The Rapture in Types (1-28-13)

2 Peter 2:7-9 - "and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment."

The Bible is full of illustrations, types and parables that aid us in understanding the doctrines of Scripture. A parable is a word picture that the Lord Jesus gave to illustrate His teaching. In Matthew chapter 13 the Lord Jesus gives seven parables illustrating different aspects of the kingdom and helping us to get a better understanding of it. A type is an Old Testament person, place, event or other item that Illustrates New Testament truth. For example, in Genesis chapter 22 we have a type of the crucifixion of Christ in the account of Abraham offering Issac his son. There are several parallels between this account and the truths we learn in the New Testament about God the Father offering up His only begotten Son. Another example is in the person and life of Joseph. Joseph, both in his character and in the events and circumstances of his life, was a type, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there are many others. In Romans chapter 5 Adam is identified as a type of Christ. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10 we're told of the rock that the children of Israel drank from in the wilderness "this rock was Christ."
What I want to focus on right now is typology of the rapture, but first I need to say that parables and typology never determine doctrine, they simply help you to get a better understanding of it. We need to be careful not to establish our doctrine from Old Testament types, but once we have established the truth presented to us clearly in the New Testament we can then turn to the Old Testament to get a greater understanding and appreciation for that doctrine.

In Genesis chapter 18 the Lord tells Abraham that He is about to destroy Sodom, where Abraham's nephew Lot lived. And Abraham said to the Lord in verses 23 and 25 - "Wilt Thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?.. Far be it from Thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are alike. Far be it from Thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" After saying this, Abraham began to, for lack of a better term, barter with the Lord. You know the account, Abraham asks the Lord if He'll destroy the city if there are fifty righteous within it, and the Lord says that He'll spare the city for fifty. Then Abraham asks if the Lord will destroy it if there are forty five righteous and the Lord says He will spare it for forty five. Then Forty, then thirty, then twenty, then ten, and the Lord says to Abraham that if there are ten righteous found within Sodom He will spare it on account of those ten. But there were not ten. So what happened? The Lord sent two angels into Sodom to warn Lot and his family that judgment was about to fall on the city and that they needed to escape. We read in Genesis 19:15-16 - "When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city." When Lot hesitated to escape the city the angels "seized" him and his wife and their daughters and brought them out of the city. This is a type of the rapture. Before the judgment of God fell on that wicked city the Lord seized the righteous out of it. In answer to Abraham's question, "shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Absolutely the Judge of all the earth will do right. There were not ten righteous in Sodom so the city was destroyed, but God did not slay the righteous with the wicked. Before His wrath fell on Sodom the righteous were seized by the hand and taken out. Peter takes this Old Testament account and applies it to us. In 2 Peter chapter 2, after talking about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and how the Lord rescued "righteous Lot" Peter says in verse 9 - "then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment." The Lord did what was right in the case of Lot. He rescued Lot before He poured out His wrath on Sodom and Gomorrah, and we can trust Him to do the same with us. This is a type of the pre-tribulation rapture.

Well, someone may say, what about Noah? He went through tribulation didn't he? Noah was preserved through tribulation, God protected him in tribulation. How do we explain this? I don't believe that Noah is a picture of the church, but rather of the Jewish nation. In Revelation chapter 7 the Lord raises up 144'000 Jewish evangelists to preach the gospel during the tribulation, and these witnesses are sealed, they’re protected by God through the tribulation. Peter says that Noah was a "preacher of righteousness." and that God preserved him through the flood. So I don't think that Noah is a type of the church. But if we go back one chapter we will see a type of the church in a man by the name of Enoch. In Genesis chapter 5 we're given a genealogy from Adam through Noah, and over and over again we read the words "and he died." Someone was born, he lived x number of years, begot so many sons and daughters and he died. Time and again we read that, but there is one outstanding exception. We come to verse 24 and we read - "Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." This is a type of the rapture. Enoch walked with God, he experienced close communion with his Creator, and in his constant fellowship with God he was raptured. Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him. Before God destroyed the world with a flood, He not only preserved Noah through the flood, but He also raptured Enoch. He took him so that he did not see death, and he did not experience the flood. 
Now, I know that there were several hundred years between the rapture of Enoch and the flood. This does not mean that there will be several hundred years between the rapture of the church and the tribulation. I've already said it, but I want to reemphasize this point, Old Testament types are not an exact foretelling of New Testament truths. They are merely pictures to aid in our understanding. The flow of the narrative here in Genesis 5-6 is very quick. In just reading through this we read of the rapture of Enoch and then the immediately afterward we are given the account of the flood. We know there is a large gap here but in the flow of the narrative we have a picture or a type of the end times. 

One more illustration is found in Daniel chapter 3, you'll be familiar with it. In Daniel chapter 3 we have quite an amazing type of the tribulation period. Nebuchadnezzar was a powerful ruler over the entire world, a type of the anti-christ. Nebuchadnezzar built an image and demanded that everyone worship it, just like antichrist does in Revelation 11 through 13. The statue that he constructed was 60 feet high, 6 feet wide, and 6 instruments were played to signal the worshiping of that image. That's 666, does that sound familiar? In Revelation 13:18 we're told that the number of anti-christ is six hundred and sixty six. So Nebuchadnezzar constructed this statue and demanded that at the sound of the instruments all the people were to bow down and worship the image which he had made. Well, you know the account, not everyone did. Three Hebrew children, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, more commonly known by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, refused to disobey the Law of God. They knew that they must obey God rather than men no matter what the cost. These three Hebrews, like Noah, are a picture, a type of the Jewish nation during the tribulation, because remember what happens, when these Hebrews wouldn't bow down Nebuchadnezzar commanded that the furnace be made 7 times hotter. Does that number ring a bell? The tribulation period is 7 years. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were cast into the furnace of blazing fire that was heated 7 times hotter than usual, but miraculously the in the midst of the fire God preserved them. Christ Himself appears with them in the midst of the fire and protects them through the tribulation just as He will with the Jewish nation in the midst of the coming tribulation. But you'll notice in this account that there is a glaring omission. Where is Daniel? He is the title character of the book but he is missing in this account. Was he bowing down before the statue? Certainly not! We know by his character throughout the book that he couldn't have been doing such a thing. So where was he? We don't know. We're not told. Many speculate that because of his high position in the government he may have been sent as a diplomat to another land, and that could be. But the point is that Daniel is missing. He is out of the story before the tribulation. I believe that this is another type of the rapture. Before the image is erected and the people are commanded to bow down, before the furnace is heated seven times hotter and the Jews cast in, Daniel is taken out. He's taken out of the story, just as the church will be taken out before the tribulation.

I know that none of these types are a perfect picture of the rapture and that we could go through and find holes in any one of them, but this is why we are never to establish doctrine based on types. These are simply to help us in our understanding and appreciation of the doctrines that we know to be true.

Romans 15:4 - "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."