7. QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS
If there were not some difficult questions that the Scriptures themselves raise regarding this matter, fewer people would give this theory the nod. We prayerfully submit the following explanations of passages that seem to point toward pre-tribulationism.
1. Revelation 3:10, ¡§Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.¡¨ Question: Isn¡¦t it God¡¦s will to remove His Church from trials?
I have dealt with this passage in a Revelation study, and offer that explanation here:
(Revelation 3:10) There is no direct evidence anywhere in Scripture for a pre-tribulation rapture. But passages like 3:10 are used as indirect proof. Here the ¡§hour of trial¡¨ is called the Great Tribulation, the Philadelphia Church becomes the end-time church in the church-age theory, and the faithful are thus promised they will not have to go through this Tribulation because, it is further assumed, they will be here ¡§caught up¡¨ before that time comes.
Problems with that view: 1. Can we prove that the ¡§hour of trial¡¨ is the full three and one half years? Could it not just as easily be the terrible day of His coming ? Then indeed the saved will be caught up to be with Jesus. 2. To make Philadelphia the end-time church is to make Laodicea the church of the Tribulation, a group of ¡§losers¡¨ who suddenly turn into martyrs for the cause of Christ. 3. Is it not possible that this message is indeed given to a church known in the days of John, and that the promise was kept? Did not Philadelphia escape the last times altogether? 4. Are there not churches in every generation who can claim this promise of escaping the judgment of God if they are faithful? 5. Is it not possible at the very least, that God is able to keep His People from harm in the midst of judgment? Were either Noah or Lot removed from the earth? Do not the 144,000 escape Satan¡¦s plan? When the bowl judgments fall, is it not stated explicitly who is being targeted? Other than persecutions allowed, are God¡¦s people ever harmed when God is pouring wrath on His enemies? It is not proper to make the promise given to an individual church in Asia some generalized promise for all churches of all time. Schwertley says, "The church of Smyrna is told that they ¡¥will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful unto death.¡¦ (Rev.2:10) They are not promised protection from the coming time of tribulation.¡¨ To make the behavior of a particular church in Asia Minor universal in its application ¡§is to render the commendation to the Philadelphians meaningless.¡¨
Also, Jesus indicates strongly here that the time is about to happen. This is not talking about an end-time scenario, but the persecution of their own time, the difficult political situations of their own day. And the Philadelphian church was not ¡§beamed out of the Roman Empire¡¨ but kept from the evil of the days, as Noah and Lot in their generations. Was it not Jesus who said to the Father, ¡§I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.¡¨ That¡¦s how it works: in the world, but kept from evil. That is what Philadelphia is no doubt being promised.
2. Revelation 4:1, ¡§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.¡¨ Question: Isn¡¦t John¡¦s ¡§rapture¡¨ here meant to indicate that the church is lifted out of the world before any talk of tribulation in the book? Is it not true that the church is not mentioned again after this?
Again, I have dealt with this issue in the Scroll of Revelation:
¡§(Revelation 4:1) Come up hither. Oh the strange work that popular ¡¥theologians¡¦ have done with chapter 4 , verse 1. In this simple passage, John is addressed by Jesus, and told to come up to heaven for further revelations. Incredible to me is the notion that here, Jesus is actually calling His entire Church to Heaven! The statement is made by believers in this interpretation, pre-tribulation rapturists all, that , from this point on, the Church is ¡¥absent¡¦ in the book of Revelation! And when it is pointed out in several places that believers are indeed on earth, the response is made that these believers are really not the ¡¥Church¡¦ , but ¡¥tribulation¡¦ saints, whatever that means. A conclusion is made, and facts to the contrary are explained away. This is not good exegesis, to say the least!
¡§Evidence. For those who desire to look at it, the evidence for the Church being in the book of Revelation after chapter 4 is strong:
¡§1. Definition. First, we assume that by ¡¥Church¡¦ we mean the ¡¥saints¡¦, or as in Daniel, ¡¥holy ones¡¦, a term used over 40 times by New testament writers to refer to the Body of Christ, the people of God. We also assume we are talking about a people who have been promised by Jesus, Paul, and Peter a life of persecution often ending in martyrdom .
¡§2. Passages that don¡¦t say ¡¥Church¡¦ but are Church:
5:8, The worshipers in Heaven pour out before God prayers from the saints.
6:10-11, Martyrs are here received to God and told that their fellow-martyrs will soon join them. They have been slain for the Word of God and their testimony.
7: 13 ff, The same believers referred to in chapter 6 are now standing before the Throne, having come out of the Great Tribulation by means of martyrdom.
8:4, The prayers of the saints are now seen as incense.
12:11, The same saints as in 6 and 7 are seen in a flashback in the context of the Beast who persecuted them.
12:17, Those who keep the commandments of God, as brother John loved to talk about in his writings (John 12:49-50, 13:34, 14:15,21,31, 15:1-12, I John 2:3-8, 3:22-24, 4:21, 5:3-6, II John 4-6) and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, are distinguished here from the persecuted Israelites who are in the process of being hidden and sealed, and therefore unreachable by antichrist. He now vents his fury on the only ¡¥saints¡¦ left, the Church.
13:7, As in Daniel 7, the man of sin is seen here being given the authority to conquer the saints. He overcomes their body, and they overcome him by going straight to Jesus.
14:6, The everlasting Gospel is being preached all over the world. I wonder who does this job? A company of angels? The 144,000? Why not the same group that has always preached it?
14:13, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. To die in the Lord is to be a member of Christ. Members of Christ are the Church.
15:1-4, Singing the song of Moses and the Lamb, those who died in the Lord, those who seemingly were conquered by antichrist, now are around the Throne.
16:15, In the worst of the worst hours comes a message from Heaven: I am coming. Keep your garments clean! Who is He talking to, if not the Church?
18:4, Also in the midst of devastation, God¡¦s people are called out, but not up, first. Who are they? The Church!¡¨
Schwertley adds these powerful words: ¡§The argument from silence consistently applied would not prove the rapture of the saints but the annihilation of the saints, for not only is the word church (ekklesia) not used of the saints on earth in chapters 4 through 18, it also is never used of the saints in heaven. Does this mean that all the saints have vacated heaven¡K? The word church does not even occur in the book of Revelation until Revelation 22:16. Does this mean the church is not involved in the second coming, the resurrection or white throne judgment?...An argument that proves too much is worthless.¡¨
Further, he states that this argument [from silence] could also be used to prove many dangerous and heretical doctrines. ¡§In the book of Esther the words for God and Jehovah do not occur even once. Does this fact mean that God does not exist¡K?¡¨
3. II Thessalonians 2:6-8. ¡§And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time...he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed¡K¡¨ Question: Since the restrainer is the Holy Ghost, does not His removal from the earth mean that the Church is lifted up just as antichrist takes power?¡¨
Jumping at conclusions is not as good exercise as digging for facts. I cannot prove to you that I have dug enough, but please consider the following from one who has wanted with all his heart to know what God has said.
In Scripture, angels are the ¡§restrainers.¡¨ Do you see the angel of the Lord stopping Balaam¡¦s donkey, Numbers 22:23-24? Look at the curse on David being administered by an angel to whom God eventually says ¡§Restrain your hand.¡¨ Consider Daniel who reported that an angel shut the lion¡¦s mouth, Daniel 6:22. Consider also in that same book the restraining of the nations by Michael and Gabriel, Daniel 10:20-21. More to the point of our present study, examine Revelation 9:1-2 and see who is in charge of the bottomless pit, out of which antichrist will rise, Revelation 17:8. Is it not an angel? Does he not have authority to lock and unlock the ¡§pit¡¨? When he is taken out of the way, from this pit will come the man of whom Paul speaks.
Now if the Holy Ghost is not the restrainer, two points follow:
1. There is no need for a rapture at this time.
2. There is no need to explain how people can be ¡§saved during the Tribulation without the Holy Spirit,¡¨ as pre-trib theologians must do if they insist that God essentially leaves the planet. He¡¦ll be here doing the work He always does until the last man avails himself of the blood of Christ.
4. I Thessalonians 5:9, ¡§For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.¡¨ Question: Since the tribulation is the wrath of God upon unbelievers, how can the church be present?
Let me ask you in return a more difficult question from the pre-tribulation perspective: If people can indeed be saved during the Tribulation, as most who teach this theory believe, since they see saints all over the Book of Revelation, why are the saints not raptured out of the world immediately upon their salvation, since the same wrath will be falling all around? Are these new believers a separate category of saints?
To put a possible end to the dilemma of both questions, let us call upon brothers Bethel and Schwertley once more:
From Bethel, quoted above, ¡§ What is the wrath to which we are not appointed? And, can saints go through the Great Tribulation without suffering the wrath of God, as did the Old Testament saints in Egypt when God sent His plagues because of Pharaoh? ¡K¡¨
The first question, regarding the nature of the wrath, needs a careful answer. For the wrath of God is indeed poured out during the three and one half years called the ¡§Tribulation.¡¨ During these times, believers will be separated from unbelievers, as they were in Egypt. Nevertheless there will be other forms of death for believers, and as Bethel says,
¡§Tribulation and persecution is not the wrath of God...persecution and martyrdom is the New Testament norm.¡¨ He adds that, ultimately, ¡§ The wrath of God that Christians will be kept from is the wrath of the last day and, of course, the wrath of the Lake of Fire.¡¨ It is clear at the end of the Book that believers are indeed caught up before Jesus pours out His vengeance on all His enemies (19:11-21). There is definitely no one called saint on the planet at that moment.
Bethel continues, ¡§Even a casual reading of the Scriptures will reveal that God takes His people through tribulation rather than delivering them from it.[ He cites Noah, the three Hebrew boys, and Daniel as examples of this.] [In addition] Like the Old Testament saints listed among the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11 and all the Apostles who were martyred except John¡K God sometimes lets His saints suffer and die for His glory.
¡§Beloved, let no man deceive you. The saints will go through the tribulation depicted in the Revelation. The antichrist will be given power ¡¥to make war with the saints, and to overcome them¡¦ (Rev. 13:7). The prophet Daniel wrote concerning the antichrist, ¡¥He will speak against the Most High and oppress His saints...The saints will be handed over to him for [three and a half years]...He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people¡¦ (Dan. 7:25, 8:24). Christians who are compromisers before the Great Tribulation are not going to be overcomers through it.¡¨
Schwertley, analyzes the Revelation passages that show how God¡¦s people are kept from the wrath before the ultimate wrath during this Tribulation time:
¡§God¡¦s people are protected from His wrath during the tribulation. In Revelation 6:16 it is the heathen that ask the mountains and rocks to protect them from the wrath of the Lamb, a wrath that falls as a response to the prayers of persecuted and martyred saints (Rev. 6:9-11). After the fifth trumpet is sounded, the locusts of destruction are ordered by God only to harm ¡¥those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads¡¦ (Rev. 9:4). God¡¦s saints are specifically protected from harm. In Revelation 9:20-21 we are told that these plagues were directed to wicked men. Revelation 14:9-10 says that those who are to experience God¡¦s wrath and undiluted indignation are those who receive the mark of the beast and his image. This obviously excluded Christians. Revelation 16:1-2 says that God¡¦s wrath (the first bowl) is only to be poured out on the worshipers of the beast, who have his mark. Once again believers are excluded. In 16:9 and 11 those who receive God¡¦s plagues are identified as blasphemers who refuse to repent. A careful reading of Revelation demonstrates that although God¡¦s people experience persecution, death, and harm at the hands of wicked men they are carefully and lovingly excluded from every act of God¡¦s wrath¡K¡¨
5. Luke 21:36, ¡§Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.¡¨ Question: Does not Jesus here imply that there is an escape from the Tribulation, and that we ought in fact to seek it?
In the light of all that we have learned so far, the explanation of this verse becomes relatively easy. Let¡¦s try to determine first what ¡§these things¡¨ are that Jesus is talking about. In the chapter, a parallel to Matthew 24, he has spoken of days of vengeance, distress, wrath, falling by the edge of the sword, signs in the heavens, men¡¦s hearts failing them, the coming of Jesus Himself, carousing, drunkenness, cares of this life, the snare of His return.
What are the ¡§things¡¨ we should watch for and pray to escape? Why, the fate of this world¡¦s evil men! The judgment of God on sin! And how is it that we will ¡§stand before the Son of Man?¡¨ First, our salvation, then, the rapture! Before this touching down to earth, before the ultimate wrath falls, before He annihilates His enemies, He will catch us up to meet Him in the air.
SUMMARY
Regarding the rapture...
„± It was not meant to be an escape from the cross of Christ to which all are called; it is rather the blessed hope of those who carry that cross to the very end.
„± It was not intended to create a division of the saints whereby some are feasting in Heaven while others suffer on earth. There is one church. The members of Christ will receive their bodies in one final resurrection of life.
„± It is not a secret appearing ; rather, the most public act of all human history.
„± It does not herald the evacuation of the Spirit of God ; it precedes the entrance of the Son of God and His Kingdom to Planet earth.
and...
„± Saying the rapture comes after the Tribulation is in line with the historic as well as the Scriptural accounting. The pre-tribulation rapture theory is a modern invention with but scanty evidence before the 18th century.
„± Proof that the rapture is ¡§post¡¨ is from Biblical statements. "Proof" that it is ¡§Pre¡¨ is from logic.
„± There are absolutely no distinctions between the rapture of the saints and the revelation of Christ: these are two aspects of the same event!
therefore:
„± We should be looking for His coming and praying for it according to the will of God, even though we understand that other things must come first.
„± We should be prepared to meet Him at a moment¡¦s notice, as He can come to us by our death today.
„± We should live in hope, not in fear, for we know His wrath is not intended for us.
„± We should have the mind of Christ in us to suffer as He did, without complaining, and in fact with rejoicing as the apostles showed us. We should begin to buffet our bodies, and tighten our belts now, so that we will be ready to endure what must come.
„± We must share the truth of this matter with other brothers in the Lord, who truly believe they will be exempted from the suffering of that day.
