Question / Comment - A Pre-Tribulation Rapture? |
I would be very
appreciative if you could provide me with one verse or passage of Scripture
which states that Jesus will come back for the Church before the Great
Tribulation. The reason I ask is that one day the Lord said to me, "I never said
I would return before the Great Tribulation." So far I have been unable to find
such a verse or word from God. I believe this is extremely important in light of
Jeremiah 23:15-31 and Ezekiel 13. |
JPN Reply: There are many reasons why I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture and reject a post-tribulation scenario. If I was going to use just one verse off the top of my head I would use 1 Thess 1:8-10. "The Lord’s message rang out from
you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become
known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us.
They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and
true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from
the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath." The things John had just seen is the
vision of Jesus in Rev 1:12-16 To my mind it makes sense that the bride of Christ, having gone to the wedding ceremony, would then return with Jesus 'clothed in fine linen, white and pure.' (Compare the description of the bride in Rev 19:8 with those that follow Jesus out of Heaven in Rev 19:14). A pre-tribulation rapture also makes sense in my mind with Jesus' illustration of His coming being like it was in the days of Noah. He says that in those days people were eating, drinking, getting married... ie carrying on with normal life having no idea that judgment was coming. This makes perfect sense in relation to a pre-tribulation rapture, but makes no sense that I can see with a post tribulation rapture where the earth has experienced all the judgment spoken of in Revelation and life will be anything but like normal! It also makes sense in my
mind why Jesus promised to come and take us back to His home (John 14:1-3 in
fulfilment of the Jewish marriage type... in a post tribulation rapture scenario this
makes no sense.) I do want to say something briefly
about Jeremiah 23:15-31 and Ezek 13 as well. From using those scriptures in connection
with the pre-tribulation rapture, I assume that you believe that people who
teach a pre-tribulation rapture are false prophets or are just
trying to please the people with something that isn't true - something imaginary. Correct me if I'm
off-base here but I assumed that was what you were trying to say. If it is true,
then all I would say, and I'm sure you know this anyway, is that many godly men
who desire only to be true to God's word believe in a pre-tribulation rapture.
Obviously the pre-tribulation
rapture was very popular among the Brethren Churches and I don't think you could
accuse them of not wanting to be biblical or of just saying something that would
please the people. Dave Hunt wrote in 'The Berean
Call' a few points concerning pre vs post tribulation and while He gets called a lot of
things, being a people pleaser is not one of them! If you want to read it use
this link: |