Servant
Leadership School
January 5, 2003
The Centrality of Jesus Christ (ch. 7)
Dave Dunagan
The Rapture of the Church (ch. 8)
Reasons for a Pre-Trib
Rapture:
1. The Outline of Revelation:
This is by no means a conclusive argument, but I think it has some merit to
it.
The Book of Revelation is broken down into three segments by the Lord. Jesus told John:
(Rev 1:19
KJV) Write the things which thou hast
seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
As you study the book, you find that the “things which thou hast seen” are
the things that John saw in his vision of Jesus in chapter one.
The “things which are” are the things of chapters two and three, the
letters to the seven churches. It is all
about the church. In a sense it covers
the history of the church.
The “things which shall be hereafter” (Greek: meta tauta) refers to the things in chapters
4-22. The phrase “after these things” (Greek: meta tauta) starts chapter 4:1, and is the exact same phrase
in 1:19. The events from chapters 4-22 take place
after the time of the “church” on earth.
As you read and study the book of Revelation, there are a couple of things
that hint at a pre-trib rapture.
a. John describes everything from chapters 4-22 from the perspective of
heaven.
Why does John write from heaven's perspective to describe the tribulation?
Because John is writing to the church (remember the seven letters?), and I
believe the church is going to be seeing these things happen from the
perspective of heaven.
The church is going to be raptured BEFORE the
Great Tribulation period, which starts in chapter 6.
b. The presence of the church.
The word "church" (eklessia) is found 18 times prior to chapter four (during
the times that "are"), and only once after chapter four (during the
times "after these things"), at the end, when Jesus says:
Re 22:16 I Jesus have sent mine
angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the
offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Once John is in heaven, his focus is directed primarily to the things on
earth.
Because there is no church on the earth, there is no mention of it.
In addition, there is an interesting song that the twenty-four elders sing
in heaven:
(Rev 5:9-10 KJV) And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art
worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, and nation; {10} And hast made us
unto our God kings and priests: and we
shall reign on the earth.
Notice the pronouns “us” and “we”. You don’t see this passage translated this
way in some of the modern translations because they use different Greek
manuscripts and translate them as “them”.
I believe those manuscripts are incorrect and the manuscripts used by
the King James and New King James are correct.
There is only one group that can make this claim, that God
has redeemed them from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. It’s the church. And the church is in heaven.
c. John’s own actions.
After the segment dealing with the church, John starts the last section of
the book with:
(Rev 4:1-2 KJV) After this I
looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I
heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither,
and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. {2} And immediately I was
in the spirit; and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the
throne.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the section that
begins to detail the unfolding of the Great Tribulation begins with a sort of
“rapture”, of John being caught up into heaven.
2. The Church and Wrath don't mix.
The tribulation is a time of wrath
(Rev 6:17
KJV) For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
These will not be difficult times like ordinary trials. This is the time of God’s wrath upon the
ungodly of the earth. He will be
bringing judgment on the earth.
God does not intend for His church to experience wrath. Jesus died for us so we would escape wrath.
(1 Th 5:9 KJV) For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord
Jesus Christ
Some Old Testament examples:
Both Noah and Lot are held up by Peter (2Pet.2) as
examples of this.
They both escaped times of judgment (the flood, Sodom)
by being taken out of the judgment.
Then Peter writes:
2Peter 2:9 The Lord
knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations
(NIV - "trials"), and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment
to be punished:
This was the center of Abraham’s negotiating with God over Lot’s
life:
(Gen 18:22-25 KJV) And the
men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet
before the LORD. {23} And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? {24}
Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy
and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? {25} That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the
righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that
be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of
all the earth do right?
God would not destroy Sodom if
there were ten or more righteous people left.
But because there were less than ten, God did destroy it, yet only after
removing the last righteous people.
This is the issue of God’s “fairness”.
God is a judge who always does
what’s right.
3. Jesus said the faithful would escape the Tribulation.
He said,
(Luke 21:34-36 KJV) And take
heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with
surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon
you unawares. {35} For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face
of the whole earth. {36} Watch ye therefore, and pray
always, that ye may be accounted worthy
to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the
Son of man.
To the church in Philadelphia,
Jesus wrote:
(Rev 3:10
KJV) Because thou hast kept the word of
my patience, I also will keep thee from
the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the
world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
temptation – peirasmos – an experiment, attempt, trial,
proving
This same word is translated “trials” in:
(1Pe 4:12 NLT) Dear friends, don’t be surprised at
the fiery trials you are going
through, as if something strange were happening to you.
(James 1:2 NASB)
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
The point: The faithful church is kept from the
tribulation, the great time of “testing” that is coming upon the earth.
This doesn’t mean that we won’t go through difficult times.
Jesus also said,
(John 16:33 KJV)
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.
There are plenty of Christians today who are going through greatly
difficult times. But it doesn’t mean
they will go through THE Great Tribulation.
This raises a question, will the unfaithful
go through the Tribulation?
Jesus said to unrepentant people in the church
of Thyatira:
(Rev 2:22
KJV) Behold, I will cast her into a bed,
and them that commit adultery with her into
great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
Kind of sobering, huh?
4. The People and Purpose of the Tribulation.
We’ve already seen that the Tribulation will be a time of God’s wrath on
the earth, but it also will be a time of bringing the Jews back to Him.
The Tribulation is recognized at the “70th” week of Daniel, a
period of 70 groups of seven years, of which 69 were accomplished by the time
Jesus came the first time.
The Tribulation period is the last (the 70th) week of Daniel’s
prophecy, yet to be fulfilled.
Look who the tribulation is for:
(Dan 9:24
KJV) Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to
make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Who are Daniel’s “people”? Israel.
This is why it’s important that we understand the distinction between Israel
and the church.
There are some folks who feel that God is finished with Israel
and that all the promises to Israel
now apply only to the church. They will
point to verses like this:
(Zep 2:3 KJV) Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth,
which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the
LORD'S anger.
Some will say that this refers to the scenario in Rev.12, with the woman
running from the dragon. They say that
God will supernaturally protect the church in the Tribulation.
But the woman in Rev. 12 is “Israel”,
not the church. God’s protection in the
Tribulation is for Israel.
God isn't finished with Israel!
(Rom 11:1 KJV) I say then,
Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an
Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
There is a parallel idea here as well, the idea of the “times of the
Gentiles”.
God has a “time clock” concerning Israel,
the “seventy weeks”.
When Israel
rejected their Messiah and He was cut off, the time clock stopped and the world
entered a time where God put His favor primarily upon the Gentile church.
I think one of the things that will determine the end of this “age of the
Gentiles” will be a certain number of those who are going to be saved.
We know that one of the reasons Jesus delays His return is so that more
people can be saved.
(2 Pet 3:9 KJV) The Lord is
not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is
longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance.
When that last Gentile convert gets saved, God will once again turn His
attention to the nation of Israel
and the time clock of the seventy weeks of Daniel will start again.
(Rom 11:25
KJV) For I would not, brethren, that ye
should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits;
that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles
be come in.
Another possible trigger for the restarting of this time clock could be
incredible deliverance of the nation of Israel
from the invasion of the “Gog and Magog” coalition of nations (Ezekiel
38-39). When God miraculously delivers Israel,
we read:
(Ezek 39:22 KJV) So the
house of Israel
shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
(Ezek 39:29 KJV) Neither
will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon
the house of Israel,
saith the Lord GOD.
5. The element of surprise.
The Scripture talks about the suddenness of the second coming.
(Mat 24:36 KJV) But of that
day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
(Mat 24:44 KJV) Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the
Son of man cometh.
Yet Scripture also gives us the day when Jesus will come back, tied to an
event during the tribulation period.
(Dan 12:11
KJV) And from the time that the daily
sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh
desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
How can there be a surprise, when it's something that can be calculated?
This is because the Rapture comes first, unexpectedly, not tied to events
in the Tribulation.
The actual Second Coming, when we return with Jesus, will be calculated,
1290 days after the abomination of desolation.
We get the idea in Scripture that when Jesus comes back, the armies of the
earth are gathered together to fight against Him. They are expecting Him!
If the Rapture came at the end, right before Jesus comes back, there would
be no surprise, we’d all be marking our calendars.
Lesson
Live as if it could happen at any
moment.
Jesus said,
(Mat 24:42-51 KJV) Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour
your Lord doth come. {43} But know this, that if the goodman
of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have
watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. {44} Therefore
be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
{45} Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler
over his household, to give them meat in due season? {46} Blessed is that
servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. {47} Verily I say
unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. {48} But and if that
evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth
his coming; {49} And shall begin to smite his fellowservants,
and to eat and drink with the drunken; {50} The lord of that servant shall come
in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour
that he is not aware of, {51} And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his
portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus could come back for us at any moment.
What will He find us doing? Will
He find us doing things we might be embarrassed about or ashamed of? Will He find us doing the kinds of things He
wants us to be doing?
I think we are often unaware of who is with us.
We can walk into a room and think that we’re alone, but we’re not. We can close the door behind us and think
that no one can see what we’re doing, but it’s not true.
In a sense, it’s as if we have a spiritual “blindfold”
on. We may not realize it, but we’re not
alone. Jesus and His angels are right
here.
This is a healthy attitude. Be ready
for your master’s return.