The Return of the King of Kings Part 7

The sequence of events in the Revelation lend to a Pre-trib Rapture.  First, there is the ascension of John into Heaven:

                “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven.  And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”
                Revelation 4:1

The description of a voice like a trumpet calling John up to Heaven bears similarities to Paul’s description of the calling up to Heaven during the Rapture.  And John is not the only human in Heaven.  He sees 24 elders before the throne of God (presumably the patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel and then the 12 apostles of Jesus).  And after he witnesses the Lamb (Jesus) open the six seals that begin the Tribulation (the first being the unleashing of the Antichrist as depicted as a rider on a white horse), he sees this:

                “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!
                “All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying: Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever, Amen.
                “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?  And I said to him, Sir, you know.  So he said to me, These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
                Revelation 7:9-14

I believe John is seeing resurrected Christians in this scene.  The elder says that they have come out of the great tribulation.  The Greek interpretation of “out of” in this verse does not necessarily mean to come out of the Tribulation as it is already underway, but can be interpreted as being taken out of the way of the Tribulation, as the Greek “out of” has both a time and space component to it.
This view of being spared from enduring the Tribulation is bolstered by Jesus’s message to the Church in Philadelphia:

                “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”
                Revelation 3:10

Jesus’s messages to the early Christian churches carry a dual purpose.  They describe conditions that will be mirrored at the end of the Church Age.  Each message contains either a warning or a promise of reward resulting from the behaviors exhibited by the early Christian churches that will manifest again as the world enters the End Times.  The Book of Revelation is a book of prophecy for the Last Days, therefore to think that the messages to the seven churches only apply to the literal churches of John’s day is not congruent with the context of the book.

So to summarize, the Pre-trib Rapture view is supported by three significant Biblical truths:

1. The Church Age needs to give way to a return to Daniel’s prophetic timeline for Israel to complete the final appointed seven years.  The Rapture ends the Church Age. 

2. The Holy Spirit must be temporarily removed from Earth to enable the Antichrist to ascend to power so that he can confirm the covenant with Israel to begin the final seven-year countdown.  Since the Holy Spirit resides in all Christians, all Christians must be removed to open the way for the Antichrist to rise.  The Rapture removes the Holy Spirit from the Earth.

3. The Tribulation is God’s appointed time to judge the wicked on the Earth and to turn the hearts of the Jews to accept Jesus as their Messiah.  Its purpose is not to test the faith of Christians.  There will be later converts to Christianity who will get caught up in the horrors of the Tribulation and their faith will be tested, but that is ancillary to the true purpose of the Tribulation.

I think there are many well-intentioned Christians who simply hold different interpretations of the scriptures that lead them to “Mid-trib” or “Post-trib” views of the Rapture.  I find it sad that they have denied themselves the great hope and comfort of being spared from the Tribulation that Jesus himself conveyed through his message to the church in Philadelphia.  I believe that all true Christians will be Raptured, regardless of whichever view they hold regarding the timing.  But God’s intent is that we live in the hope of being spared from wrath, not living to prepare ourselves to live through it.

I do think there are others who hold these views for less than honorable reasons.  I think there are some who promote “Mid-trib” and “Post-trib” views to make a profit by peddling survival equipment to Christians who are led to believe that they will have to find a way to live through the chaos of the Tribulation.

I think there are other Christians who have fallen into a trap of pride, whereby they feel they have to prove something to God by suffering through the Tribulation.  It is almost as if they view the Rapture as too easy of a way out.  One almost gets the impression that they would be disappointed if they missed out on the Tribulation.  To those people I say be careful what you wish for.

And to those who would say it is better to be prepared for the worst, I would say there is nothing that will prepare you for the horrors that will be unleashed in the Tribulation.  No amount of “prepping” will be sufficient to cope with the devastation coming our way.  And if you think you can face Roman Coliseum-style persecution, I would ask you to reflect on the stands you are currently taking to show your Christian faith.  Perhaps your faith is that strong.  But if you are the type of person who can’t bring yourself to stop shopping at your favorite store that actively undermines Christian values, I’m guessing you might find it hard to resist the Mark of the Beast.

My point is, rather than fear the worst, let us put our faith in God to deliver us from the wrath to come.  There is abundant proof that God spares those he loves from the wrath he unleashes on the wicked.  Noah and his family were delivered from the Flood.  Lot was delivered from Sodom.  The Jews were spared from the plagues God set upon Egypt.

In the words of Paul:
                “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
                1 Thessalonians 5:9
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We will be spared from the wrath of the Tribulation.  A convergence of signs is pointing to the likelihood that the time of tribulation is coming soon, which means our great escape may be drawing near.  In the next post I will delve into the other signs that Jesus said would mark the approach of his Second Coming.