rhodes:
Well they are going to be burning weapons for seven years. And here’s the
problem: How’s it possible that Israel could burn the weapons for seven years if it starts at the
beginning of the Tribulation because right in the middle of the Tribulation the Antichrist claims to
be God, and he sets up his headquarters there and he even sits in the temple there. And Jesus
says, “When that happens don’t even pack your bags get out of town. Run for your lives.” Now
that seems to indicate they are not going to have time to grab all those weapons. So that would
seem to indicate that they start burning those weapons prior to the Tribulation
Oh absolutely I also got stuck on that 7 years of burning the weapons. There are so few who support the rapture sadly. My husband use to say “There are none so lost who think they are saved but are not.” Can you picture the scene of those who are left behind who thought they would make it. It tears at my heart. Thank you for replying.
Vanessa and Don
Following the Rapture will those who are lost but know enough to realize what happened have the opportunity to be saved later? Will the Kingdom Gospel begin immediately after the Rapture even though there may be a time laps (years?) before the 7 yr. trib begins?
thank you
Joe,
Whether there will be some transition time for Paul’s gospel is unknown. All we can say is that between the Rapture and the advent of the Beast the gospel of the kingdom will replace Paul’s gospel. We are not given enough information about how God is going to orchestrate events immediately following the Rapture. It could well be that 30+ years pass before the Beast appears. Paul wrote that God will send supernatural delusion upon the world. God always has His remnant and I suppose some may be saved who previously rejected the gospel. We just don’t have enough information to be dogmatic.
Joe I dont believe they will be saved as they become reprobates. Remember the moment we are taken home the mystery of eniquity is revealed. I also dont believe the Gospel kingdom will start immediately and I believe much of the worlds population will die within the first 10 years after the rapture. Disease, famine, famine, wars, and I also support the coming of the Nephillim and they will be visible amongst man. This is the beast system. The 144,000 begin the preaching of the kingdom Gospel and they come on the scene years after the rapture. The 2 witnesses also come much later. Listen I may be wrong but thats how I see end times playing out. I love end times prophecy. After we have gone the spiritual darkness that will descend upon eath will be tangible. I pity those who are left behind. That is why we MUST go to the lost and try and reach as many as possible as that window is starting to close.
Vanessa, I don’t want to sound sarcastic or mean but I believe the Rapture comes after a certain number of believers complete the Body of Christ. The Rapture is not based on a certain time point in the future. To say, ‘the window is starting to close’ may not be technically correct if you’re talking about a future point in time….again,…to me it’s the number of believers in the Body.
Don, how do you see this?
Joe,
The Rapture occurs after the body of Christ is complete. I think Vanessa meant we are seeing the signs of the end of the world is becoming more evil and this indicates the end is not far off.
Hello Joe, yes Don explains it better than me. Thank you Don. Without wishing to sound contentious I have often wondered about the numbers when it comes to the body. Here is why I battle with it. Let me paint this picture. So Joe gets saved and 10 minutes later the rapture. How was Joe able to be Sanctified in 10 minutes. Yes you had Salvation 10 minutes before and with the rapture you have Glorification. Where does the Sanctification come in that short space of time. Don maybe you could help me here as well. All 3 work in tandem. Take care.
Vanessa,
There is positional sanctification and experiential sanctification. The moment one believes the gospel God gives the believer His righteousness (Romans 3.22). This is positional sanctification. Afterwards, God is conforming us to the image of Christ and we live by faith in this process. That is experiential sanctification. So the person who believes 10 minutes before the Rapture has the former but little opportunity for the latter. But he still has God’s righteousness and God sees him as blameless before Him (1 Corinthians 1.8).
Hello Don,
Thank you so much for clearning that up. I had been meaning to do a study on it for some time till this topic came up. Now I understand it.
Thank you.
Paul never taught a rapture. Why would he? The Second Advent is just that, the Second, and last, coming of Christ. There was no big scene before His First appearance was there? No, so there will be no gigantic scene such as a rapture before His Second Advent. I have been reading through some of the site and while I agree with most of it, this is one place where I believe the author is sorely mistaken.
Barry,
Paul taught the Rapture over and over in his letters. It is totally a totally different event from the 2nd coming. Jesus never taught it, the Twelve never taught it. Only Paul taught it. It was a secret the risen Lord revealed to Paul alone. If you believe Paul you have to believe in the Rapture.
E.W. Bullinger even says that Thessalonians was not a rapture doctrine. Although he did believe in a rapture. He just doesn’t think it is taught there but does say “The Blessed Hope” is the rapture. But when you put “Behold I show you a mystery” and “meet the Lord in the air” together, it’s plain there is no rapture. The word air is not even talking about the atmosphere but instead a spiritual body like unto the Lords. Jesus never taught it because there isn’t going to be one. Matthew 24 and the first chapter of Acts would have been a perfect place to teach the rapture but He didn’t do it. Why leave so important a subject to only be taught by the Gentile Apostle?
Barry,
Your reply indicates you do not understand Paul’s apostleship or his secrets. Paul spoke of the abundant revelations he had received from the Lord and that these were secrets. They included the gospel he proclaimed, the Church, the blinding of Israel, the Rapture, etc. These subjects concern the Church, the body of Christ. Christ did not teach them in His earthly ministry because the Church did not exist. Christ taught them in His heavenly ministry by revealing them to Paul.
Well, there are no more secrets, right? Yes, I do understand that more was revealed to the Apostle Paul than the others before him. The main reason I found this site was because I am in a debate with a gentleman that says Paul is of the devil and a false apostle so believe me, I agree with many, many of your statements about Paul. But, the so-called “rapture” transcends the argument of whether or not Paul was an Apostle. So, please, spare me the “you do not understand” bit, ok? Paul NEVER taught the rapture.
Give me one early church father after the Bible was written that looked for a rapture. You can’t do it. I used to wholeheartedly believe in a rapture. Until I read the Word and found that nothing was taught about it. It was in the early seventies that the recent rapture “boom” began, with Hal Lindsey and his “Late, Great Planet Earth.” All of the sudden, everybody was talking about the rapture. A week before his book came out you never even heard talk about it but after that, it was everywhere.
As far as the resurrection goes it is as Jesus told Martha. “I AM the resurrection.” So, if you have accepted Christ, then you are resurrected already. The flesh was never meant for immortality.
So, the Church isn’t going anywhere. Rather, the Lord Jesus is coming back TO the Church, not FOR it.
Barry,
The whole idea Paul was a false apostle is apostasy. I’ve dealt with this view many times on the site and it is found throughout the comment section. If you don’t accept Paul you have to throw out every book in the NT except Matthew and Jude because everyone else affirmed Paul’s apostleship. Look at 2 Peter 3.15-16. All the apostles were at the Jerusalem council and recognized Paul. I did not say you do not understand Paul’s apostleship as an insult. It is a factual statement. The reason the church fathers did not teach the Rapture was because they abandoned Paul. See 1 Timothy 1.15. That was the start. The Didache, the earliest writing of the fathers mentions none of Paul’s doctrines. Everyone in Bible-believing churches knew about the Rapture long before Lindsey wrote his book. The reason why people do not believe it is because they don’t read Paul or if they do, do not understand him. Every argument against the Rapture uses non-Pauline texts. But ALL Church doctrine comes from Paul. The Church began with Paul. He wrote he was its founder. He is to the Church what Abraham, Moses, and the prophets were to Israel. Until one understands this one cannot understand Paul or Church doctrine.
Again, I have no problem with your defense of Paul as a True Apostle of Christ. I agree with you on that point. What I do have a problem with is the rapture and your assertion that Paul taught it. Paul answered a question, namely this one. Where were the dead?
1Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep (dead), that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. (My Parenthesis.)
1Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
A plain reading of these two verses shows that the Thessalonians were concerned about their dead loved ones. All Paul was telling them was that their loved ones were with the Lord and would return with Him at His Second Advent, the parousia. And also, we who might be alive would shed this mortal to put on immortality and meet them in our glorified spiritual bodies, just like
1Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Corinthians 15:52 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.
The LAST TRUMP, not BEFORE the last trump.
And before Lindsey, the rapture doctrine was suffering and Lindsey was used by certain “scholars” to revitalize it. Did you know that the rapture doctrine is not even mentioned in most UK churches? There is a reason for that.
Barry,
Yes, Paul wrote to comfort believers about loved ones who had died in the Lord. But the rest of the passage makes it clear he is talking about resurrection of bodies and changing living bodies into immortal bodies. Resurrection was not a secret but this resurrection was. This “last trump” has to do with the Church, not the trumpets of Revelation. The Church is nowhere in Revelation. I don’t know why you think the Rapture was suffering before Lindsey. It was alive and well everywhere I looked. Lindsey made it a popular subject among unbelievers, not believers. I’m not surprised it’s not mentioned in most UK churches since most churches do not deal with any aspect of eschatology. Eschatology and prophecy did not gain interest until the mid-1800’s but it’s a huge subject. One-fourth of Scripture is prophecy. Most churches also do not spend much time with Paul. Most sermons in most churches are out of the Gospels. How many sermons have you heard on Paul’s secrets? How many teach the Church began with Paul?
Barry,
Have you studied in the Bible ,The day of the Lord (darkness and wrath)vs. The day of Christ?(blessed hope of the body of Christ). You won’t find the “day of Christ” in the gospels. Only in Paul’s epistles.
2 Corinthians 1:14 KJV — As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Philippians 1:6 KJV — Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
What about the fact that Christ’s body is “delivered from the wrath to come”…?
1 Thessalonians 1:10 KJV — And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
Romans 5:9 KJV — Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Titus 2:13 KJV — Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Colossians 3:4 KJV — When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
The risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is coming for us!…:)
See :
https://doctrine.org/the-day-of-christ
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
Up until a week or so before the crucifixion dying and rising again was not known (Luke 18). John the Baptist died before death and resurrection was revealed. Will John the Baptist be included in the ‘them which sleep’ Paul speaks of in verse 14? Why did Paul restrict those being taken to only those who believe in the death and resurrection? Believing in the death, burial and resurrection is Paul’s gospel…I Cor. 15:1-4. Those who believe this are members of the Body of Christ….The Church. Please correct me where I’m wrong. Thank you.
Joe,
Only members of the Church, the body of Christ, participate in the Rapture. To be a member, one believes Paul’s gospel—death and resurrection. John the Baptist will be resurrected at the end of the Tribulation. See Daniel 12.
Well, if the rapture were true, then, of course, only the Church would participate. That’s an easy remark to make, isn’t it? And really, it’s NOT Pauls’s gospel. It is the Lord’s Gospel that He revealed to Paul.. Paul may be a great Apostle but the more I read your comments, it seems you are almost putting him on the same level as our Lord and Savior. But, you aren’t. Are you?
Barry,
Paul was chosen by God, just as Abraham, Moses, and the prophets were chosen by God. Everything Paul wrote, he wrote by direct revelation and commandment of Christ, except when he specifically stated this. In those cases, he stated he wrote not by commandment. The words of Paul are the words of Christ, even as the words of Moses and the prophets are the words of Christ. Paul’s words are the “thus saith the Lord” of the prophets. I write, “Paul’s gospel” is because that is what the Scripture states (Romans 2.16, 16.25; 2 Timothy 2.8; Galatians 2.2).
Been thinking about the purpose of the church and the rapture.
Is it possible that the rapture is to use the Christians with the angelic conflict, that the Christian army helps Christ throw Satan out of heaven, and then go with Jesus to earth to continue the fight?
CIG,
I doubt it. What we are told is that Michael and his angels force Satan and his angels from heaven (Revelation 12.7-9).
Just finished your book (excellent!) and have been thinking about why the angelic conflict had not been resolved sooner. Why has God tolerated the rebellion.
Is it that he does not want to destroy his creation? Are the angels unable to expel Satan and his forces?
It got me to think perhaps humans were created to help with the conflict (I believe you mention that in the book) but not just spiritually. When Paul says that we are battling the demonic powers (not flesh), could an actual battle have been the suggestion?
Why tell Abraham that some seed will inherit the heavens?
Do you suggest reading the book of Enoch for more information on the time of the Nephilim?
Sorry for the multitude of questions. Your book has really sparked my curiosity.
CIG,
The “battle” is about choice–to side with Satan in his rebellion or God. God’s plan, when complete will demonstrate the futility of life apart from Him. The book of Job was the OT test case. See my article, Job: A Peek Behind the Curtain. Abraham’s seed was both earthly (Jews) and heavenly (Gentiles, i.e., Church). We are connected to Abraham through faith (Romans 4.3-5), the Jews, through covenant.
I am pleased to have stumbled onto your site. I have enjoyed reading about the Body of Christ verses the Bride of Christ. I apologize if I’ve missed your teaching on these points, but I can’t find them:
1. I can’t plug Peter and Paul into any of your resurrection scenarios. If they are part of the Bride of Christ and not the Body of Christ, when are they resurrected? They aren’t O.T believers or tribulation believers.
2. Are Abraham, whose faith was reckoned as righteousness, and Moses, who is “faithful in all My house”, categorized as O.T. believers that will not be a part of the rapture of “all who put their faith in Christ”. If so, how did they come believers absent faith in Christ? I’ve always been taught there’s one plan of salvation; faith in Christ.
3. Will the church, as the Body of Christ with Christ as its Head, participate the the marriage feast of the lamb? And could you please cite any references for this feast? I can’t figure out where and when it will be.
4. Are members of Israel who receive Christ in the church age members of the Body or the Bride? Or is it only they who are saved during the tribulation who are the Bride of Christ?
Thank you kindly for your fine work.
___________________________
P.S. Do you ever take questions by email? I have a bunch that don’t fit into any of your articles and would appreciate your thoughts. I had the same objection as Tommy about the “secret” of the church and the fact that Paul was persecuting the Body of Christ. Are you saying that he persecuted Christ in His capacity as the Messiah but not in His capacity as the Head of the Body? Could the two loaves from the festival of weeks be typical of breaking down the wall of separation such that they foreshadowed the church consisting of both Jews and Gentiles? That’s why I’ve always be taught.
Thanks again.
Ezra,
Thank you. Please see my article The Resurrection. That will hopefully answer your questions. Paul is the beginning of the Church, the body of Christ. He was saved by the gospel of the kingdom but as the beginner of the Church, he will participate in the Rapture. Paul expected to be raptured. You may wish to read, Paul’s “Mystery” and Paul: Chief of Sinners? Jews or Gentiles who believe Paul’s gospel become members of the Church, the body of Christ. They are not longer Jew or Gentile, but Church (1 Corinthians 10.32; Galatians 3.28). Israel is always referred to as the bride or wife (Revelation 19.7 cf. Isaiah 54.4-7). Participants in the marriage supper will likely be Gentile believers in the kingdom (Matthew 25.31-46; Luke 14.15-24). The festival of weeks has nothing to do with the Church. Israel’s feasts and festivals pertain to Israel. God promised the Jews would be reunited (Ezekiel 37).
Don,
Could you shed light (or offer your opinion) on why you think we can be certain in excluding the 7 appointed times (festivals) in our gentile command to watch? I understand that the festivals were promised appointments for Israel, but Paul’s writings concerning his revelation about the rapture seems to indicate it must be in accordance with appointed times – specifically Yom Turah (Trumpets). How would the Lord expect us to watch, and how could Paul say we “are not in the dark concerning the time” if HE was referencing some random point in time? Is there a possibility that in this dispensation of neither Jew nor Gentile, that the next appointed time (Yom Turah) will apply to the rapture, then the next two (Atonement and Tabernacles) apply to Israel? Basically, if you exclude God’s appointed times from the Body of Christ, then there is NOTHING to watch for, and WE ARE IN THE DARK concerning His return.
Chad,
What is the verse “are not in the dark concerning the time?”
1 Thes5:4 is the verse. Unless you “spiritualize” what Paul is clarifying, one must assume that we would know the time of His return; otherwise, there would be nothing to watch for, and there would be no point to state it would not be like a thief in the night. Also, the next unfulfilled feast (appointed time) is Yom Turah which is associated with the blowing of the shofar/trumpet, as well as the only feast that requires an actual sighting of the full moon and was therefore referred to as the only feast which Israel could not know the day or hour ahead of time. I’m fine with stating the feasts are part of the covenants with Israel, but I would not expect Paul to so boldly claim to watch and know we are not going to be surprised at the timing of His glorious appearing. That would indicate prophecy and appointed times of God are the calendar to watch for. It could be there will be a dual/shadow fulfillment of Yom Turah – one for His Body in the rapture of the church, and other for his Bride prior to Armageddon. Thoughts?
Chad,
In 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul is speaking of the Day of the Lord, the Tribulation for which there are many signs. Paul made it clear in 2 Thessalonians 2 that the Rapture must come first before the Tribulation begins. Paul never linked anything in the Church to Israel’s feasts (Romans 14.5; Colossians 2.16-23). The Church is wholly separate and apart from anything God revealed for Israel.
Really? Do you think Paul is talking about the Day of the Lord (His 2nd coming) in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4 too? If you don’t (which I hope you don’t), I submit that it is very odd for Paul to switch topics from the rapture to His 2nd coming so abruptly in next chapter. No?
In response to your referenced scripture, I don’t think it’s pertinent to my question to point out that the Body of Christ is not commanded to ‘observe’ the feasts. I understand and agree. However, my point is that His appointments declare His sovereignty and appear to be what Paul was reminding the Thessalonians about to assure them they won’t experience His wrath by surprise as a thief coming unexpectedly. That’s my opinion/discernment obviously, but I would like your response to my above question on if Paul changed topics suddenly (in your opinion) between Chapters 4 and 5.
Chad,
1 Thessalonians 4 is about the Rapture. The next chapter is about the Day of the Lord—judgment. The OT had two themes: the kingdom of God Nd the wrath of God. This was all that was known about God’s plan before Paul. Paul had to emphasize that the Church will not experience the Day of the Lord, the Tribulation. The conclusion of this thought is 1 Thessalonians 5.9. See my article 1 and 2 Thessalonians for details.
I submit verse 1 Thessalonians 5:10 “He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.” as evidence that the end of Chapter 4 and the beginning of Chapter 5 is the same topic: The Rapture of the Body of Christ. In literary discipline Paul concludes the topic in verse 10 of Chapter 5 referencing his introduction to the topic about being “awake/alive” and “asleep/dead” in the prior Chapter 4. This leads me to believe that Paul did NOT change topics from the rapture in Chapter 4 into His 2nd Coming (Day of the Lord) in Chapter 5. Therefore, how do we utilize the fact Paul says, “this day should not surprise you…” We are to be looking for His return on a holy appointed time one of these years (which Paul was doing 2,000 years ago). And I submit Paul knew the next feast that He would fulfill was the first of the fall feasts (i.e. Trumpets/Yom Teruah). I don’t find it logical to exclude the timing of this feast every year as a possible appointment for the rapture time just because we are not commanded to observe the legal acts and ceremony. They are God’s appointments, regardless of if we are obligated to observe the ritual acts involved. I don’t see why God would want to be random, that’s all. Randomness only arms Satan in making his deceit more plausible.
Chad,
We KNOW Paul is talking about two different things because he says so. Read 1 Thesssalonians 5.2. The Day of the Lord is the Tribulation, not the Rapture. Paul’s point is to teach the Thessalonians they would not experience the Tribulation (1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9). The Day of the Lord is wrath, the Day of Christ is deliverance. The Day of the Lord was no surprise. It is taught in many passages in the OT. The Day of the Lord is locked in with Israel’s feasts. The Rapture is not. The Rapture concerns the Church. It is wholly outside of Israel and anything to do with Israel. Mix Israel and the Church and you get confusion.
I don’t know about you but I constantly hear people saying that believers will be left behind and they use the Bible verse that says to pray that we would be worthy to escape the trolls coming on the earth. Do you have any studies on that Bible verse in particular?
Teresa,
Paul wrote that members of the Church, the body of Christ, will not be subject to the trials of the Tribulation. See 1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9; Romans 5.9. Those who say believers will be left behind either do not know their Bibles or refuse to believe it.
What is the wrath of God and the Day if the Lord.
Is it the tribulation or the day that Jesus returns to destroy Satan?
Is it one day or one period?
Cig,
The wrath of God is the Tribulation. It is part of the Day of the Lord, one of the great themes of Jewish theology. Technically, the Day of the Lord encompasses God’s judgment of the earth, His coming, and kingdom, but most of the time it refers to God’s judgment. Read Zephaniah 1. It is a period of 7 years according to Revelation and Daniel.
Don, I completely agree with you regarding th rapture, the true gospel of grace, etc. But here’s another possible ‘left field’s question for you. Do you think it possible that many left behind could blame the disappearances on aliens? The reason I ask is because of the way millions of non-Christians are obsessed with ‘ancient aliens’ and other popular conspiracy theories. As I’m sure you know, many people actually believe that advanced aliens started life and civilization on Earth. The internet’s full of it. After reading some responses to this from ‘Got Questions’ and other sites, I believe this view to be a demonic deception. Grace to you, Don!
Brian,
It will be interesting what explanation the MSM give for the disappearance of Christians. I have no doubt alien abduction will be an explanation. I suspect the story will quickly disappear (pun intended) given what we see every day in today’s news. The disappearance may even be deemed “fake news.”
Don what’s the difference of who the people are in the resurrection of the harvest of first fruits versus the harvest of gleanings? First fruits you said along with Jesus were jewish saints buried around Jerusalem and harvest of gleanings includes old testament saints? Were the first fruit jews those that believed the kingdom gospel- Jesus as Messiah? And the harvest of gleanings jews OT saints that did not have the kingdom gospel preached to them (although it was in prophecy). I always thought the OT saints were raised with Christ when he arose. I thought when he descended into Hades he dropped off our sin debt and freed the OT saints. I’m not clear on my last sentence, suppose I was taught that somewhere.
Jasen,
Please see my article, The Resurrection.
There is a well known Calvary Chapel pastor who has a YouTube channel and is teaching on the rapture, He claims that Jesus told his disciples He’s going to meet them in the air. I thought the rapture wasn’t known until Paul? Weren’t the apostles expecting the Tribulation and not a rapture?
Craig,
Paul stated the Rapture was a secret (1 Corinthians 15.51). Perhaps this pastor has never read 1 Corinthians 15? Most people read “mystery” and their minds disengage and they move on. Paul’s secrets remain secret.
Don, is the apostasy (falling away) in 2 Thess 2:3 a physical or doctrinal apostasy?
Craig,
See what I wrote in 1 and 2 Thessalonians.
Don, one of the arguments I am getting from those who don’t believe in a secret pre trib rapture is that when the trumpet sounds everyone would hear it. How do I respond to this?
Craig,
1. 1 Thessalonians 4.16 states the trumpet sounds. It is not clear where it sounds. It could only sound in heaven so no on earth would hear it.
2. If it does sound on earth, everyone may hear it. The hearing of the trumpet doesn’t preclude a secret Rapture. Hearing a trumpet make it less secret. The Scripture says it will happen in a blind of an eye.
I do not follow the logic of this objection. It is the lamest I’ve hear yet.
It doesn’t matter where the trumpet is heard, where it’s sounded, or who hears or doesn’t hear it. We know it’s the LAST trumpet to sound and that would be the seventh trumpet. The ‘last trump is NOT the sounding of a Jewish trumpet at some feast or festival.
Jim,
The “last trumpet” is not “last” in a series. It is “last” in the sense that it signals the completion of the Church. The Church is not in Revelation. Everything in Revelation concerns Israel and the nations. Furthermore, Paul wrote several times the Church would not be in the Tribulation.
Don, can you explain the meaning of Luke 21:36? Is this about the tribulation? Jesus’ 2nd Coming?
Craig,
Part of Luke 21 concerns the end time and part is the 70 A.D. siege. At this stage it was not certain whether Israel would repent. So verse 36 could apply to either scenario.
Don, there’s all this teaching on Rev 12 concerning a coalition of stars that formed up in heaven and which took place on Sept 23, 2017. Is this true? If so, I thought all of Rev. was future.
Craig,
See Bullinger’s commentary on Revelation regarding this passage.
Don, Can Rev 3:10 be used to prove a pre trib rapture?
Craig,
No. The Jewish assemblies addressed in Revelation 2-3 go through the Tribulation. The promise is that of preservation through the trial.
Don, concerning 1 Cor 15:51,52, a friend said this: “It speaks of the rapture of the saints at the last trumpet that Jesus said in Matt.24:29-31 will occur after the tribulation. Jesus said a trumpet, Paul says last trumpet. Last means last and cannot happen first.”
Not getting what he’s saying. Can you help?
Craig,
He is confusing the 7 trumpets of Revelation with this trumpet which is for the Church. Many problems with this statement. Paul explicitly wrote in several passages that the Church will not be in the Tribulation. God has more than 7 trumpets.
Don, what do you make of those who claim they hear trumpet sounds in different places?
Craig,
Jazz clubs? Marching bands?
Don, how do I respond to someone who believes that the rapture is at an unknown hour after the 7th trumpet (Last of 7).
Craig,
The Scriptures explicitly state the Rapture occurs before the events in Revelation (Romans 5.9, 1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9).
Don, I didn’t know where to put this question. The Bible nowhere says there will be great revivals in the last days, yet I have heard others say they are experiencing revival in their churches and country. Just recently in Tennessee, churches have gotten together to pray for 30 days and they claim that there has been an “explosive” revival. What do you make of all this? Is it real?
Craig,
Local revivals can occur but they will not turn the tide. The Antichrist will appear and most of the world will follow him.
Don, concerning Isaiah 26:20, many are using this to connect it with the corona virus. So I googled this verse. Quite a few websites claim this refers to the rapture, yet Jews know nothing about a rapture because they are earthly people with earthly promises. So what exactly is this verse talking about?
Craig,
The passage is for Jews awaiting the Messiah during the Tribulation.
Don,
Two clues the Rapture is not what Christians would consider the Second Coming.
1. The coming of the Messiah to Jews and the second coming to Christians is not a mystery. Paul says what he’s talking about is a mystery…a secrete.
2. In I Thess 4 Paul says those taken are believers in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ…the Church, the Body of Christ. …I feel certain John the Baptist was a believer. Did JTB believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ? I don’t believe he did. JTB won’t be taken in the Rapture. Up until the very end even the 12 did not believe in the death, burial and Resurrection. (Luke 18) . Eventually in John chapter 20, after the resurrection, they finally believed.
Don, please correct me if you detect error. thank you.
Joe,
Correct. Only members of the Church, the body of Christ, go in the Rapture. Paul was the first member of the Church.
Don, you probably answered this before, just can’t find it. Many say that the rapture could happen on Pentecost. There’s no connection, right?
Craig,
There is no connection between Israel’s feasts and the Church. The only case that could be made for the Rapture to take place at Pentecost would be under the concept of the harvest. Pentecost was a harvest feast. Christ was the “firstfruit” and our resurrection is the next component of the resurrection “harvest.” Those who argue for the Rapture at Pentecost do so believing the Church began at Pentecost. This not scriptural. No evidence exists the Church began then.
Don, if your 2030 rapture estimation is correct, and with the way things are going, do you think it’s possible that America will become a ‘non-essential’ third world, or almost third world nation before the rapture happens? And I don’t think the Biblical prophets specifically mentioned or alluded to the United States. I don’t mean to be deliberately pessimistic, but the U.S. is in very bad economic trouble now. We experienced a great depression that took almost a decade to get out of in the 1930’s, and that was when things were simpler and we were arguably more united, more patriotic, greater adherence to Christianity, had a better work ethic, and a smaller population. I don’t mean to be a ‘doom and gloom’ alarmist, but the U.S. is no longer the great nation of the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. Anyway our ultimate hope as saved believers is in Christ and the glorious future to come. Still, in the meantime, it appears that very troubling times are quickly headed our way.
Brian,
Possible. The Bible does not deal with nations in this hemisphere. We are getting a clear picture that China controls many corporations and politicians. The entire world in in debt. All economies are based on credit. The Beast will likely come to power due to an economic crisis, like Hitler did. Right now there is tremendous demand for guns, ammo, gold, silver. Gold, guns, God are indicators of stress and God comes last. All three keep the people free. It’s heartbreaking to see our nation destroy itself but our hope is in the resurrected Christ.
Don, the false partial rapture doctrine has gained widespread acceptance, particularly among charismatics/pentecostals. Proponents such as Perry Stone vociferously claim that only faithful Christians will be raptured while the unfaithful Christians will be made to go through the tribulation. But I see no Biblical evidence for this. It amazes me how many false doctrine mutations are continually being created and promoted.
Brian,
Lots of false teachers. Paul said to avoid such people. As Peter wrote, they twist the Scriptures to their own destruction.
Don, the rapture hype is resuming with approximate dates ranging from roughly mid July to mid September. Again, many people, especially on You Tube, are fixated on the blood moons theory. They’re mainly proposing the feast of pentecost or the feast of trumpets. The rapid national unraveling is helping to fuel their arguments. I don’t know if I should encourage and engage with some of them or take a more cautious hands off approach. I seem to recall that feasts and astronomical signs don’t apply to age of grace believers. Yes, I get anxious about things too, and eagerly look forward to the rapture, but I don’t want to immerse myself in another hysteria. Especially if your calculation is correct or close about the rapture occurring much latter at the end of the decade. It would be another huge disappointment to place my hope in this current hype.
Brian,
They are confusing God’s programs. They do not realize the Rapture was a secret and no signs attend it. God is preparing the world for the Beast. The people causing and allowing chaos, who are engaged in propaganda and deceit will be the same people who worship Satan and the Beast. Right now we are seeing divide and conquer. Then follows unite and rule—a totalitarian government.
Don, could Lot’s escape from Sodom be an Old Testament example/typology of the rapture? Some are teaching this.
Brian,
I think it’s a stretch. What about the Flood, the Exodus? Are these escapes types of the Rapture?
Blessings, Don
Good read. My thoughts.
While it is true that there are no signs for the coming rapture, we do know its timing is associated with the 7 year tribulation period.
Paul thought it would occur in his lifetime. He was wrong. Every generation before us thought they would see it as well. They were all wrong as well.
When the Evil One takes his position, he will do so peaceably. He will not have to tear down the current system and replace it with a radical one, but that the system he wants and needs will be waiting for him. He will simply step into it.
Not to get too political, but the Trump administration has exposed just how far “left” our country has become. Nationalism is now a dirty word. A sovereign nation? Strong borders? Who needs them? We are marching towards globalism and have been for a while. The World Trade Organization (WTO). The World Health Organization (WHO). The World Bank. Just signs of things to come. President Trump has exposed the mainstream media, the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party as well. All three are pushing us towards globalization.
And we are just now seeing a generation, who hates this country and what it stands for, who will accept the Evil One with open arms. At his State of the Union speech earlier this year Trump said “we will never become a socialist country”. Bless his heart, but that is not true. We will become a socialist country someday. Perhaps soon. And we all know that socialism is just a stone’s throw away from Communism.
For years I have thought that the rapture would not occur in my lifetime (I will turn 62 later this year) and I have expressed that belief to others. Obviously, every generation before us was wrong. Now, looking back, we understand the rapture was an impossibility for them. Certain things had to happen first. However, now, if everything stays on the current accelerated path, I could see it happening in my lifetime (if I don’t die tomorrow).
That said, I still don’t see the rapture happening any time soon (our immediate future). I think more work has to be done, things we haven’t even thought of, before a one world government, one world economy, and one world religion will be acceptable. The notion of open borders was laughable 20, 30, 40 years ago. Today? It is becoming mainstream. I think a lot of what we are seeing today is just a sampling of things to come.
Phillip,
You might enjoy my article, When Will the Lord Return? The Democratic Party has officially rejected God, removing all mention of Him in their platform. The freedoms we enjoy in the US and in western civilization are based on Christianity and acceptance of the God of the Bible. When this foundation is removed, the freedoms and blessings also go. We are witnessing vigorous and daily attacks on the freedom of speech, religion, assembly, keeping and bearing arms etc. by the Left/Deep State.
Don,
I have enjoyed many of your articles. You seem to lean in the same direction that I have leaned for some time now.
Regarding our current political environment, I agree. The Democratic Party is the party of abortions and same-sex marriage. Once in the shadows, now the Evil One is in plain sight. They hate our country, our past, and our constitution.
When President Trump says “We are one nation under God” and/or “we only kneel to the Almighty God” you can see the radical left fuming. I am just waiting for the moment when they remove from the House of Representatives chamber the words “In God We Trust” because it is offensive.
This tearing down of statues and monuments is just the beginning. Their ultimate goal is any building with a small “t” on top. The time is quickly approaching when the word of God will be classified as “hate speech”.
Everyone wants peace and unity. But there never will be peace until the Lord returns and sets up His kingdom here on earth.
Matthew 25:31-34, 41 (NKJV)….
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’….then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels…’”
Divine peace only comes after divine division.
Come, Lord Jesus.
Don, more people are asking about any possible relevance that Psalm 90, such as verses 10-13, may have to the rapture. They’re remarking on the ‘fig tree generation.’ But I know that you’ve taught that the rapture was a secret given to Paul. Is this another case of people trying to find things that aren’t there?
Brian,
No relevance. The Rapture was a secret. If it was a secret it was unknown. To say otherwise is to say the Scriptures are in error.
Don,
What does this mean? It’s in Rev. 3 re: the Assembly at Philadelphia?
“Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth” (Rev. 3:10).
I know the Church is kept from ‘trial’ but Rev is Jewish.
Joe,
The whole warning in Revelation is not to accept the mark of the Beast, the unforgivable sin. These 7 letters to these Jewish congregations is to encourage them to endure to the end (Matthew 23.13). Enduring to the end is to not accept the mark of the Beast. If they endure, they will be saved. So the “hour of trial” is the mark of the Beast. By “enduring” they will be “kept” from worshipping the Beast.
Don, I need your help. A Christian lady believes Emmanuel Macron is the Antichrist. Can you give me something to say to her to show that this is unlikely?
Craig,
The Church is still here. So the Antichrist cannot yet appear.
Don, I told this lady that the Antichrist will not be revealed till after the rapture. But she doesn’t believe 2 Thess says that. She believes because Macron is working with the Pope, that this is God showing us who is the Antichrist so that we can warn others.
Craig,
The Antichrist cannot appear until the Tribulation. Members of the Church will not be on earth then (Romans 5.9; 1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9).
I assume there were believers before the cross. Was John the baptizer a believer? He must have been. Did he believe in the resurrection? He died before the cross. This verse seems to say that only those who believe in the resurrection will be taken. Why is this so difficult for the majority of ‘Christians’ to grasp?
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are …
Joe,
Yes. The verse you cite is Paul’s gospel, unknown before Paul. One cannot believe something until God reveals it.
Don. can you expound on what the Great Apostasy is. Seems everyone is talking about it.
Craig,
I do not know the context of these discussions but the greatest apostasy will be the world’s acceptance and worship of the Beast.
Don,
I enjoyed the readings from Paul Sumner regarding the council of God, as you referenced from your book, God’s Programs. They were indeed insightful. However, I was disheartened when I explored further and read his views about pre-tribulation rapture. He seems to miss the point of God’s programs completely. His reasonings of why he does not agree with a pre-trib rapture brought me back to a much earlier time in my life when few people had a sound rationale for why they believed in pre, mid, or post rapture. I feel that I am past that time of uncertainty and hoped that people like Paul better understood the rationale that you put forth. Just thought I would mention this and let you know how much I appreciate your understanding on this subject. It has been a blessing to me.
Best wishes,
John
John,
Thank you. The great error in Christendom that began in the 1st century is the failure to understand Paul’s unique apostleship. Almost everyone in Christendom after 2,000 years thinks Paul was an appendage to the Twelve. They try to harmonize Paul’s letters with the gospels and letters of Peter, James, John, and Jude. It will not work. The result is massive confusion and explains why we have thousands of denominations and churches. Once one sees Paul began the Church, God’s new program, and that the risen Christ gave to Paul all Church doctrine everything becomes clear. Apparent contradictions disappear, frustration and confusion is replaced by joy and understanding.
Hi Don,
A grace preacher recently taught that 1 cor 15:51 is not our rapture but the resurrection of the saints at the 2nd coming of the Lord or it is the end of the millenial reign where we all go out into eternity. The main reason is that in verse 54 Paul reverts back to prophesy in Hosea 13:14 saying then shall be bought to pass the saying that is written which means this is prophecy and the mystery is really only that this happens in the twinkling on an eye. Can you please give advise why this would not be the resurrection but a different event?
Russell,
Paul quoted two OT verses, Isaiah 25.8 and Hosea 13.4. The hope of all believers, whether OT saints or members of the Church, the body of Christ, is resurrection, the redemption of our bodies. God’s resurrection of believers takes place in stages: the Lord was the firstfruit, along with other resurrected shortly after, then the Church, then the rest of OT believers who will occupy the kingdom (see my article on Resurrection). The remainder of the OT believers will not be raised at Christ’s return but after it. See Daniel 12. What does he think rising from the dead is in 1 Thessalonians 4? It can’t be souls/spirits for Paul made it clear that the moment of death, members of the Church are present with the Lord. Thus, it must be bodies. This fellow seems quite confused.
Don,
You mention a group of OT believers ‘who will occupy the Kingdom’. Who are the OT believers who will not be part of the Kingdom? Are trib. believes considered OT? (If it saves time just direct me to your essay that addresses this question, thanks)
Joe,
All OT believers occupy the earthly kingdom. All who believe the gospel of the kingdom occupy the kingdom.
Don,
After the Cross Christ ascended and ‘took captivity captive’. I take that as meaning the OT believer in Paradise were taken as a group to Heaven and are waiting to return with the Lord at the second coming. I also believe that saved Grace Age believers who have died are in heaven too. Are they together or segregated.
I believe the bible says that those returning with the Lord at the second coming are angels.
Can you straighten me out on who is in Heaven now and who returns with Christ at the second coming?Thank you
Joe,
It appears all believers are in heaven. The Scriptures are not clear if believers return with Christ. It is clear that all the righteous angels do.
Hebrews 9….It is appointed …all to die.
1 Cor 15…a mystery …not all will ‘sleep’
Don, can you help me understand?
Joe,
God has exceptions.
Don, A KJV only person pointed out to me that Mark 1:1 speaks of prophets plural. all other versions are singular. What is the correct translation. thanks,
Joe,
Variant readings exist: “in Isaiah the prophet,” “in the Isaiah the prophet,” “in the prophets.” I chose the latter in my translation. The majority text supports the latter reading, the critical text the former. Is there a larger point of the KJVO person?
Larger point? this was his message to me:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ozw84qbqpxmbxjy/KJB%20is%20the%20word%20of%20God%20lesson%201%20mark.mp4?dl=0
Are there two prophets like Mark 1:1-2 says in the KJB, or one like all the other English translations claim?
1 Corinthians 5:6 “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?”
Joe,
Mark wrote “prophets.” That means more than one, 1 + x, not two. What is he trying to prove? The quote is from Malachi 3.1 and Isaiah 40.3.
I’m pretty sure he’s wanting to show only the KJV can be relied on. Some versions have a different ending for Mark. What do we do about that?
Thank you for your time and effort.
Joe,
There are hundreds of thousands of variant readings. The KJV translators added thousands of words to their translation that are not in the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. The autographs are God-breathed, not the KJV. The KJV is a fairly good translation but it is far from perfect. Anyone who says the KJV is perfect does not understand how we got our Bibles or textual criticism. One can have reasonable arguments about which manuscripts are the best but it is impossible to know for sure. It doesn’t matter. We have a 98-99% reliable text and the variant reading change no doctrine. It is like have a 1,000 piece puzzle with 1020 pieces.
From Bible Hub
Although the vast majority of later Greek manuscripts contain Mark 16:9-20, the Gospel of Mark ends at verse 8 in two of the oldest and most respected manuscripts, the Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus. As the oldest manuscripts are known to be the most accurate because there were fewer generations of copies from the original autographs (i.e., they are much closer in time to the originals), and the oldest manuscripts do not contain vv. 9-20, we can conclude that these verses were added later by scribes. The King James Version of the Bible, as well as the New King James, contains vv. 9-20 because the King James used medieval manuscripts as the basis of its translation. Since 1611, however, older and more accurate manuscripts have been discovered and they affirm that vv. 9-20 were not in the original Gospel of Mark.
In addition, the fourth-century church fathers Eusebius and Jerome noted that almost all Greek manuscripts available to them lacked vv. 9–20, although they doubtless knew those other endings existed. In the second century, Justin Martyr and Tatian knew about other endings. Irenaeus, also, in A.D. 150 to 200, must have known about this long ending because he quotes verse 19 from it. So, the early church fathers knew of the added verses, but even by the fourth century, Eusebius said the Greek manuscripts did not include these endings in the originals.
The internal evidence from this passage also casts doubt on Mark as the author. For one thing, the transition between verses 8 and 9 is abrupt and awkward. The Greek word translated “now” that begins v. 9 should link it to what follows, as the use of the word “now” does in the other synoptic Gospels. However, what follows doesn’t continue the story of the women referred to in v. 8, describing instead Jesus’ appearing to Mary Magdalene. There’s no transition there, but rather an abrupt and bizarre change, lacking the continuity typical of Mark’s narrative. The author should be continuing the story of the women based on the word “now,” not jumping to the appearance to Mary Magdalene. Further, for Mark to introduce Mary Magdalene here as though for the very first time (v. 9) is odd because she had already been introduced in Mark’s narrative (Mark 15:40, 47, 16:1), another evidence that this section was not written by Mark.
Furthermore, the vocabulary is not consistent with Mark’s Gospel. These last verses don’t read like Mark’s. There are eighteen words here that are never used anywhere by Mark, and the structure is very different from the familiar structure of his writing. The title “Lord Jesus,” used in verse 19, is never used anywhere else by Mark. Also, the reference to signs in vv. 17-18 doesn’t appear in any of the four Gospels. In no account, post-resurrection of Jesus, is there any discussion of signs like picking up serpents, speaking with tongues, casting out demons, drinking poison, or laying hands on the sick. So, both internally and externally, this is foreign to Mark.
While the added ending offers no new information, nor does it contradict previously revealed events and/or doctrine, both the external and internal evidence make it quite certain that Mark did not write it. In reality, ending his Gospel in verse 8 with the description of the amazement of the women at the tomb is entirely consistent with the rest of the narrative. Amazement at the Lord Jesus seems to be a theme with Mark. “They were amazed at his teaching” (Mark 1:22); “They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves” (Mark 1:27); “He healed the paralytic, and they were all amazed and were glorifying God saying, ‘We’ve never seen anything like this’” (Mark 2:12). Astonishment at the work of Jesus is revealed throughout Mark’s narrative (Mark 4:41; 5:15, 33, 42; 6:51; 9:6, 15, 32; 10:24, 32; 11:18; 12:17; 16:5). Some, or even one, of the early scribes, however, apparently missed the thematic evidence and felt the need to add a more conventional ending
Joe,
While most scholars reject the last 12 verses of Mark, I think they are genuine. The classic defense of the verses is Dean Burgon’s. See https://archive.org/details/doctrine-bible-dean-john-william-burgon-the-last-12-verses-of-the-gospel-accordi/page/n3/mode/2up
https://faithsaves.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Last12versesofMark.pdf
Don,
So I clicked on the site you provided above and it reminded me of a scene in one of the “Simpson” episodes where Homer is talking to his son Bart about practice, “Bart, no matter how hard you try there’ll always be a million people better than you”. I’ve tried to learn and sometimes I think I know something but it’s people like John William Burgon that puts me in my place. This man had no access to modern technology for information search but his brilliance and content of knowledge is staggering. I’d like to know some of his background. I’m going to look
Thanks Don
Another writer’s view of the Rapture.
The Departure of 2 Thessalonians 2:3
May 18, 2021
Rapture
The Departure of 2 Thessalonians 2:3
By Jonathan C. Brentner
I realize that one look at the title may cause you to hit the snooze button. Why examine the translation of one word? We do so because it has the potential to greatly strengthen our belief that the church will miss all of the coming tribulation. Please allow me to explain why this matters to us.
In recent years, the Greek Word apostasia in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 has received heightened attention. The traditional view is that it refers to a falling away from biblical faith as we see in all our modern English translations, but this has not always been the case.
The earliest English versions of the Bible translated the word apostasia as “departure” such as in a physical exit from a location. The translators of the King James Bible, however, changed this; they viewed apostasia as a spiritual “falling away” and translators ever since have followed their lead.
However, do sound reasons exist to go against the prevailing thought on this matter? Can we justify translating the word as a physical departure such as the rapture?
Although always a strong advocate of a pretribulation rapture, I have been very reluctant in the past to regard 2 Thessalonians 2:3 as referring to anything else but apostasy in the latter days of the church. However, recent study has taken me in a different direction.
The Word Apostasia Can Refer to a Physical Departure
In his book, The Falling Away, Dr. Andy Woods provides solid evidence for regarding the word apostasia in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 as a physical departure rather than a falling away from the faith. The Greek word “apostasia simply means to ‘to stand away from’ or ‘to depart.’ Only by examining how this word is used in its immediate context will determine what the departure is from, whether it be a spiritual or physical departure.”
New Testament writers used the verb from of apostasia fifteen times. As Dr. Woods points out, “…only three times does it mean a spiritual departure. The remaining twelve times it clearly means a physical departure. For example, Luke 2:37 says, ‘and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four, she never left the temple.’”
The root verb form of a word provides additional evidence that apostasia can refer to either a spiritual defection or a physical departure from a location. The context thus tells us how to translate the word.
The Context Supports a Physical Departure
The overall context of 2 Thessalonians 2:3 strongly supports a physical departure. The rapture is the main subject matter of both books that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians as well as chapter two of 2 Thessalonians.
Dr. Woods writes, “Since the ‘context is king’ in determining the meaning of the apostasia and the larger context of the Thessalonian letters pertain to the return of Christ, interpreters should be open to a physical departure understanding of the word. Thus, the larger context of these two books does not favor spiritual departure interpretation of the apostasia, but rather it favors the physical departure view.”
Strong evidence for a physical departure comes from the immediate context. 2 Thessalonians 2 begins with these words, “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him…” (v. 1). Paul introduces this passage, verses 1-12, with a reference to the rapture. It certainly follows that he still has the Lord’s appearing to take us home on his mind two verses later.
The use of apostasia in 2:3 as our physical departure via the rapture is wholly consistent with the context. The idea of a spiritual departure from the faith cannot be found anywhere in the context.
Paul Is Referring to a Definite Event
Paul’s use of the definite article in front of apostasia tells us he has a specific event, either a particular instance of apostasy or a definite occasion such as the rapture.
If apostasia refers to a spiritual falling away from the faith, how do we distinguish it from many such times in the history of the church when it has abandoned biblical teachings? Much of the organized church today has departed far away from the beliefs handed down from the Lord through his apostles. Could the apostasy associated with the start of the day of the Lord be any worse?
The definite article tells us the apostle has a definite event in mind, one that his readers would readily recognize. However, Paul never refers to spiritual apostasy in either of his epistles to the Thessalonians and offers no additional clarifying information.
Paul Does Not Mention Spiritual Apostasy in Either Epistle to the Thessalonians
Notice what Paul says in verse 5 of this passage, “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?” As we look at 1 and 2 Thessalonians, we see repeated references to the rapture, but Paul never mentions a falling away from the faith in the letters.
If Paul is referring specific latter day apostasy about which he had previously instructed his converts in Thessalonica, we would expect Paul to have mentioned it somewhere in these books along with his emphasis on the return of Jesus for His church, but he does not.
Why would Paul mention a specific spiritual departure from the faith as a key indicator of the day of the Lord with no other mention of it in either book he wrote? And if he had not yet mentioned it to them, we would expect some sort of explanation regarding it, but that is not what we see.
The absence of any mention of spiritual apostasy anywhere in 1 and 2 Thessalonians adds much support to regarding 2 Thessalonians 2:3 as reference to the rapture, to which Paul often alludes.
As Dr. Woods points out, Paul does not even refer to the spiritual apostasy of the church in the latter days until much later in his ministry, near its end. And when he does, the apostle adds much supporting detail (1 Tim. 4:1-5; 2 Tim. 4:3-5).
The Sense of Physical Departure is Consistent with Verses 7-8
In 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 Paul writes, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”
These verses tell us that the revealing of the antichrist cannot happen until the restrainer is taken out of the way. The evidence points to the Holy Spirit as the restrainer and thus to the rapture as the time His special restraining presence leaves the earth. Just as the Holy Spirit descended in a special way on the day of Pentecost, so He will leave when Jesus takes His church to His Father’s house in heaven (John 14:2-3).
Note the parallels with verse 3 if we assume apostasia refers to a physical departure.
1. In verse 3, Jesus removes His church via the rapture; in verses 7, the Lord takes away the restrainer that keeps the antichrist from making himself know to the world.
2. In both verse 3 and 7, the antichrist is revealed after the removal of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the church.
If apostasia refers to a physical departure in verse 3, we find an exact parallel in the context in verses 7-8, which provides us with more evidence favoring the rapture.
The Rapture is Consistent with the Expectation of the Thessalonians
The young believers in Thessalonica expected the Lord to come for them before the start of the day of the Lord. Their response to an errant message telling them this time had already begun confirms this. They panicked when they heard the news.
In response to their frayed nerves at receiving this false communication, Paul told them “not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed” (2 Thess. 2:2). “The verb shaken denotes a rocking motion, a shaking up and down, like a building shaken by an earthquake…” To be “alarmed” signifies a feeling of “fright” with its usage here conveying a “state of alarm, of nervous excitement.”
The news that the day of the Lord had already begun visibly rattled the Thessalonians; Paul pictures them shaking like a building during an earthquake. Isn’t it amazing these young believers, already enduring intense persecution, became so shaken with this news? They regarded this time as much worse than their current dire circumstances.
Paul’s main purpose in 2 Thessalonians 2 was to assure the Thessalonian believers that the day of the Lord had not yet started. If we regard apostasia in verse 3 as a physical departure, does it not confirm this?
It also fits with the promise of 1 Thessalonians 5:9, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul had previously told the Thessalonians Jesus would come for them before the start of the wrath of the day of the Lord. It makes much more sense that Paul is reminding his readers of this promise rather than introducing the idea of a spiritual apostasy of which we find no mention in either book he wrote to them.
Church History Example
We have an example from history of a key church leader referring to the Rapture as a “departure.” Cyprian, a bishop in the city of Carthage during the third century AD, said this,
“We who see that terrible things have begun, and know that still more terrible things are imminent, may regard it as the greatest advantage to depart from it as quickly as possible. Do you not give God thanks, do you not congratulate yourself, that by an early departure you are taken away, and delivered from the shipwrecks and disasters that are imminent?”
Cyprian (AD 200-258) used the words “depart” and “early departure” to refer to the Lord’s appearing to take his church away before a time of “shipwrecks and disasters” on the earth. Is it not more than a little significant that we see the Rapture referred to as a “departure” before a time of turmoil on the earth at such an early date? I believe so.
Additionally, this provides considerable support to our interpretation of apostasia as a reference to the Rapture in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, our physical departure from the earth.
So What’s the Big Deal?
So what’s the big deal in regarding apostasia in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 as a physical departure rather than spiritual apostasy? It adds considerable support for belief in a pretribulation rapture, one that occurs before this period of God’s wrath upon the earth. It tells us that Jesus must come for His church before the world knows the identity of the antichrist, which we know occurs at the beginning of this time.
This is not wishful thinking, but the result of a careful study of the context of 2 Thessalonians 2:3 that provides much evidence to apostasia being a physical departure and hence a reference to the rapture. On the other hand, Paul does not mention a spiritual falling away from the faith in either book he wrote to the Thessalonians.
Note: Please consider signing up for my newsletter on the home page of my website at https://www.jonathanbrentner.com/. It will greatly help me in reaching more people. Thanks!!!
Original Article
Joe,
I was not of this writer but this is what I argue in my article, 1-2 Thessalonians, and in my books.
“Context is king”.
If I write out the word b-o-w (bow) you’re not sure what I mean. The word (bow) has to be used in a form or context for the reader to understand the meaning. a knot? a branch? something used with arrows? with a stringed instrument? to bend over? there’s actually more….
Don, this article speaks a few times of a ‘definite article’ “a falling away” It was my understanding that Greek has no definite article and this fact (if it’s a fact) is used by non-JW’s in Jn 1 where they (JW’s) argue Jesus was ‘a’ God.
I’ll lay off for a while. I don’t want to become a nuisance here
Joe,
Greek has no indefinite article but has a definite article. The definite article makes a noun definite. But a noun can be definite even without the definite article and this is determined by context. The importance of the definite article cannot be overemphasized, a fact I have noted in my translation.
I misspoke.
‘a falling away’ is using an INDEFINITE article. ‘THE’ falling away would be definite…right?
my mistake. interesting how such a small error can make such a big difference.
Paul speaks of ‘a’ gospel in Galatians 1 and ‘the’ gospel in 1 Cor. 15:1-4—–big difference for sure!!!
I am shocked and saddened by the lack of Christians rightly dividing the Word. I’ve been a follower of Jesus since 1974 and it wasn’t until a few years ago that I began to rightly divide the Word. I appreciate so much Don’s articles and books that bring clarity to understanding the Bible. Just yesterday I watched a well-known “pastor” preach about Pentecost and how it was the beginning of the Church. Replacement Theology has corrupted and distorted the Body of Christ’s understanding of God’s Word. I’m no theologian or Bible scholar but at least I check to see who the writer is, who they are writing to, the context written in and the timeline involved.
Don, there’s a lot of talk about aliens now and even the vatican has their telescopes watching the sky. My Christian friends believe the Antichrist will be an alien and at the rapture, those left behind will think we were abducted. Thoughts?
Craig,
Well, angels are “aliens” and the Scriptures reveal their existence. The Antichrist will be fully human the first 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation and superhuman the last 3 1/2 years. I have no idea what the cover story will be for believers disappearing but seeing what is being said in today’s world they will come up with one.
Matthew 24 is about the Tribulation. there’s a warning to women ‘with child’ and to those who ‘give suck’. At the rapture will children be taken? Children below the age of accountability. What if an unbeliever (woman) is pregnant (with child) at the rapture will that unborn child be taken? Is the unborn considered a ‘child’? “With child” …if meaning in the womb, I assume the unborn baby is a ‘child’.
Thoughts?
Joe,
Well, I assume that for a believing pregnant woman both baby and mother go. I don’t see another option. As far as the other, I do not know.
As one who uses only the Authorized version King James Bible, the verses here you list have so much clarity – I’m wondering which Bible version, please, are you using? Is it the Berean Study Bible? I was trying to match it up at Bible Hub but I want to be sure. I really like that one. Also — THANK YOU for this study, and those I see go along with it. I’ll certainly be going through it with my study notes I make. What a blessing this is! Though I’ve known and believed already in the Rapture and its timing, I still learned a few new things, so I look forward to going through the others also, such as 1 & 2 Thessalonians. God bless you, and I praise Him for leading me to your site.
Maranatha!! . Jesus is coming!!
Marie,
Not being happy with other translations, I translate the NT myself and made a study Bible. https://doctrine.org/books.
Don, a friend of mine says the Lord told her that the rapture will take place during a catastrophic event. Les Feldick said it will be a silent event. Any thoughts?
Craig,
We are not given that information. All we are told is that it will occur quickly, a blink of an eye, an it is before the Beast can appear.
So, when will the Rapture happen Pre, Mid, or post
Jimmy,
The only Biblically supported view is the pre-tribulational rapture.
I am a Pre-Triber personally, that said I don’t believe there is enough scripture that support mi-trib but there are enough that might be able to support Post-Trib.
Jimmy,
No texts support a mid or post-trib rapture. Why? Because Paul explicitly declared the following: a) the Church would not go through the Tribulation, b) the son of the destruction cannot appear until after the Church is gone, c) the Church is outside of prophecy. Prophecy only includes Israel and the nations.
If words have meaning then the Rapture is only for the church (those who believe “Jesus died and rose again”). Example: Surely John the Baptist was a believer, but at his death did he believe “Jesus died and rose again”? JTB left the scene before Paul came along. JTB will not be in the rapture. Who are those who are ‘in Christ’? The Church is made up of those who are ‘in Christ’. Will the gospel of Grace be in effect after the rapture? Why would it be…the Church is gone. When will JTB be resurrected? I believe knowing the answer to this last question helps us understand.
I Cor:4
4 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 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:
Don,
Why is the Rapture opposed by so many otherwise biblically knowledgeable people opposed so vehemently? example ; R C Sprole
Joe,
Sproul did not understand what the Church is. If one cannot understand the difference between Israel and the Church, the ministry of the Twelve and Paul, one cannot have a correct theology. Thus, those who oppose the pre-tribulational rapture naturally and logically fall into this category. Sproul was a believer and understood salvation by faith alone in the work of Christ. But his overall theology was greatly flaw, confused, and at odds with the Biblical record.
Don,
This is a question re: Greek grammar.
IIThess 2:3
I’ve read that the “h” before the word ‘apostasia’ in the Greek language is a definite article and the phrase should read, “the apostasia. Is this correct? The English Revised Version Bible of 1885 uses the word ‘the’ and it’s evident in early Greek texts. Thoughts?
Joe,
Yes, the text reads, ἡ ἀποστασία, “the departure.”
I understand all that you have written about The Rapture. What has me confused is the article on your cover page entitled, The Great Prophecies Concerning the Gentiles, Jews and the Church of God. That author includes his in-depth study of the Rapture and states that the Man-Child from Revelation 12:5-17 is the Church. I’m confused. This concept stems from the movement called Latter Rain whose beliefs are seemingly anti-dispensational and amillennial. Why would you include this on your site?
Mary,
Pember was far ahead of most at his time but I’ve removed the reference so as not to confuse anyone.
Don, I’m trying to witness to this guy who denies the rapture. He wrote the following. What can I say to him?
“Anyone who rejects the post trib pre wrath is denying the Bible. Paul and other disciples as well as Jesus are describing after the tribulation, the sun and moon are darkened, earthquakes and stars fall, then we look up and see Jesus in the clouds and he gathers the dead in Christ first, then we who are alive in Christ will meet them in the clouds. You should go back and compare what you think the pre trib is and you will see it’s describing exactly what happens after the 1335 days of tribulation.”
Craig,
Paul never talks about the sun being darkened, etc. It is everywhere but Paul. The reason is the Church is not in prophecy. The Pretribulational rapture is proven by several Scriptures: Romans 5.9, 1 Thessalonians 1.10, 5.9, 2 Thessalonians 2.2-3, 7-8. God’s wrath, the Tribulation, is part of prophecy. The Church has no prophecy. It is outside prophecy. Prophecy concerns Israel and the nations (Gentiles). Members of the Church are neither Jew or Gentile. The Church is a new creation. Paul wrote of these three categories, Jew, Gentile, Church in 1 Corinthians 10.32.
Craig,
I’m wondering who is/was ‘in Christ’ before Paul’s ministry? Was John the Baptist ‘in Christ’? I feel certain JTB was a believer. Surly JTB was a beliver in the gospel of the Kingdom. I’m thinking it’s only from Paul we learn about being in Christ from the gospel of Grace…Part of the mystery. The 12 knew nothing of the upcoming crucifixion/resurrection and what it would mean to mankind. I believe the 12 were certain in early Acts that they were about to go directly into the Trib if Israel would accept their (the 12’s) message they were presenting in Acts 1 & 2. “Repent and be baptized” Acts 2:38
Joe,
Every believer is “in Christ.” But only those saved by Paul’s gospel are members of the Church.
Don,
Are all believers, Church or Kingdom, a new creation?
2 Corinthians 5:17
Joe,
Yes. But that is not what 2 Corinthians 5.17 is talking about. Paul is talking about the Church. It is the new creation.
I’m confused. I understand that the Church is the Body of Christ and all of this is Pauline. I understand that those in the Church, (the BOC), are all ‘in Christ’. Am I to understand that all believers from all ages are in Christ? Don, your (“yes”) answer above is telling me that all believers of all ages are in Christ—-“every believer is in Christ”. I guess my question is: Who/what constitutes the new creation if not solely the Church/BOC?
My point in an earlier comment was that John the Baptist was outside of Paul’s ministry and not a member of the Church/BOC but a member of the Kingdom of God. And if this is the case then JTB is not “in Christ”.
Joe,
The “new creation” is the Church. This is clear from 1 Corinthians 10.32. We are no longer Jew or Gentile but Church, an new creation, a new race. Members of the Church are those who have believed Paul’s gospel (1 Corinthians 15.1-4). Those “in Christ” are all believers, not just members of the Church. Others used “in Christ” beyond Paul and Paul himself noted individuals “in Christ” before him. He also wrote that “in Adam all die; in Christ all will be made alive.” Being made alive is eternal life—saints from all ages.
Hi Joe
I can understand why this may be confusing. The commentary below brought me to a clearer understanding. Essentially, it is what Don has replied, but this expands on the matter a little. I hope you will find it helpful. I took it from the Study Notes on Romans by Gary Johnson of Mid Acts:
In Christ before me – Romans 16:7
One verse used by many to prove that Paul was not the first to preach the Gospel of Grace is found in Romans 16:7 which lists his kinsmen who were in Christ before Paul. If Paul were the first to be saved into the Body of Christ, then how could others be said to be in Christ before Paul?
Israel was told to be in him in John 15:4–5. Jesus was the true vine and they were to abide in Him. Those who were not in Him were going to be cut off from the nation of Israel and burned (eternal damnation). According to 1 John 3:24 the person who keeps His commandments is the one who abides in Him, and He in him.
There are two ways to understand the phrase “in Christ.” Redemptively, all men need to be in Christ in order to have eternal life. This includes all men, from Adam to the last saved person. Paul says in
1 Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam, all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Paul used the phrase “in Christ” to indicate those who have been made spiritually alive. This is in contrast to those who are in Adam and are spiritually dead.
Paul also has a special meaning of the phrase “in Christ” when speaking of the Church, the Body of Christ. Dispensationally, those in Christ have been given special privileges as clearly brought out in the book of Ephesians. As members of the Body of Christ, we have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3). We have been chosen to be holy and blameless (verse 4), predestined to adoption (verse 5), sealed by the Holy Spirit (verse 13), seated in the heavenly places (2:6), to name a few. Many of these things are not promised to Israel, but only to those who have been saved following Paul.
Thank you Don,
I better understand.
You are a great help to those of us who what to learn.
Joe,
Great!
Do you think it would be wrong for me to explain some of the things I have learned from your site to others at my church, pastor included, he is a good man who loves the Lord and does preach the truth but he doesn’t understand what I’ve been taught through your teaching. Myself being a woman I don’t want to do anything wrong and not pleasing to the Lord. I guess I’m asking if it would be wrong for a man to learn biblical truths from a woman?
Bren,
I have learned many things from women. Women can be used tremendously by the Lord and can be great teachers. A Scriptural example is the woman at the well. The Samaritans came to know the Lord through a woman. May the Lord give you wisdom and boldness. If your pastor is a good man, he will listen. If he does, you will be a special blessing to him, one he will never forget, just like the Samaritan woman was. God bless you.
Don
Bren. My wife has been sharing with her pastor about rightly dividing and the other things from this site. He too is a good man but is resistant to what she shares with him. I dont know if this is pride, but we pray he will listen and that God will open his eyes. Like a lot of pastors he spends most of his sermons on the 4 gospels.
Don,
Does anyone else from the bible use the term “In Christ”? thank you
Joe,
Yes, Peter.
A brief search of timeline for NT writing dates for books puts 1 & 2 Peter after Paul’s. Do you believe it’s possible/likely that phraseology of a prior book by Paul could have been used in a later book by Peter? Obviously, Peter knew Paul’s writings well enough to call his (Paul’s) writings ‘scripture’.
My point is:–Using the phrase ‘in Christ’ by Peter does not necessarily say the phrase/doctrine originated with him (Peter) any more than you or I using the phrase “in Christ” today. It was already in use when Peter used it making it solely a Pauline doctrine…..Where is the phrase used before Paul?
Joe,
Peter likely learned this phrase from Paul. It is clear from Colossians 1.25 that Paul completed the NT. Thus, all dates beyond 67-68 A.D. are false.
Don,
without beating a dead horse–
If, in fact, Peter used a Pauline phrase (that originated with Paul) i.e. “In Christ” then that phrase is strictly a doctrine (mystery) taught by Paul unless it was used prior to Paul. Are there any pre-Pauline usages of the phrase ‘in Christ” in the sense of Paul’s usage?
I once used the phrase to indicate that only those in Christ will be taken in the Rapture because that event (the Rapture) is a Pauline ‘mystery’ reserved to those in another Pauline mystery–being in Christ. If being in Christ is not a Pauline doctrine, then I’m wrong.
I value and appreciate your opinions
Thank you.
Joe,
Only members of the Church, the body of Christ, are raptured. Since Paul declared some were in Christ before him there can only be two possible conclusions: the Church did not begin with Paul or “in Christ” is a broader term than the Church. The Scriptural data support the latter.
From a C.S. Lewis site:
The commonest description in the Scriptures of a follower of Jesus is that he or she is a person “in Christ.” The expressions “in Christ,” “in the Lord,” and “in him” occur 164 times in the letters of Paul alone, and are indispensable to an understanding of the New Testament. To be “in Christ” does not mean to be inside Christ, as tools are in a box or our clothes in a closet, but to be organically united to Christ, as a limb is in the body or a branch is in the tree. It is this personal relationship with Christ that is the distinctive mark of his authentic followers.
There are a couple in 1 & 2 Peter.
If being in Christ is broader than being in the Church where can I find info on that broader concept? Surly Paul would not leave us hanging. I’ve always assumed being in Christ only meant members of the Church…’a new creation’. What would have taught me/where would I have learned otherwise?
I’m not arguing. I simply want to know. Thanks Don, you’ve always been a great help.
Joe,
All saints are in Christ. Paul was the first member of the Church. In Christ and Church are not the same. The Church is a subset of in Christ.
Maybe I’ve answered my own question–
When Romans 16:7 says that Andronicus and Junia were “in Christ” before Paul, it simply means they were saved unto eternal life prior to Acts chapter 9, before Paul’s salvation. Andronicus and Junia were Jews who had recognized and trusted Jesus as their Messiah sometime prior to Paul’s salvation.
Thanks Don, I think I remember you telling me this earlier. sorry for the bother
Don,
Is ‘in Christ’ and ‘in Jesus’ (1. Thess 4) the same? I think most would say, ‘yes’.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-17
If in Christ and in Jesus means all saved/all believers, even before Paul, then this is not the Rapture I have believed…it’s a resurrection of all believers before and including Paul and the Church.
Craig,
Yes.
If ‘yes’ was meant for me (Joe), are you saying the rapture is for all believers (OT/NT), church age or not?
Again, in the 1 Thess 4:13-17 reference above, ‘in Christ’ and ‘in Jesus’ are both used and if being in Christ/ in Jesus preceded Paul then who is not included in the Church, the Body of Christ?
Not arguing just asking. This is important to my understanding of the Rapture–I’ve always thought it was for the Church…the Body of Christ alone. Did the Church Age begin before Paul?
Joe,
In Christ and the Church are not the same. All believers are in Christ. We have to interpret according to context. In the context of 1 Thessalonians 4.13-17 Paul is talking about the Church, members in Christ who belong to the Church. We know this for he says “if we believe Jesus died and rose again.” That’s Paul’s gospel. Only members of the Church are saved by this gospel.
Hello Don
I noticed in your article you mentioned that “Jesus in His earthly ministry taught nothing about it.”
That is incorrect. In John 14:3 Jesus said “If I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN AND RECEIVE YOU TO MYSELF, that where I am, there you may be also”.
Jesus is talking about the Rapture here, well before Saul(Paul) was called and instructed about the Blessed Hope!
Keep well, keep safe.
Maranatha.
In His love
Paul
Paul,
If John 14.3 refers to the Rapture then the Scriptures are contradictory. Paul wrote the Pre-Tribulation Rapture was a secret (1 Corinthians 15.51). Jesus’ coming and receiving them to Himself was His 2nd Advent and referred to His establishment of His kingdom on earth. The Twelve were looking for the prophesied earthly kingdom in which they would reign as kings (Matthew 19.27-29; cf. Acts 1.6-7).
John 14:1-3 must be understood in light of the parable of the ten pounds as recorded in Luke 19:11-14, especially verses 12 and 13. Here the nobleman represents Jesus. The far country is heaven. Jesus is going to heaven to receive the kingdom that has been/is being prepared for earth. In the parable it is clear Jesus returns WITH THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM (as Don teaches, genitive here is source—i.e. it is “of heaven” made/prepared in heaven—nothing man could have prepared. Hence the last sentence in John 18:36—my kingdom is not FROM earth) When Jesus says in John 14:3 he is preparing a place for them and he will come again to receive them, he is telling them the same thing as he did in the parable. The preparation occurs in heaven—-mansions and all—-but he will return to earth WITH IT ALL after the Tribulation and will receive them to himself THERE, dwelling among them and fulfilling the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Don, many pre-trib rapture proponents are claiming there’s a strong correlation between the recent exponential increase of evil in the world and the imminence of the rapture. Some even erroneously try to invoke Revelation 12 and satan’s fall to Earth as an explanation or cause of this sudden massive up tick of evil manifesting as more crime, war, economic crises, poverty, natural disasters, political corruption, etc., in a relatively shorter period of time. Reasonable speculation seems fine but many ‘experts’ may be getting carried away in trying to gauge precisely the rapture’s imminence. Trying to formulate an exact mathematical metric may not be pleasing to the Lord.
Brian,
We are seeing the stage being set for end times. How the current tyranny and what is going to happen with these dictators being revealed is uncertain. What is certain is that whatever happens we will not be around to witness the emergence of the man of the sin and the Tribulation.
Don, here’s something fun to think about. Do you think it possible that more great archaeological or manuscript discoveries could be made just before the rapture occurs? Perhaps as a way for God to grab more people’s attention and serve as a catalyst of sorts for salvation? For example, discovering major New Testament books scrolls/parchments dated from the 1st century, or relics like more stone inscriptions stating major Biblical figures and what they said or did, etc. I know we can’t base our faith on material things, no matter how astounding they may appear, but it could certainly be helpful in influencing many serious seekers.
Brian,
Seriously doubt this. God has given us ample evidence to believe.
Don, I have read that some Jewish rabbis are saying that they are currently speaking with Messiah. Thus Christians believe the rapture is any day now. Thoughts?
Craig,
Are these rabbis believers? If not, they are not speaking with the Messiah.
Don, there are also people, primarily on You Tube, who claim the two witnesses are currently in Jerusalem and ready to spring into action. I’ve learned to take most everything with a grain of salt.
Brian,
False.
I’ve noticed that most of my comments don’t go through so I will try again. I know that these Jews are not in conversations with Messiah. But because they believe that they are I was wondering if this could mean that the rapture could be any day now. Could not this person these Jews are speaking with be the Antichrist and thus the removal of the Church has to be very soon?
Craig,
Have no idea whom these guys are talking to. I think we are near the Rapture but how near is unknown. A year? Ten years? Thirty years?
The Rapture
Many, maybe most, believe the references to the Rapture by Paul are actually references to the second coming of Christ. Paul says the Rapture is a secrete–a mystery:–only revealed to Paul himself.
“Behold, I shew you a MYSTERY; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 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” 1 Cor 15
Was/is the second coming a secret? Jude mentions the second coming of Jesus Christ in the 14th vs of his book. The 2nd coming is not a secret. Obviously the two men are referring to two separate and distinct events. I Imagin there are other examples like this. Why is this so difficult?
But Jude.