The Blessed Hope (1-23-13)

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 - "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 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 not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words."

At the beginning of this classic passage on the rapture of the church, the apostle Paul begins with the words "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren." In First Peter 3:15 we're instructed to - "Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence." We're going to once again consider the rapture of the church, and hopefully look at several passages that we can use to give a reason for the blessed hope of the church, the pre-tribulation rapture. We should always be ready to answer the skeptic in reference to things regarding the Bible and the Christian faith, but we should also be ready to give an answer to those believers who hold to the belief that our Lord is not coming until the middle or end of the tribulation, as well as to those who are simply confused about the whole sequence of end times events.

Again, I want to say, it's not my intention to use Scripture to prove a point, but rather to find out what is the clear teaching of the Word of God. If in any case you feel that I'm forcing an interpretation on a passage that is other than it's clear teaching or that I've taken it out of its context and used it in a way that is not according to its purpose, disregard what I say and stick to the clear teaching of God’s Word. We should never seek to prove our point by using Gods Word, but instead we need to find out what Gods Word teaches and then, if necessary, adjust our beliefs to align with it. The Word of God never changes and it has perfect harmony. The reason there are so many different views on so many different subjects in the Word of God is that men have approached Scripture with preconceived ideas, and interpreted Gods Word to mean what they already believed, instead of coming before God with an open mind and an open heart to see what He has to say and then sticking to that without wavering. We should never adjust Gods Word to fit what we believe. We instead need to adjust our beliefs to fit what Gods Word says. 

I'm going to list several reasons why the church is going to be raptured before the seven year tribulation period, and I want to begin with the simple order of the book of Revelation. I mentioned or alluded to several of these reasons last time, but I think they're worth mentioning again. 

1) The structure of Revelation.
In Revelation chapter 1 and verse 19 we are given a simple outline of the book of Revelation. In Revelation chapter 1 the Lord Jesus Christ appears to the apostle John who was exiled on the isle of Patmos, "because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus," and He said to him in verse 19 - "Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things." This verse is an internal outline, a very simple outline, for the book of Revelation. Jesus tells John to write "the things which you have seen" John saw the risen glorified Christ and records that interaction in chapter 1. Secondly, he was told to write the "things that are." In chapters 2 and 3 the Lord Jesus writes seven letters to seven churches. These seven churches were seven literal churches in Asia Minor, but interestingly enough, the thread of church history can also be traced throughout these two chapters. Seven is the number of completion. Here we see the church age, from beginning to end, "the things which are." And finally, John is told to write "the things which shall take place after these things." That is what chapters 4 through 22 contain. The phrase that the Lord Jesus used in 1:19 when He said "after these things." are the Greek words meta-tauta. These are the same words that begin chapter 4. The entirety of chapters 2 and 3 regard the church, and right at the beginning of chapter 4 you have the words "after this." John is then taken up into heaven at the beginning of chapter 4, and in chapters 4 and 5 you see the church in heaven. We know that this is the church because in chapter 5 verses 5-6 they sing a new song to the Lamb saying - “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God;
and we shall reign on the earth.” The church is the only group that has been redeemed out of every tribe, tongue, people and nation. These are certainly not angels.

When you get to chapter 6 you have the beginning of the seven year tribulation period which is described in chapters 6 through 19, a time when God pours out His wrath on a Christ rejecting sinful world, which ends with Christ's return to the earth. In chapter 20 we have the millennial reign of Christ, 1000 years of peace on the earth with Christ physically reigning on the throne. At the end of this time a final rebellion rises up against Christ and they are completely wiped out and consumed in an instant, after which comes the great white throne judgment, where the unsaved dead are judged based on their works and then thrown into the lake which burns with fire forever and ever. When we get to chapters 21 and 22 we have the new heavens and the new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Only the pre-trib rapture view allows for a simple view of this book. In chapters 4 and 5 the redeemed are in heaven. In chapter 6 the tribulation period begins. Chapters 4 and 5 come before chapter 6, I know it's basic but, if you hold to the mid-trib view you have to put 4 and 5 after 11. If you hold to the post-trib view you have to put them after 19. And those are not the only changes. God gave us the book of Revelation in the order it's in for a reason. We don't need to mix it up to get a proper understanding of it.
It's also worth noting that all throughout the tribulation period, chapters 6-19, the church is not mentioned except at the end of chapter 19 when she is coming with Christ to the earth. The church is mentioned in chapter 1, chapters 2 and 3 focus on the church, in chapters 4 and 5 John is caught up to heaven and we see the church in heaven, and then we come to chapter 6, the beginning of the tribulation, and the church isn't seen again until the end of chapter 19 when she's returning with Christ to the earth. If the church is here during the tribulation why isn't it mentioned that whole time, and why do chapters 4 and 5 come before chapter 6? Only the pre-trib view allows you to have a simple understanding of the book of Revelation. 

2) Revelation 3:10 - "I will keep you from the hour of tribulation."
In Revelation 3:10-11 the Lord Jesus says to the church at Philadelphia - "Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. I am coming quickly." The Lord Jesus said that He would keep His church from the hour testing, not through it. If the church was going to be here during the tribulation period He would have told them that He would keep them through that hour of testing, but instead He says that He'll keep them from that hour of tribulation. You may be thinking, "If this is the case, why doesn't the Lord Jesus say this to any of the other churches in Revelation 2-3?" Well, like I mentioned last time, these churches were not only literal churches, and they are not only a timeline of church history but they are also characteristic of local churches and individual believers today. The church at Philadelphia is the only church that it is obvious that they are the Lords people, and because of their faithfulness to Him they have the blessed assurance that they will be kept from the hour of tribulation that is about to come upon the whole world. The other churches have been infiltrated by false teachers, their spiritual life is almost dead and they have become self-sufficient with no need of Christ. This does not mean that any true believer in one of these situations will be left behind. Every true Christian will be taken up into the clouds at the rapture of the church. But even after the rapture many so called "believers" and religious people and organizations will still be on the earth. Every true Christian will be raptured, but it's that small faithful group to whom the Lord Jesus gives the blessed assurance that they will be kept from the hour of tribulation which is about to come upon the whole world.    
Furthermore, the Lord Jesus makes it clear that the tribulation period is going to come on the whole world. He says - "I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth." If the tribulation is going to come on the whole earth then in order to keep them from it He is going to have to take them out of the earth. The Lord Jesus also says that the purpose for the tribulation is to try those that dwell on the earth. The tribulation is a time for God to pour out His wrath on a world that has rejected Him, a time for Him to try those that dwell on the earth. We, the church, have given our lives to Christ and have accepted His sacrifice and payment for sins on our behalf. Why would we be left here to endure the wrath of God? That leads us to our next point.

3) 1 Thessalonians 5:9 - "God has not appointed us to wrath."
The tribulation period is clearly identified several times in Revelation chapters 6-19 as the time of the wrath of God. In Revelation chapter 6 those who are dwelling on the earth are calling out to the mountains and the rocks to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of God. They say in verses 16-17 - "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, right after he talks about the rapture of the church, the apostle Paul continues to talk about the last days and how we are to live in the time leading up to the rapture, and then he says in verse 9 - "For God has not appointed us to wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." God hasn't destined us for wrath. The wrath that we deserve was absorbed by Christ on the cross. He has not appointed us to wrath and that's exactly what the tribulation period is, the time of the wrath of God.

4) John 16:33 - "In the world you will have tribulation."
This verse is interpreted by some to mean that the church will be in the world during the seven year tribulation, but that's not what our Lord is saying. The Lord Jesus talks in several passages about His followers being persecuted by the world and hated by the world just like He was. And that's what He's saying in this passage. In the world and from the world you will have tribulation. The unbelieving world is in the grip of Satan. In 2 Corinthians 4 Satan is called the "god of this world" and in 2 Timothy chapter 2 unbelievers are referred to as "having been held captive by him to do his will." Satan uses unbelievers to persecute the church. That's why in this world we will have tribulation. But you're not going to get hit from both sides. Gods not going to let you get persecuted by Satan right now and then pour out His wrath on you during the tribulation. In the world you will have tribulation, but God is going to take us out of the world before He pours out His wrath on it. 

5) Daniel 9 - Daniels 70 weeks.
Daniel chapter 9 begins with Daniel reading and studying the prophecies of Jeremiah. As he is reading and studying these prophecies he realizes that the time of the desolation's of Jerusalem was almost over, so he turned his attention to seek the Lord by prayer and fasting and began to confess his sins and the sins of the people. As he was praying the Lord sent the angel Gabriel with a message for Daniel. Gabriel says to Daniel in Daniel 9:24-27 - “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”
He begins by telling Daniel that seventy weeks, or seventy sevens, are determined for Israel. The word for week in this passage simply means a group of seven. It would be like our word dozen for twelve, or cent for one hundred. The first time this word is used in the Bible is back in Genesis 29 when Jacob is working for Laban for seven years in order to marry his daughter Rachel. In that passage it says that he worked for one week and it also says that he worked for seven years. And we have that same idea in Daniel chapter 9. Seventy weeks, seventy groups of seven years, or, 490 years are determined for Israel. He then goes on to explain what these seventy weeks entail. We read that from the time that the decree is issued to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there would be 7 weeks and 62 weeks, or 69 weeks. After Messiah came He would be cut off. Then for the last week another prince would come who would make a covenant with Israel and then break that covenant in the middle of that seventieth week and set up the abomination of desolation.
As we look at this prophecy it all seems to be happening together, one event after the other. Looking back, however, we can see that there is a gap between the first sixty nine weeks and the seventieth. On March 14th 445 B.C. Artaxerxes issued the decree for the Jews to return and rebuild Jerusalem. This is a historical fact, documented and verifiable. At that point the first 69 weeks of Daniel began. Keep in mind that both the Jewish and the Babylonian calendars consist of 360 days rather than 365. As you go through these 69 weeks, these 483 years, 173,880 days, you come to April 6th A.D. 32. The very day that the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and presented Himself to Israel as their Messiah. This prophecy predicts the very day that Jesus would present Himself to the Jews as their Messiah, but they missed it. It's no wonder that as He drew near the city, He says in Luke 19:42 - "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes." He wept over the city and said, in a sense, "if only you had known what day this was." If they had simply studied the book of Daniel it would have been made clear that this was their Messiah. And as He rode into the city they actually hailed Him as their Messiah, but less than a week later this crowd would cry out something different. As the Messiah rode into Jerusalem they were crying "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" Days later they would cry out, "Crucify Him!" And just as this prophecy in Daniel predicts, Messiah would be cut off, He would be killed, but not for Himself. He was killed, not for Himself, but for you and I. And at that point the clock stopped. At the end of the sixty nine weeks the Messiah was cut off, and the world has yet to enter into Daniels seventieth week. The seven year tribulation period is Daniels seventieth week. Seventy weeks have been determined for Israel, only 69 have past. And in this gap between the first 69 and 70th is the time in which we are currently living, a time called the church age. It is during this time that the Lord has set the Jews on the back burner and is calling the Gentiles to Himself. Christ is preparing a bride for Himself and that bride is the church. The church age isn't seen in Old Testament prophecy. Paul calls it a mystery that was unknown in time past, but now has been made known to us. At the end of the church age the Lord is going to once again pick up with the nation of Israel and draw them back to Himself. This is one of the purposes for the tribulation. In Jeremiah chapter 31 the Lord calls the tribulation "the time of Jacobs trouble." And Israel is going to go into that time to fulfill her seventieth week. It's during that final week that anti-christ will be revealed, make a covenant with the Jews and then break his covenant halfway through the week.
The church did not come into being until Acts chapter 2. That means that the church is not in the first 69 weeks of Daniel. The Lord declares that these seventy weeks are determined for Israel, God uses this time to specifically deal with the nation of Israel. If the church is not in the first 69 weeks, then why do people insist on putting the church in the seventieth week? This is an inconsistent view. During the 69 weeks the Lord is dealing with Israel. Right now He is dealing with a new entity, the church, and once the church age is over He will complete Daniels 70 weeks and deal once again with the nation of Israel, not the church. A pre-trib rapture gives us expositional consistency as it pertains to Daniels 70 weeks.

6) Matthew 25 - Sheep and goat judgment.
In Matthew chapter 25 the Lord Jesus is talking about when He comes to earth the second time and sits on His throne, and He speaks of a judgment that will take place at that time. We read in Matthew 25:31-33 - "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left." The Lord Jesus then goes on to say that these two groups, the sheep and the goats as He calls them, will be judged based on their treatment of the Jews during the tribulation period. To support the Jews during the tribulation period is going to be considered a crime. Anyone who does it will be putting their life on the line. But there will be some during that time who get saved. They will not be part of the church, but they will be saved, just as the Old Testament saints are saved and yet not part of the church. These tribulation saints will support the Jewish people, they will not take the mark of the beast, and because of this they will be considered criminals, worthy of death. However, when Christ comes again to rule and reign on the earth He is going to gather all the inhabitants of the earth and separate them into two groups, the righteous and the wicked, the sheep and the goats. The wicked will go into everlasting punishment but the righteous into eternal life. And here's the point that I want to make, if the rapture happens at the end of the tribulation period, this judgment will be pointless. If the righteous are raptured at the end of the tribulation all that will be left on earth are the wicked, the goats. There will be no need to separate the sheep from the goats because all the sheep will have been raptured and return with Him. There's a difference between the bema seat in 2 Corinthians 5:10, where the Lord gives rewards to the church, and the judgment of the sheep and goats. The bema seat, the judgment seat of Christ, is where the Lord tries our lives and rewards us accordingly. This is a judgment of reward, not punishment. The sheep and goat judgment is where those who were saved during the tribulation are separated from the wicked. Those tribulation believers then go on to repopulate the earth during the millennial reign of Christ. If the rapture happened at the end of the tribulation the sheep and goat judgment would be useless and pointless.

7) Matthew 25:13 - the day or the hour
In Mathew 25:13 after the Lord Jesus tells the parable of the ten virgins and the wedding feast, the Lord Jesus said - "Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour." If the rapture happens either during or at the end of the tribulation period, then the time of the rapture can be calculated. The tribulation period is clearly identified as a 7 year period. One half is identified in one place as "a time, times and half a time." It's identified in another place as 42 months, and in another place as 1260 days. You really have to go out of your way to deny the time table that is laid out in Scripture. That being the case, as soon as anti-christ reveals himself, if the rapture had not happened, we would be able to figure out the day of the Lords coming. Whether it was in the middle or at the end, we would know exactly when the rapture was going to happen. 

8) 2 Thessalonians 2 - The departure
This passage is often used as a proof text for the mid-trib view, but as we look into it we'll see that this actually supports the pre-trib view. There was apparently some false teaching concerning end times events being circulated in the Thessalonian church, and the apostle Paul wrote this letter for the express purpose of clearing up those misunderstandings. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 says - "Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God." In verses 3 and 4 Paul talks about 3 things. First is something called the "apostasy", second is the revealing of the anti-christ which happens at the beginning of the tribulation period, and third is that event which happens half way through the tribulation when the anti-christ breaks his covenant with the Jews, enters the temple and sets up the abomination of desolation. The confusion in this passage comes from the word in verse 3 "apostasy." The word apostasy has come to mean a departure from faith, but that's not it's only, or even its main meaning. The Greek word actually means a literal departure, not a departure from the faith, although it can mean that. A literal departure is actually the exact way it was translated in seven of the first translations of the English Bible. Wycliffe in 1384 translates this "departure." Tyndale in 1526 "departure", Coverdale 1535 "departure", Cranmer 1539 "departure", the Breeches Bible 1576, "departure", the Beza Bible 1583 "departure" the Geneva Bible 1608 "departure." It wasn't until the King James Version in 1609 that this word was translated "falling away." There was a literal departure that Paul was reminding the Thessalonians of, a departure that he had taught them about before. And the definite article before the word departure shows us that it is indeed one specific event. That means that before anti-christ is revealed there is going to be, according to this verse, a departure. And Paul says in verse 5 that he told them about this before when he was with them. Paul tells the Thessalonians about a departure in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 where he talks about the rapture, or the departure, of the church. Now, the order of things in this passage is first, the departure, secondly, the revealing of anti-christ, and finally, the abomination of desolation. The exact order that we're given in Revelation, aligning only with the pre-trib view of the rapture. Furthermore, if this were talking about apostasy, or departure from the faith, it wouldn’t be much of a sign because apostasy has been going on all throughout church history, even in the early church. Paul says to the Galatians in chapter 1 and verse 6 – “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel.” He says in 1 Timothy 1:18-20 – “This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.” He specifically names two people that were apostate. John talks about those who were apostate in 1 John 2:19 when he says – “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us.” And all throughout church history we have a similar record, so if this verse meant that there would be a falling away from the faith before the tribulation, that wouldn’t be much of a sign. However, if this means that there will be a great departure, a moving of Gods people from one location to the other, the rapture of the church, that would quite an obvious and incredible sign.

9) 1 Thessalonians 4:18 - "Comfort one another with these words."
In First Thessalonians 4:18, after talking about the rapture of the church, Paul says - "Therefore comfort one another with these words." The doctrine of the rapture is to be a comforting one. It is comforting, first of all, because we are going to see the Lord and spend the rest of eternity with Him. Secondly, because we are going meet together with the saints who have died and gone on before us. And finally, it's comforting because God is going to keep us from the time of tribulation. This may just be a matter of opinion, but I don't think that the idea that we're going to have to be on the earth during the tribulation, as the mid and post-tribers suggest, is a very comforting idea. During the tribulation, when God is pouring out His wrath on the world, when hundred pound hail stones are falling to the earth, the abyss is going to be opened and demons are released on the earth, there will be wars and famines, and if you survive all that, then the Lord will come and call you up to Himself in the clouds, therefore comfort one another with these words. It may just be me, but that doesn't sound very comforting.

10) Titus 2:13 - "Looking for the blessed hope."
This is perhaps the most simple and to the point answer that can be given for the pre-trib rapture, and it has a great deal of weight as well. In Titus 2:13 Paul says that we're to be - "looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus." Where's your focus? What are you looking for? Mid and post-tribers have to, by necessity, be looking the anti-christ, not Jesus Christ. If we were going to go through the tribulation anti-christ would have to come on the scene before Christ could come back. If the mid or post-trib views are true then Christ cannot come back today because the anti-christ hasn't even come on the scene yet. And if they're right then it will be between 3 1/2 and 7 years before Christ can return. Those views put you in a dangerous position. In Matthew chapter 24 and Luke chapter 12 the Lord Jesus tells a parable about a servant whose master went away and the servant did not know when he was coming back. In Matthew 24 that servant is called an "evil servant" because he began to say in his heart "My lord delays his coming." or "My master is not coming for a long time." and that servants view on the return of his master affects the way he lives. If we hold to a view besides the pre-trib view we cannot say with the apostle John "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." but we would have to, by necessity, say with that evil servant in Matthew 24 "My Lord cannot come back today." Christs return is imminent, and we are to be looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm not looking for the rebuilt temple or the abomination of desolation. I'm not looking for peace in the Middle East and I'm not looking for the anti-christ, I'm looking for Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, to come in the clouds with the voice of the arch angel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 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 so shall we ever be with the Lord, and it could be today. Titus 2:11-13 - "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ."

There are several passages we can turn to to give an answer for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Some are more convincing than others, but when we take the Scriptures as a whole we have overwhelming evidence that the rapture is going to happen before the tribulation. Are there difficult passages with regard to end times events? Absolutely. But it's important that we never sacrifice what we know on the altar of what we don't. There is overwhelming proof of a pre-trib rapture. We may come to a passage that we don't really understand or can't figure out, but we shouldn't throw out all this evidence just because one verse or one passage seems to be implying something different. All Scripture is perfectly harmonious and it does not contradict itself. We need to hold to the clear teaching of God’s Word, and when we come to a difficult passage ask the Lord for understanding in how this fits into the flow of His perfect Word. Christ is coming, and it could be today.

Revelation 22:20 - "He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"