The Imminent Rapture part 2
The views expressed here are solely of the author who shall be held accountable. Therefore I tremble, yet I am confident to move forward to proclaim the whole counsel of God.
Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1Cor. 15:51-58)
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1Thess. 4:13-18)
I have asked “What in these passages point to certain things needing to be fulfilled before the rapture?”
There is nothing that I can see in these two passages that point to anything needing to be fulfilled before the translation of the church saints into heaven. Conversely Paul states that “…we shall not all sleep…” (die) in the Corinthian epistle, and that he was writing the Thessalonians, “…concerning them which are asleep…” (dead). Paul informs both the Corinthian churches and the Thessalonians that the dead that in Christ will be raised or caught up… and “WE”, referring to himself and those who were still alive at the time that his inspired autograph was written, will be also. Paul proclaims, “…WE shall be changed…” and “…WE which are alive and remain shall be caught up together…”
Some perhaps have hastened to ignore this encouragement of Paul that we will not all die, to get to the phrases “the last trump” or “the trump of God”. I must commend the thought that has been put into this idea, whatever the position leads to. Yet, there may be other biblical explanations about these “trump verses” that will fit better with the best view, which is pre-trib rapture of the church saints.
I will express more about this later, but what are your views?
John
Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1Cor. 15:51-58)
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1Thess. 4:13-18)
I have asked “What in these passages point to certain things needing to be fulfilled before the rapture?”
There is nothing that I can see in these two passages that point to anything needing to be fulfilled before the translation of the church saints into heaven. Conversely Paul states that “…we shall not all sleep…” (die) in the Corinthian epistle, and that he was writing the Thessalonians, “…concerning them which are asleep…” (dead). Paul informs both the Corinthian churches and the Thessalonians that the dead that in Christ will be raised or caught up… and “WE”, referring to himself and those who were still alive at the time that his inspired autograph was written, will be also. Paul proclaims, “…WE shall be changed…” and “…WE which are alive and remain shall be caught up together…”
Some perhaps have hastened to ignore this encouragement of Paul that we will not all die, to get to the phrases “the last trump” or “the trump of God”. I must commend the thought that has been put into this idea, whatever the position leads to. Yet, there may be other biblical explanations about these “trump verses” that will fit better with the best view, which is pre-trib rapture of the church saints.
I will express more about this later, but what are your views?
John
posted by J. Wendell at 12:01 PM
8 Comments:
I agree that in these two passages there is nothing indicating that there are events preceding the rapture.
Nevertheless, the events that precee the rapture are not relevant to Paul's purposes in discussing the subject hand.
Other passages do indicate that there are events that precede the rapture.
If you are going to establish that the rapture is imminent, you are going to have to do some interaction with those events which others allege precede the rapture.
Every Blessing in Christ
Matthew
By
Matthew Celestine, at 2/11/07 5:45 PM
One big question: Was the Holy Spirit instructing the Christian Church prior to 1830. Your answer, of course, would be Yes. Since there is no evidence that the pretrib rapture was ever a part of Christian theology or organized Christian churches prior to 1830 (and no pretrib promoters including LaHaye, Lindsey, Ice etc. would even try ot disagree with the above statements), why does pretrib teaching still exist?
Clara
By
Anonymous, at 2/11/07 10:31 PM
Clara, I do not agree with the Pre-Trib rapture, but a huge amount of lost truth has bee recovered since the emergence of the Brethren in the 1830s.
It is best to engage with the Pre-Trib rapture on exegetical grounds rather than on the grounds of historical ignorance of the doctrine.
God Bless
Matthew
By
Matthew Celestine, at 3/11/07 7:04 AM
Hi Matthew,
There are events that will precede the Day of the Lord (i.e. the literal seven year period of the tribulation), but that is a separate event.
The Rapture will occur before the tribulation, but the tribulation does not begin until the Anti-Christ signs a seven year covenant with Israel. (cf. Dan:27And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.)
Blessings upon you
John
____________________
Hi Clara,
It exists because the Scriptures declare it.
Thanks for your interest,
John
By
J. Wendell, at 3/11/07 8:43 AM
You are going to need to establish at some point your thesis that the Day of the Lord is the tribulation.
By
Matthew Celestine, at 3/11/07 12:01 PM
Yes, of course I will, you are so right. Thank you for your patience on this.
John
By
J. Wendell, at 4/11/07 3:45 AM
I recently ran across one of the most shocking articles touching on the "day of the Lord" I have ever seen. To see it look at engines such as Yahoo or Google and type in "Pretrib Rapture Desperados." If anyone can read it and not be moved in some way, he might want to check the obituary notices to see if his name is in them! Clara
By
Anonymous, at 5/11/07 6:15 PM
Hi Clara,
Thank you for taking time to leave another comment on this post. I am sure I would be equally as shocked as you were so I don't have to check the search engines or the obituaries, I don't think I will be mentioned in either place.
BTW do you have another opinion or a comment about this post you would like to express? I have tried to address the imminent rapture of the church saints.
By
J. Wendell, at 6/11/07 9:06 AM
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