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Welcome back to All About the Rapture. Today, we are going to look at another Old Testament story that teaches us about the rapture: the story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. The Exodus is the best symbolic example of the Tribulation Period and the rapture that we have in the Bible. It shows God’s people living in an ungodly land, persecuted by the ungodly, and then God dealing with the ungodly by pouring out a number of plagues upon them before finally removing His people and utterly destroying the wicked. It’s the format of the end times, and, by studying it, we learn a lot about the Tribulation Period and the rapture.

When looking at the Exodus and comparing it to the end times, you must keep in mind that it teaches us by using broad symbolism. That means that you have to look at the big picture in order to see the truths that the story shows. I’m sure you’re already familiar with this type of symbolism. A well-known Christian example is the Old Testament story of Joseph and how it symbolizes and foretells the story of Jesus. In it, we have Joseph, betrayed by his brothers and sent away into slavery. But in being sent away, he was actually preparing a path for them, a path that would lead to their salvation. It took many years, but he was finally reunited with them, and he revealed himself to be not only the brother they had betrayed all those years ago, but their savior as he saved them from a severe famine and certain death.

In Jesus’ story, Jesus was betrayed by His brothers the Jews and crucified. But in dying, he was actually preparing a path for them and creating a place of life and salvation for them in God. And, at some point in the future, He will come again and reveal Himself to them as not only the One they betrayed and sent away (crucified), but as their Savior.

That’s the type of symbolism we’re looking at with the story of the Exodus and with the future events of the Tribulation Period and the rapture. It is broad, big-picture symbolism. If you look at the stories of Joseph and Jesus under a microscope and try to compare them, you will find so many differences that you will end up confusing yourself and missing the point. And it’s the same with the end times and the Exodus. If you examine them under a microscope, you will find so many differences and discrepancies that you will confuse yourself and miss the point. In order to understand the symbolism, you have to take a big step back look at the overall big picture. Only then will you see the truths of what these stories are showing us. So, let’s look at the story of the Exodus and see what it is telling us about the end times and the rapture.

The story of the Exodus is found in the book of Exodus, chapters 1-14. In it, we find that the Israelites were being oppressed by a harsh, ungodly regime. They had become slaves in the land of Egypt and were crying out to God to deliver them. God heard their cries, but before he delivered them, he dealt with Egypt by sending many plagues upon them. The plagues were sent in order to show His power over the Pharaoh and his false gods, to show that there is no God stronger than the God of the Jews. And though the plagues were sent upon Egypt, and the Israelites lived in Egypt, God was able to keep the plagues from harming them. He was able to distinguish between the Egyptians and the Israelites and keep His people safe.

Once God was finished dealing with Egypt and showing them His power, He was finally ready to rescue His people and remove them from Egypt. Their rescue was a two-step process. First, God sent the most devastating plague yet and killed the firstborn of all the Egyptians. In response to this, and with a great cry, Pharaoh at long last allowed Moses and the Israelites to leave. So, the Israelites took their belongings – including items that the Israelites had recently asked for and received from their Egyptian neighbors, such as gold, silver, jewels, and an assortment of other valuables – that God had told them to have prepared because their departure would be hasty, and they left, following Moses as he led them out of Egypt and into the wilderness.

After a short amount of time passed, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart once again, and Pharaoh changed his mind. He decided that he wasn’t going to allow the Israelites to leave, so he gathered his army and chased into the wilderness to capture them and bring them back. At this point, the Israelites saw that Pharaoh and his army were in pursuit, and they were terrified because they were blocked in by the Red Sea and had nowhere to go to escape the fast-approaching army.

Now for the second step of their rescue: God then told Moses to stand by the Sea, raise his staff, and stretch his hand out over the waters, and as he stretched out his hand, the waters would part and create a path for the Israelites so that they could escape. As Moses obeyed and stretched out his hand, God parted the Sea, and the Israelites safely crossed to the other side. As Pharaoh and the Egyptian army came to the Sea, it was still parted, so they, too, attempted to cross. But, as they were halfway through, God released the waters and the Sea came crashing back together, thus destroying the Pharaoh and his entire army.

That’s the story of the Exodus. Now, let’s look at what it teaches us about the end times and the rapture. In the previous entries in this website, I have gone into great detail explaining exactly why the pre-Tribulation rapture belief is wrong. The Bible never says that we disappear. The Bible never says that we are going to leave the planet and spend the Tribulation Period in heaven. In John 4:1-4, Jesus did not mean that someday we are literally going to live in mansions in heaven. Revelation 4:2 does not represent the rapture. Once you realize that the pre-Tribulation rapture belief is wrong, that it is based on a complete misinterpretation of Scripture, it then frees you to accept the obvious, which is that Matthew 24:29-31 and 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 are talking about the same event. Matthew 24 shows the Second Coming. It describes Jesus appearing in the sky, coming on the clouds of heaven, and with the sound of a trumpet, His people are gathered together. 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 shows the rapture. It shows Jesus descending from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, the trumpet of God, and His people being gathered together to meet Him in the air. These passages are describing the same event. They show us unequivocally that the rapture happens at the Second Coming. Once you realize that, everything else falls into place. It means that we will be here for the Tribulation Period. We will be here when the anti-Christ is in power. We will be here when God pours out His judgment upon the anti-Christ and his kingdom. And that we will be removed immediately before Jesus destroys the anti-Christ and his kingdom, which happens at the end of the Tribulation Period.

And when you look at that format, you realize that you have seen it somewhere before: it is the story of the Exodus. In the Exodus, God’s people lived in Egypt during the reign of the Pharaoh. They remained in Egypt as God poured out His judgments upon Egypt. And though His people lived in Egypt as God poured out His judgments, God was able to distinguish between the Egyptians and His own people, and His judgments didn’t touch His people. And after all His judgments had been poured out, God removed His people from Egypt and then immediately destroyed the Pharaoh and Egypt.

We even have additional symbolism that confirms that this story is foreshadowing the end times. One: In the Exodus, God tells the Israelites to pack their bags, make their unleavened bread, and be prepared to leave. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus and Paul continually admonish us to be prepared, to not let the Day of the Lord come upon us like a thief in the night. Two: In the Exodus, the Israelites’ departure was preceded by a shout, by the collective cry of the Egyptians mourning the loss of their firstborn. At the rapture, our departure will be preceded by Jesus’ shout of victory as He returns to claim us as His own. Three: In the Exodus, the Israelites left Egypt carrying gold, silver, jewels, and other valuables that God had told them to request from the Egyptians in anticipation of their departure. Those valuables represent the physical and spiritual treasures that we will receive from God as every aspect of our being is transformed at the rapture as we receive our inheritance and are reunited with God and Jesus.

As you can see, the story of the Exodus is the story of the end times. It is prophetic, it is symbolic, and it is in all respects pointing us to and teaching us about the end times. It shows us that Christians will be here during the Tribulation period and as God sends His judgments upon the anti-Christ and his kingdom. It shows that He will remove us only after He finishes dealing with the anti-Christ, and that immediately after He removes us, He will destroy the anti-Christ and his kingdom. The story of the Exodus symbolizes and foretells a post-Tribulation rapture.

On a final note, some Christians cannot bring themselves to believe that we will be here for the Tribulation Period because they do not believe that God will pour out His wrath on His own people. And that is true. God will not pour out His wrath on His own people. But the story of the Exodus shows us that God is able to distinguish between His own people and those who are against Him. In the Exodus, God poured out His wrath on the Egyptians, but He left His own people unharmed. And that is the way it will be during the Tribulation Period. When the time comes for God to pour out His wrath, the judgment will be focused upon the anti-Christ and his kingdom. When you read the book of Revelation, especially chapters 14-16, you see that the vials of God’s wrath are directed at the anti-Christ and his kingdom. And that is completely in line with what the story of the Exodus shows: God is able to distinguish between people and He will keep His own people safe.

That’s all for today. Thanks for reading! See you next time.

Julie J

  Welcome back to All About the Rapture. Today, we will continue our study of Noah and Lot. In Part 1, we discussed how the Old Testament stories of Noah and Lot teach us important lessons that pertain to the rapture. They show us that when the time comes for God to destroy evil, He will not destroy the righteous along with the wicked, but rather, He will remove His people from harms’ way before the destruction begins. More specifically, they show that instead of removing His people far in advance of the destruction, He removes them immediately before the destruction begins. 

  But that’s not all that these stories have to show us. They also give us insight into another important detail of the rapture: its visibility. In an earlier post (The Rapture: We Don’t Disappear), we discussed how the New Testament never says, suggests, or implies that Christians will disappear at the rapture, but that, in fact, the New Testament shows that the rapture will be a visible event. Well, that’s a truth that’s also shown in the Old Testament. And as we continue to examine the stories of Noah and Lot today, we will see that before God destroyed evil, He removed His people in undeniably obvious and visible ways. 

  As we begin, here is a summary of the stories of Noah and Lot (FYI: This is the same summary as is in Noah, Lot, and the Rapture Part 1):

  The story of Noah is found in Genesis 6 – 9. The Bible tells us that in those days, the world had become exceedingly wicked. Chapter 6, verse 11 says that the earth was “filled with violence” (NKJV), that the only intent of every heart was evil all the time. The world had become so evil that God had to destroy it. God decided that He would send a great flood upon the earth that would destroy all life. 

  And yet, despite all the evil, there was one man who remained true to God. That man was Noah. And even though God was determined to destroy the evil world, He would not destroy the righteous along with the wicked, therefore He would spare Noah and his family from the destruction. So, before God sent the flood, He spoke to Noah. He told him that He would soon destroy the world with a flood, and gave him instructions to build an ark so that he and his family could stay inside the ark and be safe. He also instructed him to take two of every living creature into the ark so that after the flood was over, they could replenish the earth. 

  Noah was obedient and built the ark. Once built, God told Noah to take his family and the animals and get inside. Once inside, Verse 6 says that God sealed them in. Then, that same day, the flood began. Rain came down from the sky, the crevasses in the deep were opened, and water rushed over the earth from every direction. After forty days and nights of rain, the world was completely submerged and all life on earth was completely destroyed. All life, that is, except Noah, his family, and the animals that God had preserved in the ark. 

  Now we will look at Lot. The story of Lot is found in Genesis 18 and 19 and is very similar to that of Noah. In Genesis 18, we find that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah had become incredibly wicked. In verse 20, the Lord says, ” ‘The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now, and see whether they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.’ “ (NASB1995) The cities and their surrounding areas had, in fact, become overtaken with evil. They were so evil that God had to destroy them. 

  But He wouldn’t destroy them until Lot had been removed. Lot was the one righteous person in the entire land of Sodom and Gomorrah, and God would not destroy him along with the wicked. So, the evening before God destroyed the cities, He sent two angels to remove Lot and his family. When the angels arrived at Lot’s home, the men of the city surrounded the home and demanded that he send the two men (the angels) out to them. When Lot refused, the men of the city started banging on the door in an attempt to break in. The angels then opened the front door and struck the men with blindness so that their attempt wouldn’t succeed. The angels then told Lot that God was planning to destroy the cities, so he must leave. They told him to take his wife, his daughters, and any other relatives he had in the town and get out immediately because they were in danger. Lot rushed out to gather his sons-in-law and his married daughters, telling them about the impending destruction and that they had to leave, but they didn’t believe him. Disheartened, Lot returned home alone. But he didn’t leave the city.

  Then, as the dawn broke, the angels insisted that he leave. But he hesitated. So, the angels grabbed him by the hand, along with his wife and the two unmarried daughters who resided at the home, and had to practically drag them out of the city. The angels then told them to keep moving, to flee to the mountains and not look back. Lot, however, was somewhat disobedient: instead of complying, he panicked and told the angels that he was afraid of going to the mountains, that he thinks he’ll die there. He begged them for permission to flee, instead, to a little town nearby. The angels relented and gave him permission to go to the town. Once they arrived at the little town of Zoar, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah by raining down fire and brimstone from heaven. While at Zoar, Lot and his daughters obeyed the angels and didn’t look back, but Lot’s wife disobeyed: she looked back at the destruction of the cities and was turned into a pillar of salt. Meanwhile, by the time the sun had risen overhead, Sodom, Gomorrah, and the surrounding areas were completely destroyed, but Lot and his two daughters were safe. 

  And there you have the summaries of the stories of Noah and Lot. As we look at these stories, we see that God removed His people from impending destruction in very obvious, visible ways. With Noah, God removed him by way of a giant ark (you can’t get more obvious and visible than a giant boat). With Lot, he removed him by having angels lead him out of the city in daylight. In both situations, it was done right in front of the wicked. It wasn’t hidden. It wasn’t a secret. Instead, it happened right in front of the inhabitants of the land and the inhabitants saw it happen. They saw Noah, Lot, and their families leave. And when the destruction began, those left behind knew that Noah, Lot, and their families had escaped the destruction and were safe. 

  Let’s take a closer look at that, because that is very different that what most Christians have been taught. Most Christians have been told that, one day, Christians everywhere will just disappear. We will just vanish and no one will know what happened to us. No one will know where we went. Those left behind on earth will be scared and confused and will have no idea what’s going on. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. That is not what the rapture is going to be like. The stories of Noah and Lot exist to teach us about the rapture, so it’s important that we listen to them and let them teach us. Noah escaped the destruction of the world in a giant ark, an ark that he undoubtedly spent months and months building right in front of his neighbors. There was noise, and mess, and inconvenience, not to mention the sheer spectacle of watching Noah gather up two of every kind of animal and herd them into the ark. And when the time came for the rain to fall and the destruction to begin, everyone knew where Noah was: in the ark. They most certainly saw him and his family enter into the ark and close the door. And when the waters fell and as the ark was lifted up on top of the waters in safety, those who remained below saw it. They knew what had happened: Noah and his family had gone into the ark and had been lifted up to safety, and they were stuck helplessly watching from below.

  In the same way, Lot and his family were removed from their city in a very obvious and visible way. When you look at the timeline, you see that the angels arrived at Lot’s home in the evening. And, with time, evening progressed into night. But that’s not when Lot left. And, at some point during the night, when the townsmen tried to break into Lot’s home, the angels blinded the townsmen. But that’s not when Lot left. The angels didn’t remove Lot until morning when the sun came up. They could have removed him in the middle of the night, under the cloak of darkness, or when the townsmen were blinded, but they didn’t. They waited until the sun was coming up. The Bible says in Genesis 19:15 and 16 that it was only when the dawn broke that the angels insisted that they leave, and they grabbed them by the hands and took them out of the city. The point being that there was light, and anyone watching would have seen them go. Anyone looking out their front door or window in their direction would have seen them go. Anyone out and about getting a start on the day would have seen them leaving. Lot and his family were taken out of the city in a very obvious, visible way.

  And that’s how our removal at the rapture will be: obvious and visible. The stories of Noah and Lot serve to show us that when God removes His people from destruction, He does it in a very visible way. It’s not a secret as the pre-Tribulationists believe. It’s not a stealth operation done in the dark of night. It’s visible. When the time comes for Jesus to return for His church, it will be done in a very visible way. As Jesus descends in the clouds and lets out a shout calling His people to His side, everyone across the entire world will see Him and hear Him. And as we Christians are physically and spiritually transformed and rise up to meet Him in the air, the world will see it happen. They will see our transformation and they will watch us leave. Just as their neighbors saw Noah and his family enter into the ark, so will the world see us rise to met Jesus in the air. Just as Lot’s neighbor’s saw Lot and his family leave the city, so will the world see us leave the world to join Jesus. 

  The rapture is a visible event. It is an obvious, visible event. It will be fully in line with how God operates: not in the dark, not in the shadows, not a secret, but out in the open. It is a grand event that will be held high for all the world to see. It’s the moment when we are finally, truly redeemed. It’s the moment when so many of the promises God made to us will finally be fulfilled. It is the moment when we are finally reunited with God. And it will be visible. 

  It’s like in Luke 19, when Jesus entered into Jerusalem for the last time before His crucifixion, and His followers gathered along the way and cried out and praised Him, saying, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”, and the Pharisees disapprovingly told Jesus to rebuke them. But Jesus didn’t rebuke them. Instead, He replied that if they were silenced, then the very rocks would cry out. The return of Jesus for His church, our complete redemption, our transformation into the very likeness of God, the moment when we receive our inheritance as the heirs of God Almighty (co-heirs alongside Jesus), is such a magnificent event that it is not possible for it not to be seen. Romans 8:19 says that “the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.” If we Christians were revealed to be the sons of God and it were somehow hidden from the world, then all of creation would cry out in recognition of the event. Jesus’ return for His church and our accompanying redemption is such an extraordinary event that it’s not possible for it to be anything but visible. 

  That’s all for today. I hope you are becoming more confident in your understanding of what the rapture really is and that the Bible does, in fact, show that it will happen at the end of the Tribulation Period. Thank you for reading! See you next time.

  Julie

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. (NKJV)

New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. (NASB1995)

Welcome back to All About the Rapture. Up until now, we’ve looked at the rapture through the eyes of the New Testament, but any study of the rapture would be incomplete without also examining the Old Testament. Although people generally like to focus on the New Testament when studying the rapture, the Old Testament is just as important. Like the New Testament, it has a lot to teach us about the rapture it just does it in a different way: the New Testament does it through verses that talk about it directly, while the Old Testament does it through symbolic stories. These stories tell of times in the past when people became evil and God destroyed them. Since God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, by studying these stories of past destruction, we can learn how God will act in the end times when people once again descend into evil and God destroys them. And one thing we learn is that before He destroys them, He removes His people from harms way. But he doesn’t remove them far in advance of the destruction, instead, He removes them immediately before it begins. When you combine that knowledge with the knowledge that, in the end times, the Tribulation Period is not a prolonged period of time when God is slowly destroying evil, but that evil is actually destroyed rather quickly at the end of the Tribulation Period at Jesus’ Return, you can clearly see that that is when the rapture will take place – at the end of the Tribulation Period.

Today, we are going to examine the Old Testament stories of Noah and Lot and take a closer look at these principles and how they relate to the rapture. In both stories, we find situations where people had become so evil that God had to destroy them. But before he did, he removed his own people from harms way. I’m sure that most of you are familiar with these stories, but in case you’re not, here’s a detailed review:

The story of Noah is found in Genesis 6 – 9. The Bible tells us that in those days, the world had become exceedingly wicked. Chapter 6, verse 11 says that the earth was “filled with violence” (NKJV), that the only intent of every heart was evil all the time. The world had become so bad that God had to destroy it. God decided that He would send a great flood upon the earth that would destroy all life.

And yet, despite all the evil, there was one man who remained true to God. That man was Noah. And even though God was determined to destroy the evil world, He would not destroy Noah or his family. God would not destroy the righteous along with the wicked, therefore He would spare Noah and his family from destruction. So, before God sent the flood, He spoke to Noah. He told him that He would soon destroy the world, and gave him instructions to build a large boat so that he and his family could stay inside the boat and be safe. He also instructed him to take two of every living creature into the boat so that after the flood they could replenish the earth.

Noah was obedient and built the ark. Once built, God told Noah to take his family and the animals and get inside. Once inside, Verse 6 says that God sealed them in. Then, that same day, the flood began. Rain came down from the sky, the crevasses in the deep were opened, and water rushed over the earth from every direction. After forty days and nights of rain, the world was completely submerged and all life on earth was destroyed. All life, that is, except Noah, his family, and the animals that God had preserved in the ark.

That’s the story of Noah. Now we will look at Lot. The story of Lot is found in Genesis 18 and 19 and is very similar to that of Noah. In Genesis 18, we find that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah had become incredibly wicked. In verse 20, the Lord says, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now and see whether they have done entirely as the outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” (NSAB1995) The cities and their surrounding areas had, in fact, become overtaken with evil. They were so evil that God had to destroy them.

But He wouldn’t do it until Lot had been removed. Lot was the one righteous person in the entire land of Sodom and Gomorrah, and God would not destroy him along with the wicked. So, the evening before God destroyed the cities, he sent two angels to remove Lot. When the angels arrived at Lot’s home, the men of the city surrounded Lot’s home and demanded that he send the two men (the angels) out to them. When Lot refused, the men of the city started banging on the door and tried to break in. The angels opened the front door and struck the men with blindness so that they couldn’t succeed in their attempt to break into the home. The angels then told Lot that God was going to destroy the cities, so he must leave. They told him to take his wife, his daughters, and any other relatives he had in town and get out immediately because they were in danger of getting caught up in the destruction. Lot rushed out to gather his sons-in-law and his married daughters, telling them that they were in imminent danger and had to leave, but they didn’t believe him.

Disheartened, Lot returned home. But he didn’t leave. Then, as the dawn broke, the angels insisted that he leave. But he hesitated. So the angels grabbed him by the hand, along with his wife and the two unmarried daughters who resided at the home, and had to practically drag them out of the city. The angels told them to keep moving, to flee to the mountains and not to look back. Lot, however, was somewhat disobedient: instead of complying, he panicked and told the angels that he was afraid of going to the mountains, that he thought he would die there. He begged them for permission to flee, instead, to a little nearby town. The angels relented and gave him permission to flee to the town. Once they arrived at the little town of Zoar, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah by raining down fire and brimstone from Heaven. While at Zoar, Lot and his daughters obeyed the angels and didn’t look back, but Lot’s wife disobeyed: she looked back at the destruction of the cities and was turned into a pillar of salt. Meanwhile, by the time the sun had risen overhead, Sodom, Gomorrah, and their surrounding areas were completely destroyed, but Lot and his two daughters were safe.

The stories of Noah and Lot have a lot to teach us about the end times and the rapture because they deal with people becoming evil and God destroying them. In Noah’s day, He destroyed the world. In Lot’s day, He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. And in both cases, He removed His people immediately before the destruction. The same day, in fact. With Noah, the Bible says that God sealed him and his family in the ark and the same day the waters fell. With Lot, the angels removed him and his family and then mere hours later, fire and brimstone fell. In these stories, we find not only the principle that God will not destroy the righteous along with the wicked, but that before He destroys evil, He will actually remove His people and lead them to safely. He doesn’t just work around them. He could leave them where they are and destroy the evil from around them, but He doesn’t. He actually removes His people from the area before destroying the wicked. And that is how it will be in the end times. In the end times, when people once again become so wicked that God has to destroy them, He will remove his people first. He removed Noah by way of an ark; He removed Lot by having angels escort him out of the city; and He will remove His church by way of the rapture.

Now that we have established that God will remove His people before He destroys evil, let’s see how that helps us understand when the rapture will take place. To do that, we must answer two central questions: 1. In the end times, when does God destroy evil? Does he do it during the Tribulation Period or at the end of the Tribulation Period? And, 2. What is the evil that God is going to destroy? In other words, who exactly is He going to destroy?

Before we answer those questions, we first need to understand what the Tribulation Period is. Pre-Tribulationists say that the Tribulation Period is a seven-year period when God is going to slowly judge the earth and destroy everyone who has not accepted Jesus as their Savior. But that is not correct. That is not what the Tribulation Period is. The Tribulation Period is not the designated time when God judges the earth and destroys the unsaved. Instead, the Tribulation Period is exactly what it says it is: tribulation. It is a time of tribulation that comes upon the world. And while there will be death, destruction, and suffering, it is not a seven-year period where God slowly, systematically judges and destroys the world or destroys the unsaved.

In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Aside from being a time of death, fear, and sorrow, the Tribulation Period is actually a time of mercy because during that time, people can still be saved. Despite everything that will happening, people will still have the right to come to God (through Jesus), repent, and be saved. And both pre- and post-Tribulations agree about that. That is not a point of debate among Christians.

So, back to the questions: 1. When does God destroy evil? And, 2. What exactly is the evil that He is destroying? Here are the answers: Jesus destroys evil when He returns at the very end of the Tribulation Period at His Second Coming. And, the evil that He is destroying is the anti-Christ and his followers.

The Bible shows us that evil is destroyed when Jesus returns. Satan/the anti-Christ are given power over the inhabitants of the earth for a certain amount of time during the Tribulation Period. At the end of that time, Jesus returns in what is known as His Second Coming. He returns not only to save the Jews and rescue His church, but to destroy the evil that is the anti-Christ and his kingdom. He doesn’t return to destroy the world as a whole. He doesn’t return to destroy the unsaved. He returns to destroy the anti-Christ and his followers. And it is that event that is on par with the great flood of Noah. That is the event that is the equivalent to the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And it is that event from which God will save us. The stories of Noah and Lot teach us that God removes His people from harm’s way immediately before He destroys evil. Jesus is the One who destroys evil and He destroys it at the end of the Tribulation Period, and that is when the rapture will be.

The rapture of the church will not happen at the beginning of the Tribulation Period because the Tribulation Period is not God destroying evil. The Tribulation Period is a time of great distress that comes upon the inhabitants of the earth, and it is a time of great mercy that is shown to the unsaved, but it is not a time when God specifically sets out to destroy evil. Evil is destroyed at the very end of the Tribulation Period by Jesus at His Second Coming when He defeats the anti-Christ and his followers. And right before that happens, Jesus will remove His church. He will appear in the sky and, with a shout, He will call His church to His side (1 Thessalonians 4:14-18). And once we are caught up into the clouds (aka raptured) and are safely by His side, He will defeat the anti-Christ and his followers. He will then proceed to establish His earthly kingdom where He will rule and reign for one thousand years. All of this happens very suddenly, very quickly, and it happens at the very end of the Tribulation Period. Noah was removed, and the same day the waters fell. Lot was removed, and the same day fire and brimstone fell. We, the church, will be removed, and immediately the anti-Christ and his followers will be destroyed. That is not to say that it will be the same day, but it will be immediate. And once we are removed, there will be no more time for repentance, no more time for salvation. We will be removed, and then destruction will fall. And it all happens at the very end of the Tribulation Period.

That’s all for today. See you next time!

Julie

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. (NKJV)

New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. (NSAB1995)

Welcome back to All About the Rapture. Today, we are going to focus on one of the main details of the pre-Tribulation rapture: our disappearance. The traditional pre-Tribulation rapture belief says that, at the rapture, Christians everywhere will disappear. At some point in the future, without any notice, Jesus will appear in the sky with a shout, and every living Christian, everywhere in the world, will disappear. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, every living Christian will instantly receive a new, spiritual body and will instantly be removed from the planet to meet Jesus in the air. Then, at light speed, we’ll be whisked back to Heaven where we will live for seven years while the Tribulation Period plays out on Earth. When we disappear at the rapture, the world will not know what happened to us. They will not know where we went. They will not have seen Jesus appear in the sky, they will not have heard His shout. They will not have seen our transformation, and they will not have seen us go. Suddenly, without any notice or explanation, we will have just vanished.

That’s the pre-Tribulation rapture. And though it’s the common teaching in many churches – especially here in America- it may surprise you to know that the Bible doesn’t actually say most of it. While the Bible does say that Jesus will appear in the sky with a shout, and we will instantly receive new bodies, and we will rise to meet Him in the air, we don’t disappear. The Bible never says that we disappear. In fact, the rapture is a visible event. Today, we are going to look at what exactly the Bible says about the rapture and how it unfolds.

There are two main passages in the Bible that tell us about the rapture: 1 Corinthians 15:50-52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18. Both passages are located in the New Testament, and both were written by the Apostle Paul. We’ve discussed them before in previous posts, and we’re going to look at them in more detail today. Here they are:

1 Corinthians 15:50-52

50. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.

51. Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (NKJV)

1 Thessalonians 4:14-18

14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep 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 by no means precede those who are asleep.

16. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

17. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

18. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (NKJV)

As you can see, while the Bible does say that we will receive new bodies ( 1 Corinthians 15), and it does say that we will meet Jesus in the air (1 Thessalonians 4), it does not say that we disappear. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says that in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we will be changed. The dead will be resurrected with their new bodies first, and then, instantly, we will be changed, too. It is an instantaneous transformation, but there is no talk of it being a transformation that leaves us invisible, or a transformation that makes us disappear.

In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul talks about another aspect of the rapture: our meeting Jesus in the air. Paul says that the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we Christians who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. However, being “caught up” is not a instantaneous event, and again, there is no mention of us disappearing.

Now let’s take a closer look at the phrase “caught up”. In the original language, the word Paul uses for “caught up” is harpazo. The word harpazo can be translated several different ways, including to lift, to seize, to snatch, to draw up, to be caught up, to transport, and to rapture. And although the translators of the Bible chose to use the phrase “caught up” when they translated the word harpazo, any of the other words could have been used instead. Any of the other words would have been an acceptable substitute. And here’s my point: as you can see, none of those words mean or suggest instantaneousness or an event that happens so fast that, for all intents and purposes, we disappear. They could have used any of the words I mentioned. They could have used the word lifted, seized, snatched, drawn up, etc., and none of those words would have meant or implied disappearing, vanishing, teleporting, or any other kind of instantaneous act. There is nothing fantastic about any of those words. To the contrary, each word is a normal word. They are each action words that take a certain amount of time to carry out. So, when we are “caught up” to meet Jesus in the air, it will take a certain amount of time for it to happen.

How long, you ask? A few moments? A few minutes? Well, we don’t know because the Bible doesn’t say. It will probably be quick, but it will not be instantaneous because Paul did not use a word or phrase that means instantaneous. Remember, when Paul wrote, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…”, he was writing about our transformation. He wrote “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…we shall be changed.” Then, at another time, in another letter, while writing to an entirely different group of Christians (the Thessalonians), describing an entirely different aspect of the rapture (our being reunited with our deceased loved ones), he wrote that we will be “caught up” to meet the dead in Christ and Jesus in the air. In other words, we will be lifted up, transported, seized, snatched, etc. And that act will not be instantaneous because Paul did not say – neither did he imply nor suggest – that it would be.

What this means is that as we are transformed and lifted up to meet Jesus in the air, it will be visible. The unsaved world will see us as we receive our new bodies and as we rise to meet Jesus. We will not disappear. We will not suddenly vanish. And there is absolutely no mention in the Bible of us doing so. When pre-Tribulationists say that, at the rapture, Christians everywhere will disappear and no one will know where we went, they are wrong. They are wrong because they are misinterpreting 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4. They read where Paul writes, in 1 Corinthians 15, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”, and they apply that to Paul’s other description of the rapture, found in 1 Thessalonians 4, where Paul is talking about our meeting Jesus in the air. They combine these passages in an erroneous way and they come up with a description of the rapture that says that, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we disappear and instantly meet Jesus in the air with brand new bodies. But Paul did not say that! Paul did not say that we instantly leave Earth and meet Jesus in the air. He said that we are instantly transformed, but that we are caught up to meet Jesus in the air. They are not the same thing. Each is a separate and distinct aspect of the rapture. And both are visible.

Keep in mind that when we study the rapture, we are, of course, supposed to put the two passages of 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4 together in order to get a clearer picture of the event. But what we are not supposed to do is take one descriptive element of one of the passages and blindly apply it to the other. When we put these passages together, we must make sure that we maintain the integrity of each passage. When Paul says, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…we shall be changed”, then that is what he means. And when he says that we shall be “caught up… to meet the Lord in the air”, then that is what he means. We must make sure that we do not mix and match the details of the passages and come up with some weird, hybrid teaching that says that we are all going to disappear and instantly leave the planet and secretly meet Jesus in the air. That is not at all what the apostle Paul wrote. And, like I said, while we are supposed to put the passages together, we cannot break them into little pieces and then reconstruct them in a way that makes the word of God say something that it doesn’t say. And the Bible does not say that we disappear.

In fact, it is only when you remove the erroneous idea of disappearing from the equation that you can start to understand what the rapture really is. You will understand that the rapture is a visible event, and that it happens at the Second Coming. When Jesus descends from heaven with a shout, the world will see it and hear it. And when we Christians are instantly transformed, the world will see it. And when we are lifted up to meet Jesus, the world will see it, too. The world will know exactly what’s happening. They will see us as we leave and they will know exactly where we have gone. They will see us as we are reunited with Jesus and they will have the revelation of knowing exactly who He is and what they are missing out on. That is why, in Revelation 1:7, John writes that the tribes of the earth will mourn: it is because they will finally realize that Jesus is Lord, and that not only has he returned to save the Jews from the anti-Christ and to establish His millennial kingdom, but He has come back for His church, and they have missed out on it.

And that is what the rapture is: it is the time when Jesus is reunited with His church. It is not an event to be done in secret as the pre-Tribulationists would have you believe. It’s not a time of confusion and uncertainty, of the world wondering where all the Christians have gone. It’s a time of joy and victory and triumph for believers. It’s the time when Jesus rises from His throne, leaves Heaven, and comes to Earth to redeem His bride. It is not an event to be taken lightly and it is not an event to be done in secret. It is an event to be done in the light of day, to be held high for all the world to see. It is not a stealth operation and it is not a secret. It is part of the Second Coming. It is the time when Jesus announces His authority over the world and announces us as His own.

That’s all for today. I hope you’re starting to see that the rapture is part of the Second Coming. I know that this is probably a different teaching than you’ve heard at church, but this is a message that Christians need to hear. The Bible shows, in so many ways, that Christians will have to live through the Tribulation Period and that the rapture will not happen until the Tribulation Period is over. Christians need to start mentally and spiritually preparing themselves for that so that they are not caught off guard when the events of the book of Revelation start happening. But I know that accepting a new teaching can take time, so I encourage you to take some time and become as familiar as possible with the subject matter. Keep reading my messages, review the past posts on this website, and read your Bible. Look up all the verses and passages that I’ve cited, and read the surrounding verses and chapters, as well. I really believe that the more you look into this, the more you will see that the Bible does support a post-Tribulation rapture. See you next time!

Julie J

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 

Welcome back to All About the Rapture! Today, we are going to look at when the rapture will happen by looking at 1 Corinthians 15. There’s a lot of talk among pre-and post-Tribulationists about how the Bible never actually says if the rapture happens before the Tribulation Period begins or if it happens as the Tribulation Period ends. And while it is true that the Bible never specifically says, “the rapture happens before the Tribulation Period begins”, or “the rapture happens at the Second Coming/as the Tribulation Period ends”, if you read the Bible, you will find that, even though it doesn’t use those exact words, it does tell us when it will happen. But you have to read it. All too often, people look at passages that talk about the rapture without ever reading the verses around them, or without ever reading the chapters that contain them. But you can’t do that. You can’t just isolate the passages that talk about the rapture and then try to make sense of them. You have to leave the passages where they are and understand why they were written and why they are there.

The Apostle Paul gives us the most information about the rapture. It was Paul who wrote 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17, which are the two main passages that talk about the rapture. But in order to understand when the rapture will take place, you must understand why Paul wrote those verses. He wrote them for a specific reason, to make a specific point. When you leave the verses where they are, and you read the entire chapters that contain them, you will understand the point he was making when he wrote them, and you will find that they actually do tell us when the rapture will happen. And they tell us that it will happen at the Second Coming, which is at the end of the Tribulation Period. Today, we are going to look at not only 1 Corinthians 15:51,52, but we are going to look at the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 15. Let’s get started!

1 Corinthians 15:51,52 is one of the two main passages that tell us about the rapture. It reads:

51. Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (NKJV)

That passage is very clear. It tells us that not everyone will experience death. It tells us that, during the rapture, Christians who are alive will receive new bodies. But when will it happen? To answer that question, we must look at the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians. We can’t just isolate the verses. We must understand why he wrote the entire chapter, what points he was trying to make. When we understand the chapter, then we will understand what he meant by writing verses 51 and 52, and we will understand when he says the rapture will happen.

Let’s look at Chapter 15. At the beginning of the chapter, Paul is assuring the Corinthians that Jesus did rise from the dead. Evidently, there was some confusion within the church over Jesus’ death and resurrection. Some people were stirring up trouble by saying that Jesus did not really rise from the dead. Paul is quite strongly assuring the church that Jesus did, in fact, rise from the dead. (verses 1-11)

He then addresses the fact that some people in the church were saying that there is no resurrection of the dead for believers. They were saying that once you, you’re dead forever. There is no resurrection. Again, Paul very strongly corrects them and tells them that there will be a resurrection. (verses 12-34)

He then addresses the apparent stubbornness of some in the church. He know that some of them will continue to try to stir up trouble and cause others to doubt their faith by asking what seems to be a valid question, which is, what kind of bodies will people have when they are resurrected? Paul knows that these people are just being difficult and trying to cause trouble, but it’s an important subject and the church must know how to answer the trouble makers, so he goes on to explain to them the new type of bodies we will receive when we are resurrected. He also explains to them the importance of dying. He tells them that they must die in order to receive their new bodies. To help them understand, he uses the example of a seed. He says that in the same way that we sow a seed, and the seed must die in order to become a plant, we, too, must die, these physical bodies of our must be sown in death, in order for us to receive our new bodies. He then tells them that while our bodies will be sown in corruption, dishonor, and weakness, they will be raised in incorruption, glory, and power. Our bodies will be sown as natural, earthly bodies, but raised as spiritual bodies. (verses 35-49)

Now, we are at verse 50. As you just saw, in the previous verses, Paul went into great detail telling the Corinthians that they need to die in order to receive their new bodies. And here, in verse 50, Paul makes the astonishing statement that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Verse 50 reads:

‘Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.’ (NKJV)

At this point, the Corinthians might be a little confused. Paul has just gone into great detail telling them that they need to die in order to receive their new, spiritual bodies, and that they need these new, spiritual bodies in order to inherit the kingdom. But what if they are still alive when Jesus returns to start His kingdom? Do they still have to die in order to receive their new bodies? Will they have to kill themselves in some sort of mass-suicide? Or will they just not be able to inherit the kingdom because they don’t have their new bodies?

Well, Paul knows that the Corinthians must be having those concerns, so he answers their concerns before they have a chance to worry too much, and, in verse 51, he says (to paraphrase), ‘But wait! You don’t all have to die! If you happen to be alive when Jesus returns to start His kingdom, you will suddenly, miraculously, in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, receive your new, spiritual bodies, too. You will not be left out. You will be able to inherit the kingdom because, without having to experience death, you will be changed and given your new body and able to inherit the kingdom of god alongside all those who have died before you.’ That is what he means in verses 51 and 52 when he says,

51. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall 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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (NKJV)

And that is why Paul wrote verses 51 and 52. He is reassuring the Corinthian church that, even if they are alive when Jesus returns to start his kingdom, that they, too, will receive their new bodies and will be able to inherit the kingdom.

So, the question becomes, when does the kingdom of God begin? Does the kingdom of God begin in heaven? Or, does it begin on earth? If Jesus were to come and remove the church and take us back to heaven to escape the Tribulation Period and live in heaven for seven years, is that the start of the kingdom of God? Or, does the kingdom of God begin when Jesus return to start his millennial reign on earth? Based on my forty years as a Christian, and years of listening to sermons and reading the Bible, I have always been told, and I believe, that the kingdom of God begins on earth. The kingdom of God begins when Jesus returns at the Second Coming to stop the anti-Christ, save the Jewish people, and establish his millennial reign on earth. The kingdom of God does not begin in heaven. It does not start with us going back to heaven to rest and praise God for seven years while the Tribulation Period plays out on earth. The kingdom begins on earth. And Paul make it very clear that the reason we need our new bodies is so that we can inherit the kingdom.

If we were just going back to heaven for a few years in order to escape the Tribulation Period, we would not need new bodies. If you recall, in Genesis 5, Enoch was taken to heaven by God. In verse 24, the Bible says,

‘And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.’ (NKJV)

Similarly, in 2 Kings 2, God took the prophet Elijah. Elijah had grown weary of this world and the sin among his people, and he had asked God to allow him to die (1 Kings 19). Well, God didn’t allow him to die, but He did take him away (2 Kings 2). Without having to experience death, God took Elijah away. And when God took Enoch and Elijah to live in heaven, neither one died, and neither received a new body. Both Enoch and Elijah went to heaven in their good old earthly bodies, and they have been living in heaven for the past several thousand years in their old, earthly, physical bodies, because you don’t need a new spiritual body to live in heaven.

In the same way, every Christian who has died believing in Jesus, and every Godly person who lived in the days of the Old Testament and died under the law, is living in heaven in their spirits. Their old, earthly bodies died and remain on earth, but their spirits have been reunited with God, and they’ve been living in heaven for, in some cases, thousands and thousands of years, because you don’t need a new body to live in heaven.

But Paul makes it clear that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. He makes it very clear that we do need new, spiritual, glorified, incorruptible bodies to inherit the kingdom. So, when does the kingdom of God begin? The kingdom of God begins on earth. It begins when Jesus returns at the Second Coming to defeat the anti-Christ, save the Jewish people, and establish His Millennial Reign on earth. That is why we need our new bodies. Not to live in heaven, but to live on earth, to inherit the kingdom of God that exists when Jesus reigns in His earthly, millennial kingdom.

And that is when the rapture happens. The rapture happens at the Second Coming. According to Paul, when Jesus returns at the Second Coming to start His kingdom, those who have died will rise with their new bodies and inherit the kingdom, and, if you are a Christian and you happen to be alive when Jesus returns, then you, too, will receive your new body. Without experiencing death, you will be miraculously, supernaturally changed, and you will receive your new body, as well, and you, too, will get to inherit the kingdom.

That is what Paul is telling the church at Corinth. That is why he wrote 1 Corinthians 15:51 and 52. The rapture is not our escape. It’s not our escape from seven years of tribulation. It’s not a time when Jesus comes to get us and take us back to live in heaven for a few years. The rapture is our Participation. It is what allows us living Christians to claim our inheritance and participate in the kingdom of God as heirs. Without the rapture, Christians who are alive at the time of Christ’s return would be left out. Since they never died, they wouldn’t have new bodies, so they wouldn’t get to inherit the kingdom. But with the rapture, by God allowing us to miraculously receive our new bodies without having to experience death, we get to claim our inheritance.

That’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed today’s message. See you next time!

Julie J

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Welcome back to All About the Rapture. Today, we are going to continue our look at the pre-Tribulation rapture and examine another passage that pre-Tribulationists say supports a pre-Tribulation rapture. The passage is Revelation 4:1-2. Let’s get started!

In Revelation 4:1-2, the Apostle John writes:

1. 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.”

2. Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. (NKJV)

Pre-Tribulationists claim that this shows the pre-Tribulation rapture. They claim that the Apostle John represents the church, and when Jesus call for him to “Come up here”, that represents Jesus calling the church at the rapture. They believe that, according to the book of Revelation, the Tribulation Period begins immediately after this event, so this passage is showing that the rapture happens immediately before the Tribulation Period begins.

But that is not what’s happening in this passage. This passage is not talking about the rapture. In this passage, Jesus is simply calling John to heaven to receive a vision. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, the Apostle Paul gives us a very clear account of the rapture. He writes:

16. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

17. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (NKJV)

As you can see, in verse 17, Paul clearly says that at the rapture we meet the Lord in the air. In John’s experience in Revelation 4:1-2, he does not meet the Lord in the air. In John’s experience, he hears Jesus – His voice like a trumpet – call out, “Come up here”, and then John is instantly in the throne room. That is not the rapture. At the rapture, we meet the Lord in the air. If this passage were to symbolize the rapture, then it must show John meeting Jesus in the air. But it doesn’t. And that is a discrepancy you can’t overlook. Meeting Jesus in the air is the defining detail of the rapture. It’s what makes the rapture the rapture: Jesus calls to us, and we meet him in the air. If we don’t meet him in the air, then it’s not the rapture. John does not meet Jesus in the air, so John does not symbolize the church and this passage does not symbolize the rapture.

Now that we’ve seen that this passage does not represent the rapture, let’s look at what this passage does show. This passage is significant because it shows the place that Jesus prepared for us. In the old testament, under the law, we were separated from God by sin. We needed sacrifices and priests to try to bridge the gap between us and God, and even though it kind of worked, it really didn’t do a good job because we were still in a constant state of separation.

When Jesus died on the cross, he prepared a new place for us in God. He became our sin, became the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf and reconciled us to God. When he died, the Bible says that the veil in the earthly Jewish temple was torn in two from top to bottom (please read Matthew 27:50-53, Mark 15:33-38, and Luke 23:44-48). In the temple, the veil separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was the most sacred part of the temple. It was so sacred that virtually no one was allowed to go inside. The high priest was the only one who could enter in, and even he was only allowed to enter in once a year to make atonement for the people of Israel. So when Jesus died and the veil was torn in two, that meant that the divide that separated people from God had been removed. And it represented what had happened in the Spirit, which is that we now have access to God. Jesus has prepared a new place for us in God, and through Jesus’ sacrifice, we now have access to the very throne room of God. In Revelation 4:1-2, when Jesus calls out to John to “Come up here”, and then John in instantly in the throne room, that is showing the new relationship we now have with God and the direct access to the throne that we now have.

In order to fully understand the significance of Revelation 4:1-2, we must look at the Old Testament book of Daniel. As you may recall, in the book of Daniel, Daniel (like the Apostle John) received information from God about the end times. Both Daniel and John had visions of the end times, and both had angels explain the meaning of the visions to them.

But the difference between Daniel’s experiences and John’s experience is that Daniel stayed on earth as he had his visions and angelic encounters, while John was called up to heaven to receive his. John was called up directly to the throne room of God because of the access that Jesus’ death provided. In the Old Testament, Jesus had not yet died, so we were separated from God. But because of Jesus’ death, we have been reconciled to God, so we now have access to God, access to the throne room.

On a similar note, in the Old Testament book of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah had a vision of the heavenly throne. Isaiah 6:1-4 says:

1. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.

2. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

3. And one cried to another and said: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

4. And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. (NKJV)

Like Daniel, when Isaiah had his vision, he had it while he was still on earth. From earth, he looked up and saw the Lord seated on His throne. By contrast, when John had his vision, he was called up directly to the throne room to receive it.

In another similar event, in the book of Ezekiel, the prophet Ezekiel had a vision of the throne. I encourage you to read the entire chapter, but here are the relevant excerpts from Ezekiel 1:1-28 that describe his experience:

1. Now it came to pass…as I was among the captives by the River Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.

26. And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it.

27. Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around.

28. Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. (NKJV)

Like Isaiah, when Ezekiel had his vision of the throne, he had it while still on earth. He looked up, the heavens were opened, and he saw God and the throne. He was not called up to heaven to see it, he only saw it from afar because Jesus had not yet died and given him access to the throne room. He could look at, but he could not experience it the way that John could. John was called up to heaven by Jesus, called directly to the throne room, because of Jesus’ sacrifice at the cross.

When Jesus died, He created a new place for us with God. John was allowed not only to see the throne, but to enter into the throne room because of the access that Jesus’ death provided. The direct access to the throne room is what set his experience apart from Daniel’s, and Isaiah’s, and Ezekiel’s, and that is the significance of Revelation 4:1-2. Revelation 4:1-2 is not talking about the rapture. It is not symbolizing a time in the future when Jesus calls the church up to heaven to escape the Tribulation Period and live in mansions. Revelation 4:1-2 shows us the place that Jesus prepared for us by dying, the new relationship that we can now have with God, and the direct access to God and the throne room that we have been given.

That’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed today’s message. See you next time!

Julie J

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Welcome back to All About the Rapture. Today, we’re going to talk about John 14:2-3. John 14:2-3 is one of the primary passages that pre-Tribulationists use as evidence of a pre-Tribulation rapture. Let’s get right to it.

In John 14:2-3, Jesus says to His disciples:

2. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

3. And 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. (NKJV)

Pre-Tribulationists claim that, in this passage, Jesus is talking about a pre-Tribulation rapture. They claim that He is saying that He is about to go back to heaven to literally build houses for us, and that He will be back someday to gather the church and take them back to heaven to live in those houses and be with Him. Pre-Tribulationists say that, in their opinion, through their study of bible prophecy, the only time that this could happen is immediately before the Tribulation Period begins. Therefore, Jesus is talking about a pre-Tribulation rapture.

But that is not what this passage is saying. This passage has nothing to do with the end times and nothing to do with the rapture. Instead, Jesus is taking about his impending death and resurrection. He is telling the disciples that He is about to die, but that in dying and being resurrected, He is creating a place for them in God.

To understand this, to understand why Jesus said what He said, we need to understand what is going on in Jesus’ life and what is about to happen to Him. This speech is given to the disciples at the Last Supper. John’s account of the Last Supper is very detailed. It begins in chapter 13 and goes through chapter 17. The Last Supper was a very important, critical time in Jesus’ life. At the Last Supper, Jesus is saying goodbye to His disciples. He knows that He is about to die and leave them. He knows that at the conclusion of the Last Supper, they will get up and go to the Garden of Gethsemane, where He will be confronted and arrested by the Jews, put on trial, and put to death. He knows that this time at the Last Supper is the last time He will be alone with His disciples before He will be put to death. He also knows that at that exact time, as He is spending His final moments with His disciples at the Last Supper, that Judas is out making the final arrangements to betray Him. At the exact time that Jesus was talking to His disciples, Judas was out conspiring with the Jewish religious leaders to capture Jesus and have Him killed.

Jesus was fully God and fully human, and here, at the Last Supper, as being fully God, He was fully aware of everything that Judas was doing and everything that was about to happen to Him. And being fully human, He was fully immersed in the human experience and experiencing the full emotional weight of knowing what was happening. And He was fully present in the moment with His disciples, of saying goodbye. And yet, despite all He was experiencing, He was so full of love for His disciples, and so concerned for their emotional and spiritual well-being, that here, in this passage of John 14:2-3, He was subtly and prophetically warning them about what was about to happen, that He was about to be put to death, but not to worry because He would be resurrected, and that through the process of dying and being resurrected, He was preparing for them a new place in God. He then reassures them, telling them that even though they don’t quite understand what He is saying, it will all make sense soon. In addition to that, He also tells them that He will soon be going back to heaven, and He gives them a new commandment that they are to love each other. He tells them that they are no longer His servants but are now His friends, tells them about the Holy Spirit and that they will soon be able to receive the Holy Spirit, and encourages them to be strong and to believe in God and in Himself. This is a very intimate, personal conversation that Jesus is having with His disciples. He is fully in the moment of saying goodbye to them and letting them know how much He loves them and that everything will be okay. And He is experiencing everything a human being would be experiencing in a moment like this. So to say that in this Last Supper conversation, that Jesus takes a moment to talk about the end times, and drop a little Easter Egg for us to find about a time in the future when He is coming to rescue the church and keep her safe during a time of great tribulation on earth, is completely wrong. Jesus is fully immersed not only in His moment of saying goodbye, but in His knowledge of everything that Judas is doing and everything that is about to happen to Him.

For the pre-Tribulation rapture interpretation of this passage to be correct, then in this moment, Jesus is not even talking to His disciples because a pre-Tribulation rapture does not apply to them. Right now, in the year 2024, His disciples have been dead for nearly 2,000 years. Christians believe that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, which is to say that when we die, our bodies are left behind on Earth and our spirits go back to heaven. This means that the disciples have been with Jesus in heaven for the past 2,000 years. Words of a pre-Tribulation rapture don’t apply to them. If this passage is talking about a pre-Tribulation rapture, then Jesus is simply using the moment not to speak to His disciples, but merely to speak aloud, knowing that His words will be recorded and read by Christians thousand of years in the future, and eventually by a group of Christians to whom His words will apply. And that is ridiculous! Jesus is fully immersed in the moment of knowing that He is about to be captured and killed. He is fully in the moment of expressing His love to His disciples and of saying goodbye. He knows that they have no idea what is about to happen to Him, and what a shock it will be, that it will cause them to lose faith, so He is using this time to prophetically, subtly tell them that He is about to die, but that He will be back, that is to say, He will be resurrected, so that after it happens, they will look back on His words and realize that He gave them a warning and was letting them know that it would be all be ok. Any interpretation of this passage that requires us to believe that Jesus is not talking to His disciples but, rather, taking a moment to prophetically speak to a church that will exist at least two thousand years in the future, is not the correct interpretation of this passage. This passage has nothing to do with the rapture or the end-times.

To recap, Jesus’ love of His disciples is what led Him to say what He said. He knew that He was about to leave, to die, and He wanted them to know that it was ok, that it was all part of the plan, and that everything was ok. He was letting them know that, through His death and resurrection, he was reuniting them with God, that He was creating a place for them in God, giving them access to a relationship with God that was impossible under the Law. The Law kept us apart from God, but Jesus’ death and resurrection created a place for us in God, and that is what Jesus is subtly, prophetically telling His disciples in verses 2 and 3. As the chapter goes on, and as the next few chapters continue, Jesus does also subtly, prophetically tell them that He will soon ascend to God and return to heaven, and He gives the disciples the new command that they are to love one another, and tells them that the Holy Spirit will be sent to them, and tells them a host of other things, but in verses 2 and 3, He is speaking of His impending death and resurrection. 

That’s all for today. I’d like to encourage you to go to the Gospels and read each account of the Last Supper and the events that led to the Crucifixion. John’s account of the Last Supper is by far the most detailed, containing three whole chapters of dialogue, but the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke contain some additional information, as well. Also, it’s very important to understand what Jesus went through after the Last Supper, from the events in the Garden of Gethsemane through His trial and Crucifixion. I won’t tell you exactly where to start reading in each Gospel, but if you turn to the last part of each book, you can figure out where to start and where to stop. The more information you have on what Jesus was going through at the Last Supper, and what He went through afterward, the more you will be able to understand what He meant when He was talking to His disciples and told them “In My Father’s house are many mansions…”. (NKJV)

Thank you for joining me. I hope you enjoyed today’s post. See you next time!

Julie J

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 

Welcome back to All About the Rapture! Today we are going to look at the rapture in a different way, by looking at imagery of the Second Coming. As you will see, clouds are important imagery of the Second Coming. When Jesus describes His return in Matthew 24:30-31, Mark 13:26-27, Mark 14:62, and Luke 21:27, He says that He will be coming in the clouds. When the Apostle John describes Jesus’ return in Revelation 1:4, he says that Jesus will be coming in the clouds. Clouds are not only consistent, but defining imagery of the Second Coming. Let’s look at the aforementioned verses.

Matthew 24:30-31 (spoken by Jesus)

30. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

31. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (NKJV)

Mark 13:26-27 (spoken by Jesus)

26. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

27. And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven. (NKJV)

Mark 14:62 (spoken by Jesus)

And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. (NKJV)

Luke 21:27 (spoken by Jesus)

Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. (NKJV)

Revelation 1:7 (written by the Apostle John)

Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. (NKJV)

Now, let’s look at Paul’s description of the rapture as found in 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17.

14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep 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 by no means precede those who are asleep.

16. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

17. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (NKJV)

Clouds are the defining imagery of the Second Coming. Both Jesus and John clearly tell us that when Jesus returns at the Second Coming, He will be coming in the clouds. When Paul writes and tells us that, at the rapture, we will be “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (NKJV), he knows exactly what he is doing: he is describing the Second Coming. He’s not just using random imagery or just painting a nice word-picture of a pretty sky filled with pretty clouds. He is talking about the Second Coming. He is saying that the rapture is part of the Second Coming.

In addition, clouds symbolize power, strength, triumph, victory. When Paul says that we are “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (NKJV), he is describing our victory, our triumph. The rapture is not our escape. It is not a time when Jesus comes to get us and take us back to heaven where we rest for seven years while the Tribulation Period plays out on earth. The rapture is our Participation. It is our moment of victory. By being caught up in the clouds and meeting Him in the air, we are not only experiencing our victory, but we are sharing in His.

That’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed today’s topic. Next time, we will continue looking at Biblical support for a post-Tribulation rapture. See you then!

Julie J

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 

Welcome back to All About the Rapture. This is The Rapture and the Second Coming, Part 2. In The Rapture and the Second Coming, Part 1, we looked at Jesus’ description of the Second Coming as found in Matthew 24:30-31 and Mark 13:26-27 and compared it to Paul’s description of the rapture as found in 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17. We noted their similarities, how they each showed a scene of Jesus coming in the clouds, a trumpet being sounded, and God’s people being gathered together. To the post-Tribulationist, the similarities mean that the passages are describing the same event. Since it is clear the Jesus is describing the Second Coming, that means that Paul is also describing the Second Coming, which means that the rapture will happen at the Second Coming.

Today, we will be looking at the pre-Tribulation response to that assessment, because while pre-Tribulationists agree that the passages are very similar, they do not believe that they are describing the same event. They still believe that the rapture and the Second Coming are two separate events, with the rapture happening before the Tribulation Period begins and the Second Coming happening as the tribulation period ends. Let’s get started!

To understand why pre-tribulationists believe as they do, we need to understand the origin of the pre-tribulation belief. The pre-tribulation belief is not based on an actual verse. There is no specific verse in the Bible that says that the rapture and the Second Coming are two separate events, or that the rapture happens before the tribulation period begins. There is no verse that says that Christians will not be on earth during the tribulation period. There is no verse that says that, at the rapture, Christians will be removed from earth and taken back to heaven. There is no verse that says anything like that.

Instead of being based on a verse, the pre-tribulation belief is based on a principle. It is based on the principle that God will not destroy the righteous along with the wicked. The principle shows that when it comes time for God to deal with the wicked and to destroy them, He will not do so as long as the righteous are there among them. Furthermore, the principle shows that before He destroys the wicked, He will remove the righteous from harm’s way.

The principle is shown in the Old Testament story of Noah and the great flood. In Genesis 6, we see that before God judged and destroyed the wicked by sending a great flood, He removed righteous Noah and his family from harm’s way by placing them inside a giant ark. As the rains came down and the waters rose and the wicked were destroyed by the flood, Noah and his family remained safe inside the ark.

Pre-tribulationists look at this story, see the principle, and apply it to the end-times. They know that, in the end-times, God will destroy the wicked. They know that, according to the principle, God will remove the righteous before He destroys the wicked. They believe that the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and the Tribulation Period, is the time when God deals with the wicked. They believe that it is the time when the wicked, unsaved world will have to go through tremendous hardship and suffering, and that they will ultimately be destroyed, because they did not accept Jesus as their savior. Therefore, pre-tribulationists don’t think that Christians will be around for that. They believe that God will remove us from harm’s way before any of that starts to happen. Specifically, they believe that God will remove us from the earth before any of that starts to happen. And not only that, but that He will take us back to heaven while the tribulation period unfolds on earth.

As a result, when they read Jesus’ description of the second coming in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, which is that He will one day appear in the sky, a trumpet will sound, and his people will be gathered together, and then they read Paul’s writing in 1 Thessalonians that, one day, Jesus will appear in the sky, a trumpet will sound, and the dead in Christ and the living church will rise to meet him in the air, despite their overwhelming similarities, they do not think that these passages are talking about the same event. Based on the principle that God will remove the righteous before He destroys the wicked, they think that Paul must be writing about a separate time, a time when they assume that Jesus is coming not only to gather all Christians together, but to remove them from the earth and take them back to heaven where they will safely remain until the Tribulation Period is over and the wicked are destroyed.

So, that is how pre-Tribulatonists interpret Matthew 24, Mark 13, and 1 Thessalonians 4 and why they do not believe that Jesus and Paul are describing the same event. But they are wrong, because even though they are using a valid principle that God will not destroy the wicked until the righteous are removed, they are misapplying it. They are assuming that the tribulation period is the time when God deals with the wicked and destroys them, and therefore Christians will be removed from the earth before the Tribulation Period begins. But the Tribulation Period is not the time when the wicked are destroyed. While may terrible things happen during the Tribulation Period, and there is much suffering and hardship, it is not the time when God is destroying the wicked. It is not a prolonged, seven year period when God slowly and systematically destroys them. It is simply a time of great tribulation. The tribulation fall upon the world, on the good and bad alike. Of course, there are times when the suffering is focused on the unsaved, but Christians will still be on earth while it is happening. And God is more that capable of focusing suffering on the unsaved while protecting his people.

As for the destruction of the wicked, the wicked are only destroyed when Jesus returns at His Second Coming. And even then, it’s not the entire unsaved population that is destroyed, it is only the anti-Christ and those who have accepted the mark of the beast. Therefore, the principle that God will remove the righteous before He destroys the wicked shows that Jesus will only remove us right before he defeats the anti-Christ and his followers, and everyone agrees that that happens at the very end of the Tribulation Period, at the Second Coming, not before, which makes it a post-Tribulation rapture.

So those are the ideas behind the interpretations of Mark 13, Matthew 24, and 1 Thessalonians 4. That’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed today’s post. See you next time!

Julie J

Welcome back to All About the Rapture! If this is your first time visiting this site, I’d like to encourage you to go back and read my first post. In it, you’ll find a quick review of basic end-time Bible prophecy, a definition of the rapture, the pre-Tribulation rapture view, and the post-Tribulation rapture view.

Today, we are going to look at the post-Tribulation rapture belief. As I mentioned in the previous post, I am a post-Tribulationist. I was raised in a church that taught the pre-Tribulation rapture, but it never quite made sense. As an adult, I did my own study on the issue to try to tie up some loose ends only to find that the Bible actually seems to teach that the rapture will happen at the end of the Tribulation Period, at the Second Coming. I’ve created this website to share with you what I found.

As we discussed last time, there are two main theories regarding the rapture: the pre-Tribulation theory and the post-Tribulation theory. The pre-Tribulation theory teaches that the rapture and the Second Coming are two separate events, that the rapture happens before the Tribulation Period begins, and the second coming happens seven years later, at the end of the Tribulation Period. The post-Tribulation theory says that the rapture and the Second Coming happen at the same time, that instead of being a separate event, the rapture is part of the Second Coming. The reason post-Tribulations believe this is quite simple. They believe this because the Biblical descriptions of the Second Coming and the rapture are very similar. They are so similar, in fact, that post-Tribulationists believe that they are the same event. Now let’s look at what the Bible teaches about the Second Coming and compare it to what it teaches about the rapture and see how similar they are.

There are many passages in the Bible that deal with the Second Coming. Today, we will focus on Matthew 24:30-31 and Mark 13:26-27. In these passages, Jesus Himself is talking to His disciples and describing His return.

In Matthew 24:30-31 (NKJV), He says:

30. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

31. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

In Mark 13:26-27 (NKJV), Jesus says:

26. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

27. And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.

These passages clearly show that, at the Second Coming, Jesus will come in the clouds, the tribes of the earth (those who are not His people) will mourn, and, at the sounding of a trumpet, His people will be gathered together. That is the basic description of the Second Coming.

Now let’s compare it to the rapture. As we learned last time, the rapture is the event where Jesus calls the living church together and they meet Him in the air. According to 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, at the rapture, Jesus will appear in the sky, there will be the sounding of a trumpet, the dead in Christ will rise and meet Jesus in the air first, and then the living church will be caught up (aka, raptured) in the clouds and meet Jesus in the air, as well. The passage reads:

16. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

17. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (NKJV)

As you can see, Paul’s description of the rapture is nearly identical to Jesus’ description of the Second Coming. Slightly different words are used, but the idea is the same. Both foretell a time when Jesus will appear in the clouds, a trumpet will sound, and God’s people will be gathered together. To the post-Tribulationist, the fact that these passages are so similar means that they are talking about the same event. Since it is an undisputed, absolute fact that Jesus is talking about the Second Coming, that means that Paul is talking about the Second Coming, too, which means that the rapture is not a separate event, but that it is part of the Second Coming. And since the Second Coming happens at the end of the Tribulation Period, that means that the rapture happens at the end of the Tribulation Period, making it a post-Tribulation rapture.

So, that is the post-Tribulation view. It is simple and straightforward. Of course, there’s more to it than that, and we will examine the other reasons for their belief in the months to come, but the similarities between Jesus’ description of the Second Coming and Paul’s description of the rapture are a very important, fundamental part of why post-Tribulationists believe as they do. And again, I want to state that it is the concept of the aforementioned passages that is important. Please don’t get confused because Jesus’ words and Paul’s words are not an exact match. They don’t have to be. They are conceptually the same, each telling of a time when Jesus will appear in the sky, a trumpet will sound, and God’s people will be gathered together. The concepts match, and the information given is enough to show that they are describing the same event.

That’s all for this month! Next time, we will examine the pre-Tribulationist opinion regarding this issue, because while pre-Tribulationists agree that Matthew 24, Mark 13, and 1 Thessalonians 4 are, indeed, similar, they do not believe that they are describing the same event. I hope you enjoyed today’s post. Thanks for reading!

Julie J

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.