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- R - Rapture.
Jesus Christ's return to Earth's atmosphere to retrieve the Church,
His bride, from Earth and take His bride back to heaven
to be with Him always. This event is presented in John
14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Thess. 4:13-18 and a number of
other passages. The word rapture
is never found in Scripture. The term comes from the Latin
Vulgate translation of the Greek word harpadzo,
"caught up" (1
Thess. 4:17). See a more extensive treatment of the Rapture.
Pre-Tribulation Rapture.
In this view, the Rapture is presumed to take place prior to the Great
Tribulation, a time of unprecedented trouble that is to
befall the entire
earth. There are several reasons why a
pre-tribulation rapture is more likely
than a mid-tribulation rapture or a post-tribulation
rapture. 1) A
pre-tribulation rapture fits in best with the prophetic time-table for
God’s
dealings with Israel as outlined in Daniel
9:24-27. The pre-tribulation Rapture
of the Church to Heaven paves the way
for God to conclude His dealing with the Church in this era and resume
His
dealings with Israel. 2) A
pre-tribulation Rapture model best explains the “imminence” feature of
the
rapture. Imminence
is the view of the
rapture presented in Scripture, that it could occur at any time. The doctrine of imminence
is derived from
observations that certain passages which discuss Christ’s return do not
present
any intervening signs which must take place prior to His return (John
14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Thess. 4:13-18).
Other passages which discuss the Second Coming of
Christ present
multiple signs that must be fulfilled before His arrival (Zech.
14:1-4; Matt. 24; Rev. 6-19). 3) A
pre-tribulation Rapture best fits an orderly exposition of the events
outlined
in 1
Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 and 2 Thessalonians 1-2. 4) A
pre-tribulation Rapture best explains the exemption of the Philadelphia
church
from the hour of testing which is about to come on the whole world (Rev.
3:10). 5) A pre-tribulation Rapture best explains the call to John to come up to heaven after having received the messages to the seven churches and the entire Church Age. His movement to heaven, described in Rev. 4-5, symbolizes the Church’s call to heaven prior to the Tribulation period, discussed in great detail in Rev. 6-18. See a more extensive treatment of the (Pre-Tribulation) Rapture. Mid-Tribulation Rapture: In this view, Jesus returns for His Church at the middle of the Tribulation. This view mixes up God’s working with the Church and His subsequent working with Israel. Prewrath Rapture: In this view, Jesus returns for His Church after the Sixth Seal has been opened (Rev. 12:6-17), and before the 7 Trumpet (Rev. 8-11) and 7 Bowl Judgments (Rev. 15-16). One advocate of a Prewrath Rapture stipulates the following: 1)
The church will enter the Great Tribulation which begins at the
midpoint of Daniel's seventieth week. 2) The church will be raptured
just after the sixth seal and at [the] coming of Christ which ends the
Great Tribulation. 3) The wrath of God begins after the rapture of the
church has occurred. The greatest difficulty with the Pre-Wrath position is its insistence that the Six Seals (Rev. 6) constitute the wrath (thumos) of Satan (Rev. 12:12) and not the wrath of God. One reason for this distinction is that the word wrath (orge) does not appear in the book of Revelation until 6:16-17. Yet it is Jesus who breaks each of the Seals, initiating each of the judgments. The Fourth Seal alone destroys a quarter of the earth's population (Rev. 6:7-8). How can this not be the wrath of God? Furthermore, it is clear that the people of earth are already experiencing the wrath of God and the wrath of the Lamb during the course of the sixth seal (Rev. 6:12-17). That is why they ask for mountains and rocks to hide them. A Pre-Tribulation Rapture best explains prophetic details, exempts the Church from experiencing the wrath of God (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9), and differentiates God's dealing with the Church in the Church Age from His dealing with Israel at the commencement of Daniel's Seventieth Week (Dan. 9:24-27). Post-Tribulation Rapture. This view teaches that the Church will go through the Tribulation. Like the Mid-Tribulation view and the Prewrath view, this view mixes up God’s working with the Church and His subsequent working with Israel. It also flies in the face of Scriptures which teach that the Church is exempt from God’s judgment of the world (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9). Historic Premillennialism espouses a Post-Tribulation Rapture. One of the greatest logical difficulties of the Post-Tribulation view is to explain how the Millennial Earth will be populated with people in their natural bodies. For example, Isaiah 11:6-9 predicts a small boy leading a young lion and a fatling. The same passage also predicts a weaned child playing with a viper. Isaiah also speaks of Israelis bearing children during the Millennium (Isa. 65:23). If Jesus only returns to earth once, and that is at the end of the Tribulation, then all believers of all ages will either be resurrected at that time, or, if alive, will be given heavenly bodies (1 Cor. 15:50-58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18). Under the scenario of a Post-Tribulation Rapture, who would be left alive in their natural bodies to marry and to bear children? The answer is, "No one," for Jesus said that in the resurrection there is no marriage (Matt. 22:30; Luke 20:35). Furthermore, there are Millennial passages that speak of death (Isa. 65:20-22). Assuming for the moment a Post-Tribulation Rapture, who would be left alive in their natural bodies to die? The answer is, "No one." Furthermore, the Apostle John clearly predicted that after the Millennium, Satan would be released from his prison and would deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth. They will revolt against King Jesus and His regime, and will surround Jerusalem to destroy it and those headquartered there. Fire will come down from heaven and consume them (Rev. 20:7-10). Again, assuming a Post-Tribulation Rapture, when all the saints are either resurrected or glorified, who will be left alive in their natural bodies to be tempted successfully by Satan, revolt against King Jesus, and die a fiery death? The answer is, "No one." Simply put, a Post-Tribulation Rapture does not fit with the data of Scripture. Regathering of Israel. God's drawing of expatriate Jewish people from all over the world back to Israel, there to repent for having forsaken Him, to place their faith in Jesus as their Messiah, and joyfully to take part, with hearts softened by the Spirit of God, in Jesus' Kingdom (Psa. 107:1-3; Isa. 11:11-16; 27:12-13; 43:1-7; 49:20-22; 60:4-9; Ezek. 36:22-28; 37:1-14; 37:15-28; Zech. 10:6-12). The present-day Aliyah is but a pre-cursor to the prophesied Regathering, because the vast majority of Israelis reject Jesus as their Messiah. One day this will change dramatically (Zech. 12:10-13:1). Replacement Theology. The
theological view of Amillennialism that the Church has permanently replaced or fulfilled
Israel as the sphere of God's blessing and redemptive program. In
the view of “Replacement Theology,” the present nation of Israel has little or no meaningful
relationship to end-time events since, in their view, the Church has replaced
Israel.
Another term for "Replacement Theology" is "Supersessionism,"
which holds that the Church has superseded Israel. It is difficult to
read Paul's apologia for Israel in Romans 9-11 and make any sense out of it if, in fact, the Church has permanently superseded Israel. If Replacement Theology is true, countless passages like Isaiah 2:1-4; Isa. 11; Isa. 60; Ezekiel 40-48; and Zechariah 12-14 cannot be taken at face value – they mean something other than what the readers in that day would have taken them to mean. Clearly God's covenant with Abraham and his physical descendants through Isaac and Jacob in the land as a permanent possession is an eternal covenant. The neglect or misinterpretation of these fundamental truths cannot abort the eternal commitment of God. See also Supersessionism. For an extensive treatment of Supersessionism, or Replacement Theology, see Michael J. Vlach, Supersessionism Articles. Reunion. In the terminology of WordExplain, Reunion refers to that First Stage of Christ's parousia (3952) (return) in which Jesus returns to the earth's atmosphere to summon up deceased believers of the Church Era along with living believers of the Church Era to a joyous meeting in the air. We call this reunion the Rapture. This reunion is graphically described in a key passage, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. This stage of Christ's parousia
incorporates a resurrection of deceased Church Age believers. For those
Church-Age believers who are alive when Christ returns, their bodies
will be changed (allasso, 236)
instantaneously from mortal to immortal, from perishable to
imperishable (1 Cor. 15:50-53). Immediately, these changed, now
immortal believers, along with the resurrected believers, will be snatched up (harpadzo, 726) together into the clouds for a meeting
(apantesis, 529) with the Lord in the air. Paul's exultant phrase,
which aptly characterizes this stage of Christ's parousia, is "and so we shall always be with the Lord!" (1 Thess. 4:15-17). The focal point of this stage of the parousia is REUNION! We will be reunited with Christ and reunited with Church-Age believers who had died before Christ returned. They did not miss the Rapture; rather they are an integral part of it. It is no wonder that this Reunion is a cause for great comfort (1 Thess. 4:18). 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 does not specify what happens to these resurrected, transformed, and snatched up Church-Age saints. The model that best fits the evidence is found in John 14:1-6, where Jesus stated that there were many dwelling places in His Father's house. He would depart to prepare a place for His followers. He would come again and receive them to Himself, so that they might be reunited - always with Him. The implication is that He would take them back with Him to His Father's house and permit them to dwell in the place He had prepared for them. Jesus Himself is the Way to the Father and the Father's house! The context of John 14:1-6 does not lend itself well at all to the interpretation that Jesus would come and transport them individually to His Father's house upon their death. This is not funeral talk - it is wedding talk! This is the language of a bridegroom betrothed to his bride-to-be, a reference to the Church. He will depart from them in order to prepare a place (singular) for them (plural) among the many dwelling places already in existence in His Father's house. Upon His completion of the preparations, He will come again (a reference to the First Stage of His Second Coming) and receive them (plural - corporately) to Himself in order that where He Himself is they (plural - corporately), the bride, might be (plural - corporately) also. So this is not an individual coming at the death of each saint, but a one-time coming for the corporate bride . The presumption is that He will take the bride to the dwelling place He has prepared for them. The Reunion phase of Christ's parousia is consistently presented as an imminent event. Unlike the Retribution phase of Christ's parousia, It could happen at any time. There are no intervening events that must be fulfilled prior to the Reunion phase of Christ's return. Chronologically, the Reunion phase of Christ's parousia is the next event on God's prophetic calendar. The Reunion event will occur prior to the horrific events of the Tribulation. It is an imminent event. Nothing prophetically needs to happen before Christ returns for His bride. Retribution. In the terminology of WordExplain, Retribution refers to that second stage of Christ's parousia (3952) in which Jesus returns all the way to earth to execute vengeance upon His adversaries and those of His people, then to set up His Regime.. Paul clearly states the retributive aspect of Christ's return in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9: 7and
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, 8dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, Other passages also reveal Retribution in connection with Christ's return: Isaiah 63:1-6; Zechariah 14:1-15; Revelation 19:11-21. It is worth noting that the Retributive phase of Christ's return is consistently presented as having many signs that must be fulfilled prior to Christ's return. For example, in Matthew 24, a great many signs (semeion, 4592) must be fulfilled before Christ's return and the end of the age (Matt. 24:3). These signs include false Messiahs, wars,
rumors of wars, international conflict, famines, and earthquakes. All
these are but the early onset of labor pains (Matt. 24:4-8). Jesus predicted there will be tribulation, martyrdom, hatred by all nations because of His followers' allegiance to His name, apostasy, betrayal, reciprocal hatred, false prophets, deception, increasing lawlessness, and the waning of love and trust. The good news of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a testimony to all nations before the end comes (Matt. 24:9-14). The "Abomination of Desolation" will appear in the rebuilt Jewish Temple. (This apparently marks the mid-point of Daniel's Seventieth Seven of Years, at which "the prince who shall come" will break his seven-year treaty with Israel (Dan. 9:27). Then residents of Judea must flee to the mountains! Then there will be "great tribulation" unprecedented in the history of the world! False Messiahs and false prophets will arise and show great signs (semeion, 4592) and wonders so spectacular they almost deceive God's chosen ones (eklektos, 1588) (Matt. 24:15-28). "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken (Matt. 24:29). And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory (Matt. 24:30). And he will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other" (Matt. 24:31). Similarly,
in the book of Revelation a great many signs must be fulfilled prior to
Christ's Return for Retribution as described in Revelation 19:11-21.
After the Church Age, addressed in Revelation 2-3, preparations are
made in heaven (Rev. 4-5). Then there will be unleashed upon the earth
during the Tribulation period seven seal judgments, seven trumpet
judgments, and seven bowl judgments, described in Revelation 6-16. Two
witnesses will testify during half the Tribulation period (Rev. 11). The
Antichrist and his lieutenant must gain power over the entire earth
(Rev. 13). Babylon, the Great Prostitute, must be burned with fire
(Rev. 17-18) to pave the way for the revelation of New Jerusalem, the
Bride of Christ (Rev. 21-22). The point is that the Second Stage of Christ's parousia, the Retribution phase, cannot possibly be construed as an imminent event. A great many signs must be fulfilled prior to Jesus' return for Retribution. A Single-Stage Parousia simply does not fit the evidence. Only a Two-Stage Parousia accounts for all the details found in Scripture. If you have difficulty locating a file, please contact the Web Master. Updated February 26, 2012 Background and Button Image Credit |
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