Awaken Bible Prophecy Update 11-8-23 – Rationale for Pre-Tribulation Rapture

A friend of mine, who is a scholar at heart and a new believer, asked me to help him understand the rationale for a pre-Tribulation Rapture.  I thought I would take the occasion of his questions to outline my thinking in this regard in this forum.  Every Bible prophecy teacher has his quirks and biases that may cause some slight differences in his understanding of the overall pre-Tribulation concept and the timeline for these last days.  But there is general agreement on the primary Bible passages that define this seminal event.

Here are Larry’s questions that I’ll take a stab at in this Commentary:

I understand the Bible today and I never did prior. But I also understand some of it differently than others have explained it to me.  I’ve been trying to understand the rapture and the different beliefs of when; it’s brought me to an hypothesis based on scripture, but I still don’t think I am comfortable putting a “pre” “mid” or “post on it.

 Can you point me to the scripture you utilize to outline a pre-trib rapture?  I’m also interested in what you think defines the beginning of the tribulation.  The problem I have understanding any timeframe for a rapture, is that in order to do that, I feel like a definition of when the tribulation starts must come prior to believing in any timeline.  What event do you think begins the tribulation?  Or what event do you think occurs immediately after the rapture and what scripture do you rely on for that?  I’m seriously interested in learning what scriptures are used to back up any of the timelines for the rapture.  Why “pre”?  Why somebody else would believe “mid” or “post”?  My experience is that many people have a timeline belief of the rapture, but nobody seems to want to share why (based on scripture) they believe the one they do.  I can google things just like others, but I’d rather hear from people who have strong beliefs as to why they have them.  

These are great questions because he’s exactly right.  A lot of people believe one approach or another, but only because someone else told them such and such was the right interpretation of Scripture.  Unfortunately, this kind of ignorance has a long pedigree.

Back in his day, Martin Luther was studying to become a priest.  At his seminary, the students read books that explained other books that had been written concerning the Bible.  In other words, it was like the game of telephone.  You whisper the message from one person to the next in the circle and by time you’re back around, the final message is completely different from the original.

That’s the way it was in Luther’s time.  Whoever read the Bible originally and wrote his analysis – which may or may not have been correct – was then subsequently written about, and on down the line, so the students ended up reading a third or fourth generation study; they never read the Bible directly.

Luther felt something was missing and actually read the Bible itself.  Sacre bleu! – as the French, warped, semi-profanity goes.  The real God, Luther realized, wasn’t even in their textbooks.  What God actually said had no relation to what Luther was learning.  That led to his posting of the 95 Theses on the church door at Wittenberg.  All he wanted was a conversation with the Vatican to correct its mistakes.  What Luther ended up with was the Protestant Reformation.

I think by and large the same problem is prevalent in much of Christian teaching concerning the end times.  This Commentary isn’t focusing on other than pre-Trib teachings, but I’ve previously pointed out that the post-Trib Rapture idea is based on the out-and-out lie that pre-Trib was conceived by John Nelson Darby in the 1800s.  That’s a bunch of claptrap that’s been thoroughly debunked.  That fact alone makes post-Trib thinking suspect right from the very beginning.  There are numerous problem passages they use from Scripture as well.  If you’d like to go down this rabbit trail further, check out the links in the transcript to various prior discussions I’ve done.

Transcript:

A friend of mine, who is a scholar at heart and a new believer, asked me to help him understand the rationale for a pre-Tribulation Rapture.  I thought I would take the occasion of his questions to outline my thinking in this regard in this forum.  Every Bible prophecy teacher has his quirks and biases that may cause some slight differences in his understanding of the overall pre-Tribulation concept and the timeline for these last days.  But there is general agreement on the primary Bible passages that define this seminal event.

Here are Larry’s questions that I’ll take a stab at in this Commentary:

I understand the Bible today and I never did prior. But I also understand some of it differently than others have explained it to me.  I’ve been trying to understand the rapture and the different beliefs of when; it’s brought me to an hypothesis based on scripture, but I still don’t think I am comfortable putting a “pre” “mid” or “post on it.

Can you point me to the scripture you utilize to outline a pre-trib rapture?  I’m also interested in what you think defines the beginning of the tribulation.  The problem I have understanding any timeframe for a rapture, is that in order to do that, I feel like a definition of when the tribulation starts must come prior to believing in any timeline.  What event do you think begins the tribulation?  Or what event do you think occurs immediately after the rapture and what scripture do you rely on for that?  I’m seriously interested in learning what scriptures are used to back up any of the timelines for the rapture.  Why “pre”?  Why somebody else would believe “mid” or “post”?  My experience is that many people have a timeline belief of the rapture, but nobody seems to want to share why (based on scripture) they believe the one they do.  I can google things just like others, but I’d rather hear from people who have strong beliefs as to why they have them.  

These are great questions because he’s exactly right.  A lot of people believe one approach or another, but only because someone else told them such and such was the right interpretation of Scripture.  Unfortunately, this kind of ignorance has a long pedigree.

Back in his day, Martin Luther was studying to become a priest.  At his seminary, the students read books that explained other books that had been written concerning the Bible.  In other words, it was like the game of telephone.  You whisper the message from one person to the next in the circle and by time you’re back around, the final message is completely different from the original.

That’s the way it was in Luther’s time.  Whoever read the Bible originally and wrote his analysis – which may or may not have been correct – was then subsequently written about, and on down the line, so the students ended up reading a third or fourth generation study; they never read the Bible directly.

Luther felt something was missing and actually read the Bible itself.  Sacre bleu! – as the French, warped, semi-profanity goes.  The real God, Luther realized, wasn’t even in their textbooks.  What God actually said had no relation to what Luther was learning.  That led to his posting of the 95 Theses on the church door at Wittenberg.  All he wanted was a conversation with the Vatican to correct its mistakes.  What Luther ended up with was the Protestant Reformation.

I think by and large the same problem is prevalent in much of Christian teaching concerning the end times.  This Commentary isn’t focusing on other than pre-Trib teachings, but I’ve previously pointed out that the post-Trib Rapture idea is based on the out-and-out lie that pre-Trib was conceived by John Nelson Darby in the 1800s.  That’s a bunch of claptrap that’s been thoroughly debunked.  That fact alone makes post-Trib thinking suspect right from the very beginning.  There are numerous problem passages they use from Scripture as well.  If you’d like to go down this rabbit trail further, check out the links in the transcript to various prior discussions I’ve done.

We’ll dive into this surprisingly deep topic in mere moments.  First we’ll pray.  Since I quote so many Scripture references in this study, we’ll let those stand for our Bible reading for the day.

<PRAY>

Rationale for Pre-Tribulation Rapture

• Here is my take on a basic timeline that leads us to the pre-Trib Rapture and the subsequent Tribulation.
• I do hold to what Bill Salus has termed the Alternative View of several Seals opening prior to the official start of the actual 7-year Tribulation that he first outlined in The Next Prophecies, but that’s one of the quirks and biases I mentioned.

• This is my Chronology outline, which I’ll elaborate on momentarily:

• Jesus’ death & resurrection
• Church Age begins – Gap between Daniel’s 69th & 70th weeks
• Jesus prepares a place for His Bride
• Sin in the world increases and morphs into depravity; this is the reason for the Tribulation: Judgment is due with wrath directed to unbelievers
• Church falls away leading to apostasy, with shaking of church to reveal who are truly those that belong to Christ, i.e. the true Bride of Christ
• Birth pains leading to Rapture
• Rapture – Church as Bride joins Jesus in His Father’s house; at this point the Restrainer, i.e. the Holy Spirit, steps aside
• God sets His sights on Israel for redemption of His Chosen People
• Gap Period
• {Alternative View: Seals Judgments 1-5 opened during Gap}
• Man of lawlessness revealed/unleashed
• Covenant agreement involving Israel begins Tribulation
• Israel becomes primary focus of God’s redemptive purpose through severe persecution
• Seal Judgments 6-7
• Trumpet Judgments 1-7
• Midpoint – Antichrist desecrates temple
• Bowl Judgments 1-7
• Christ’s 2nd coming

• I think Larry is correct in wanting first to define when and how the Tribulation begins.
• This is the seminal event that equates with God’s Judgment that He brought on the earth in the form of the worldwide Flood.

• The question we have to ask is: Why did God initially destroy everyone in that Flood except for Noah and his family?

• I’ve covered this extensively in prior posts, but the bottom line is that it wasn’t simply sin that caused God’s wrath and Judgment.
• A number of God’s spiritual family rebelled and transgressed the boundaries of the heavenly realm.
• These disobedient sons of God procreated with human women, with the resultant offspring being giant hybrid beings known as Nephilim.
• These were wicked half-divine, half-human, creatures that completely corrupted the earth.
• Through their actions they brought the abomination of depravity upon and throughout mankind.
• Man’s blood was corrupted with foreign DNA to such an extent throughout the world that only Noah was considered righteous, i.e. to have pure blood.
• A succinct description of this condition is reflected in Genesis 6:5:

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

• Presumably Noah’s sons and their wives were pure like Noah; or perhaps not.
• It is my theory that Ham’s wife may have had corruption in her DNA, which led to all subsequent giants after the Flood coming through this single one of Noah’s sons.
• Regardless, since Jesus came later to save mankind, humanity had to be as God originally created it.
• Without the Flood this would seemingly have been impossible.

• Jesus said in Matthew 24:36-39 that there would be another unexpected, cataclysmic world event – comparable in a way to the Flood – that brings God’s Judgment a second time.

36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

• A major question regarding this is: What is it that triggers this event?

• Obviously, the times have to somewhat mirror those of the past in which God finally said, “Enough!”
• Things will have to be so bad that God’s anger at what’s going on in the world brings Him to a point of wrath so as to eliminate whatever’s going on.

• Another question we have to ask and answer is: Who is the object of God’s wrath?

• The Apostle Paul describes in Romans 1:18-32 the progression of sin to depravity that brings about the wrath of God.
• A smaller portion of this entire passage – v18-23,32 – gives us a pretty good idea of what becomes reprobate thinking:

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,[a] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

• Similarly, Paul stated the condition of mankind of this last hour in another manner in 2 Timothy 3:1-5:

1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

• We could say that when the world looks like what Paul tells us in these two passages, there’s a pretty good chance that we’re well on our way to Judgment.
• We see that ungodliness and unrighteousness by which men suppress the truth of God, along with the hardness of men’s hearts, are major factors in the equation.
• Those who are unbelievers, who reject God, perhaps even hate Him, are Paul’s focus.
• They are the ones deserving of God’s wrath.

• With that, let’s step through the sequence of events as I’ve laid them out with various Scriptural references.

• Jesus’ death & resurrection (see Gospels)
• Church Age begins – Gap between Daniel’s 69th & 70th weeks (Daniel 7:24; 12:7)
  • The death of Jesus and His resurrection result in the Church Age, the sixth of the seven total dispensations
  • The 70 weeks of Daniel were intended for Israel
  • The Church Age is considered a gap in this 70-week period as Christ builds up His church and effectively takes a break from dealing with Israel
  • The Tribulation is another gap before the final Millennial Dispensation
• Jesus prepares a place for His Bride (John 14:1-3)
  • The church is considered the Bride of Christ
  • The template for how the church fits this analogy is a Galilean wedding
  • I suggest watching Before the Wrath to better understand how this works
  • The bottom line is that Jesus as the Bridegroom, upon His resurrection, went to His Father’s house
  • As the Bridegroom, He has been building a beautiful abode for His bride for 2000 years

1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

• At a time known only to the Father, He will tell His Son to go get His Bride and bring her home
• This, of course, will be the Rapture

• Sin in the world increases and morphs into depravity; this is the reason for the Tribulation: Judgment is due with wrath directed to unbelievers
  • The sin of man is bad enough
  • Unfortunately, God has an adversary since the Garden who takes his hatred of God out on His creation
  • In Noah’s day, this led to such corruption that God, through the Flood, had to eliminate everyone and everything touched by this
  • This same pattern has repeated
  • Those who hate God – who have purposely chosen to do so – must again be annihilated for God’s promises for eternity to be fulfilled
• Church falls away leading to apostasy, with shaking of church to reveal who are truly those that belong to Christ, i.e. the true Bride of Christ (Revelation 2-3; 2 Thessalonians 2:3)
  • Jesus describes this problem to the Apostle John in His letters to the churches
  • The question for each type of church is: Who will repent and turn back to God?
  • We see this framed a little differently in the 2 Thessalonians verse:

KJV translation

³ Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

ESV translation

³ Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,

• Falling away from the faith or rebellion against the faith, this certainly describes the situation today in which so many churches have gone woke and worse
• We’ve also seen since October 7, 2023 when Hamas brutally attacked Israel how antisemitism has raised its ugly head
• This isn’t limited to the secular world
• Sadly, many churches have chosen to show their hatred of Jews and Israel, which in effect demonstrates their hatred of God, since God loves Israel, i.e. the Promised Land, and He loves the Jews, i.e. His Chosen People
• This demonstration of belief contrary to God’s Word will have severe consequences for the people and churches following this path that comes straight from Satan

• Birth pains leading to Rapture (Matthew 24:1-14; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)
  • In response to questions by His disciples, Jesus describes the world condition leading up to His 2^nd coming
  • There is great deception, wars, and rumors of such, plus terrible physical disasters
  • As Jesus says in v8:

8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

• The idea of birth pains is that they increase in frequency and duration as birth approaches
• We’ve been experiencing all these things for many years, and they have increased dramatically
• Obviously, birth pains lead to birth
• What is this birth that Jesus describes?
• It is the Tribulation where all these ills come to fruition
• It’s important to see that the Rapture occurs as a surprise to the world, and that this then presages immense chaos
• For those aware and watching, none of this is a shock like it is to everyone else
• Note v2-4 in the 1 Thessalonian passage:

2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

• Note also, that this could not occur at the end of the Tribulation because no one at that time will be thinking that peace and security are just around the corner
• On the contrary, it must happen at a point when the faithful in the church need to encourage one another and do so in the expectant hope of what is to come, i.e. their deliverance from all the chaos and wickedness that is to come
• The final verse of this passage, v11, expresses this prospect:

11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

• Rapture – Church as Bride joins Jesus in His Father’s house (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:50-57)
  • This passage in 1 Thessalonians is a key to the Rapture event:

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

• Note also v51-53 in the 1 Corinthians passage:

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 imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

• It is important to see that the Rapture is an encouragement, not something that occurs as an afterthought
• The Rapture transforms us
• It enables us to enter the heavenly realm, stand before God, and to not be instantly destroyed were we to do so in our fleshly bodies
• It brings us into the Father’s house as the purified Bride of Jesus for the 7-day/7-year consummation of our wedding: 7-days as per the Galilean wedding template; 7-years as we enjoy this amazing time in God’s presence

• At this point the Restrainer, i.e. the Holy Spirit, steps aside (2 Thessalonians 2:6-12)
  • This amazing passage shows us definitively that only by the removal of the Holy Spirit is the Antichrist enabled to enter the world stage:

6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

• Antichrist is the lawless one, the man of perdition who is possessed by Satan at some point in his short reign
• A power is at work today in the world that keeps Antichrist at bay
• When He steps aside, this provides the open door for Antichrist to enter
• This must happen prior to the Tribulation since the Antichrist is integral to that entire period
• The stepping aside of the Restrainer – the Holy Spirit – can only logically occur at the point of the Rapture
• The Holy Spirit indwells believers and through them the church
• With these restraining forces of believers and church gone, there is nothing to inhibit the entry of Antichrist with all his evil intent

• God sets His sights on Israel for redemption of His Chosen People (Revelation 4:1; Revelation 5-19; Jeremiah 30:7; Luke 13:35)
  • Revelation 4:1 is symbolic of the church being Raptured

 1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

• This verse straddles the Church Age as described in Revelation 2-3 and the subsequent Revelation 5-19 chapters in which the church isn’t mentioned at all
• In fact, the entire focus of Revelation changes from attention to the churches completely to Israel and the world
• This period is referred to as the Time of Jacob’s Trouble by Jeremiah:

7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.

• Note that although Israel, i.e. Jacob, will experience a time like no other, i.e. the Tribulation, that he, i.e. Israel, will eventually be saved out it
• This is why the idea of the church being the new Israel as espoused by those who hold to Replacement Theology is in error
• The church is gone, and God deals with His wayward people finally bringing them to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as their true Messiah
• Jesus declared this as a curse and a promise to the Jews:

35 Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

• Gap Period
  • I don’t recall if there are any specific verses dealing with this; I don’t think so
  • However, logic calls for such a Gap
  • Once the Rapture occurs, the next major timeline event is the Covenant Agreement that Antichrist confirms with Israel
  • However, it makes no sense that effectively the next day from the Rapture the Covenant would be signed
  • Events take time in this world to come about
  • Antichrist has to come onto the world stage and somehow become trusted by Israel so as to broker this agreement
  • This is one reason I personally favor the Alternative View whereby the first 5 Seals are opened, all those events happen, then the circumstances are ready for the signing of the treaty
• {Alternative View: Seals Judgments 1-5 (Revelation 6:1-17) opened during Gap}
  • Briefly, this View is possible because there is nothing textual that ties the Daniel 9:27 covenant agreement directly to the opening of the Seals to begin the Tribulation
  • It plays out as follows:
  • Seal 1 – Antichrist revealed/unleashed
  • Seal 2 – World wars, including potentially Ezekiel 38 War of Gog and Magog
  • Seal 3 – Worldwide famine resulting from war
    • In my thinking, this is also when the Harlot world religion of ecumenical Catholicism rises
    • It provides “charitable” relief to the world
    • But this comes at a cost: convert or die
  • Seal 4 – Death and Hades
    • Massive deaths occur from the wars and their aftermath
    • Because so few people know Christ as Savior (coming to faith only after the Rapture), their souls are cast into hell
  • Seal 5 – Those who die in Christ from these events are seen before God’s throne
    • They ask the logical question, “How long?” because this all occurs in the Gap Period prior to the “official” beginning of the Tribulation marked by the covenant agreement
    • This is an indefinite period with no indication as to when it ends and the Tribulation finally begins
  • Man of lawlessness revealed/unleashed (2 Thessalonians 2:6-12)
    • With the stepping aside of the Restrainer, i.e. the Holy Spirit, nothing prevents Antichrist from emerging as noted above
    • Accompanying him is a strong spirit of deception that Jesus warned of in His Olivet Discourse: “Don’t be deceived”
    • Antichrist can now do effectively anything he wishes in the world under Satan’s direction
  • Covenant agreement involving Israel begins Tribulation (Daniel 9:27; Isaiah 28:14-19)
    • Something makes Israel so desperate that she agrees to sign a covenant treaty that Antichrist brokers
    • This is reflected in this famous verse from Daniel:

27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

• He is believed to be Antichrist
• The agreement is for one week, i.e. a week of years, i.e. 7 years
• I personally don’t think the treaty is with Islamic nations being the “many” as so many other Bible teachers do
• It’s my belief that Islam will have no power or threat that would make Israel deal with it as a force any longer
• Why? Because Islam will have been effectively destroyed by the Psalm 83 War and through the subsequent Ezekiel’s War
• I think the threat will come from the Vatican in its ecumenical fervor
• This is reflected by Isaiah:

14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers,
who rule this people in Jerusalem!
15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
and with Sheol we have an agreement,
when the overwhelming whip passes through
it will not come to us,
for we have made lies our refuge,
and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;
16 therefore thus says the Lord God,
“Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
17 And I will make justice the line,
and righteousness the plumb line;
and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”
18 Then your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through,
you will be beaten down by it.
19 As often as it passes through it will take you;
for morning by morning it will pass through,
by day and by night;
and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.

• The rulers of Israel are deceived by the great deception that has encompassed the earth
• They think that by signing this agreement, they’ll be protected from the force trying to convert the world to its religion
• But this treaty will ultimately not hold up – it is a covenant with death that will bring much destruction and sorrow

• Israel becomes primary focus of God’s redemptive purpose
  • I think this is a process
  • In the subsequent Seal and Trumpet Judgments following the first 5 Seals, especially after the covenant treaty is signed, I believe that Israel will be mostly spared from the difficulties the world experiences
  • Through this, the balance of the Jews in the world will migrate through Aliya to Israel to escape the Judgments plaguing the rest of the world
  • They escape the Judgments and the antisemitism that is so vicious everywhere – a taste of which we’re seeing right now resulting from the Israel-Hamas War (that will likely turn into the Psalm 83 War)
  • Israel is the presumed safe harbor
  • But their peace and security will not last
• Seal Judgments 6-7 (Revelation 6:12; 8:1-5)
• Trumpet Judgments 1-7 (Revelation 8:6-9:21; 11:14-19)
• Midpoint – Antichrist desecrates temple (Daniel 12:11; Matthew 24:15-16)
  • It is at this time that Antichrist proclaims that he is god; the object of his wrath, because he is possessed by Satan, is the Jews
  • Jews are the target in the Great Tribulation, the remaining 3 1/2 years, through severe persecution
  • This begins in earnest as these several verses are fulfilled:

11 And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days.

15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”

• The Jews who have gained a measure of wisdom realize that Antichrist is not their Messiah; he is fact their mortal enemy
• They will flee to the mountainous retreat of Petra in Jordan to evade persecution and death at the hands of Antichrist
• For them to flee to this location without trouble from Jordan, I believe that this is part of the land mass that Israel accumulates as a result of the Psalm 83 War
• Israel owns this land; Jordan no longer has possession of it and cannot keep them from seeking safe harbor there

• Bowl Judgments 1-7 (Revelation 15:5-16:20; Zechariah 13:8-9)
  • Through these final, terrible Judgments, the Tribulation culminates in what we commonly call the Battle of Armageddon
  • Israel’s journey of rebellion comes to an end as Zechariah details:

8 In the whole land, declares the Lord,
two thirds shall be cut off and perish,
and one third shall be left alive.
9 And I will put this third into the fire,
and refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people’;
and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

• Many in Israel will die, perhaps some in Christ
• The remaining Jews who live by declaring Jesus-Yeshua as their Messiah will be among those who enter the Millennium in their mortal bodies
• They are the ones who will enjoy God’s blessing in the land as long promised with Jesus sitting on the throne in Jerusalem

• Christ’s 2nd coming (Revelation 19-21)
  • This is the seminal event that brings this era of earth history as we know it to a close
  • Antichrist and the False Prophet are tossed unceremoniously and without delay into the Lake of Fire
  • Satan is imprisoned in the abyss of Tartarus for much of the next 1,000 years until his futile rebellion at the end of the Millennium
  • Nations are judged
  • The Millennium ensues
  • Following the Millennium is the New Heavens and New Earth

• Wrapping up, I want to emphasize why true believers today, i.e. the true church of Jesus Christ, will not go into the Tribulation

• The Tribulation has two primary purposes:

1. The redemption of Israel
2. Judgment upon the unbelieving, God-hating world

• This leaves no room for true believers in Jesus Christ who have been saved by Him.
• He took our punishment upon Himself.
• Why would God force us into a time such as this that has no purpose in our salvation?

• For this reason, Revelation 3:10-11 in speaking of the church of Philadelphia – that church which equates to the final Church Age remnant of believers who have little strength – gives us this encouragement:

10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. 11 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.

• Obviously that hour of trial had not yet come when this literal church was in existence.
• It represents us now who are in Christ.
• What else could this hour of trial that affects the entire world be except for the Tribulation?
• We are not destined for it.

• Likewise, it’s plain throughout the New Testament that true believers have no worry about God bringing wrath and Judgment on them.
• Jesus took our penalty upon Himself.
• Here is what Paul says about this in 1 Thessalonians 1:10:

10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

• This isn’t speaking of eternal damnation.
• The coming wrath is nothing but the Tribulation reflecting God’s grief and anger that the world has chosen in its foolishness and hatred to reject Him.
• Such a course of action has consequences.

• Consider also 2 Thessalonians 1:5-12 in the overall understanding of who gets what:

5 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— 6 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. 11 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

• Believers gain the kingdom of God; unbelievers are greatly punished.

• The world is not expecting any of this that is coming.
• In fact, the world has no use for God; it is in darkness.
• Something will occur that surprises everyone; it comes like a thief in the night.
• It’s not destined for believers, i.e. those who are saved.
• It’s simply not targeted at us.
• We are urged to be awake, sober, ready, and watching.
• What for, if not for Jesus coming for us in the clouds to deliver us from this alien, hostile world?
• In addition, we’re told that because this event isn’t our fate, we can be encouraged about that.

• Wrath and Judgment are reserved for people who choose not to believe in the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
• This is critical to understanding the timing of the Rapture.

• It’s the unrighteous who receive the due punishment for their sins.
• Believers are called to be worthy of God’s goodness; and we are when we’re obedient to Christ and living for Him.

• In summary, the wickedness on the earth leads God to the point of Judgment.
• The Rapture begins the final days’ process which brings that about.
• Through the unfolding of events, the Antichrist confirms a covenant agreement with Israel that starts the official 7-year clock countdown.

• The Rapture must occur prior to the Antichrist coming on the scene; thus, it must be pre-Trib.
• There is no other explanation for who the Restrainer is other than the Holy Spirit, and no other circumstance that would remove the inhibition of the lawlessness that the lawless one brings into the world.

• Additionally, we as the Bride of Christ have a special relationship with Jesus.

• We are His beloved.
• Can you imagine a situation where the bride’s fiancé would willingly thrust his most cherished loved one into a fiery furnace?
• What foolishness it is to think that Jesus would cast the true church into the Tribulation for no reason whatsoever!
• At the point of the Rapture, He has already determined that His Bride is pure and refined.
• And then He would sully her in such a manner?
• It’s unadulterated folly to think this.

• All this explanation points to the truth of Titus 2:13, which is what we as pre-Tribulation Rapture believers embrace.
• We are . . .

13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,