The Pre Trib Rapture
Created Modified or Updated 02/04/12
"All references are KJV unless otherwise stated"
This study has 8 pages
If you are Looking for Biblical answers on the web! Please be careful!
My friend there is lots of good information on the web; as well as a lot of down right heresies, heresies because some folks do not feel a need to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Paul told Timothy to rightly divide the Word of Truth, that is to separate Paul's gospel from the other gospels. In other words separate law and grace. The pre-trib rapture is one subject that gets a lot of negative attention; because folks do not use right division they only think they are talking about the rapture when in fact they may be talking about Christ's second coming. My friend the gospel has changed from time to time and these times of change are called dispensations. We must know who is talking and to whom, at what time, what comes before and what follows after.
For example: God's rules changed twice in the life of Adam, Noah,Abraham, Moses and Paul. Now, let's get this one thing straight, the only person who can talk or write about the rapture? Is the apostle Paul. The Lord Jesus Christ revealed the rapture to the apostle Paul alone from heaven. Therefore Paul is the only apostle that can writes about the rapture.
1Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Corinthians 15:52 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.
1Thessalonians 4:16 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:
1Thessalonians 4:17 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.
Many writers today go straight to Matthew 24 and the words of Jesus, to talk about the rapture. For example: Jesus said, there will be one taken and one left behind, but my friend that is not the rapture at all! The one taken in this passage is taken away in judgment just like in the days of Noah. The ones taken were taken away in the flood they were taken in judgment. The ones left behind were Noah and his family in the Ark of safety. When Jesus walked here on this earth He never spoke of the rapture, no! not one word!
Jesus only spoke to the Jews of His second coming, and my friend His second coming is not the rapture! In the rapture the Lord Jesus comes in the clouds, His feet do not touch down on the Mount of Olives as they do in the second coming. If you do not go to the right place for information then your information is flawed or false. Actually there are times when a little supposed knowledge can get you into a whole lot of trouble. Especially when right division is not used. The rapture is one such subject, only Paul writes about the rapture of the Church the body of Christ. But the Lord Jesus spoke only to the Jews about His second coming and as I said before that is not the rapture.
The gospel that Paul preached was hid in the mind of God before the world began. God saved the apostle Paul and revealed the mystery which contains the rapture. When you go to the web for the gospel be careful! The rapture is not an old testament truth nor is it found in the four gospels. Jesus never spoke of the rapture, because it was still hid in the mind of God, it was not revealed, until the Lord Jesus Christ revealed it to the apostle Paul from heaven, Paul wrote about the rapture to the church the body of Christ. If you are not a member of the body of Christ you will miss the rapture!
May I suggest that the information that we find on the web; we must follow Paul's instructions to Timothy and use the principal of right division! Scriptural right division is dividing truth from truth, but secular right division would be divide truth from error. The point I am trying to make is the entire Bible is truth, but you must know to whom the Scriptures are speaking, at what time and so on. But the writings of men are not that way; there are many different opinions and many are very careless with the truth. God the Holy Spirit is the Author of the Bible, He used some forty writers but the Words are His.
I hope this does not confused you. When you divide scriptural truth from scriptural truth then you are making a dispensational distinction. Something that is true for one dispensation may not be necessary for another dispensation. Example: don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Or build an Ark. There are many other examples but I'll stop here for now.
Have you ever been studying a subject or just thinking of a passage in the Scriptures, and go to the web hoping to find a bit more information? But, some how you are unable to find a reliable writer for that subject. Many times writers use the wrong starting and ending points in history. The pre-trib-rapture is just one such subject. May I give you an absolute?" Only Paul writes about the rapture! Because, God gave rapture information to the apostle Paul alone! Please remember, if it is not Pauline, it is not the rapture.
Please note: According to 2Timothy 3:16 all Scripture is given by inspiration of God in dispensational packages. For the Jews, it was the dispensation of Law, Prophecy, Covenant promises. These things are all found in the gospel of the kingdom that the prophets and the Lord Jesus Christ and the twelve preached. But the Gentiles had no part in any of these. They finally received the gospel of the grace of God after the salvation of Saul of Tarshish. Paul got every word from the risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ in heaven.
My friend the Gentiles were never under the law, but they were made guilty by the law. But now, God has chosen the apostle Paul to bring this truth to the Gentiles. God gave the Gentiles a new dispensation that He calls the dispensation of the grace of God. Once more the Gentiles are still not under the law,nor can they ever be; they are under God's pure grace. The Gentiles received a completely different set of house rules because they are not part of the Commonwealth of Israel. You can not mix these two groups, one group is law and the other is grace, their promises are different.
In Acts chapter 9 with the salvation of Saul, Christ made of the Jew and the Gentile one new man in Himself. Then He removed the law and its effects from all mankind in Acts 28:28 through the apostle Paul. The Lord Jesus Christ set the gospel of the kingdom aside, He replaced it with the gospel of the grace of God. But, again it will revert back to the kingdom gospel during the tribulation. God only used one writer for the gospel of the grace of God, and that writer was the apostle Paul.
God used Moses to write the Scriptures before the law was given. Moses did not use notes and stories around the campfire as some say; every Word was Holy Spirit inspired. Moses wrote as the Holy Spirit moved him to write; Moses delivered God's moral law to the children of Israel on tablets of stone. God chose the apostle Paul to delivered the gospel of the grace of God to His new church the body of Christ's on parchment and scrolls, directly from the Lord Jesus Christ for all men.
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
"Miles Coverdale" (1488 – 1568)
It will help you to understand the Scriptures, if you mark not only what is said or written, but of whom or to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstances,considering what goes before and what follows after.
Miles Coverdale, was the first man to translate the entire Bible into the English language. While the Bible is the inspired Word of God and is an accurate record of events and sayings of men, we must remember: All Scripture is for me. But it is not all addressed to me nor is it all written about me.
Once more I repeat that in Matthew 24:40 the one that was taken, was taken in judgment, not up to meet the Lord in the air. Christ said, it would be as in the days of Noah where the ones taken was taken away by the flood, taken away in judgment not into the Ark of safety. I was browsing the web checking out different so called Christian writers when I found a man writing about the pre-trib rapture, so I began to read.
Much to my disappointment, after I read a little over one paragraph then I quickly recognized that this man was confused, he was writing from the wrong dispensational point of view. He was referring to the wrong Scriptures for the rapture. At the time when Christ walked on earth the rapture was still a secret hid in the mind of God even before the world began. The rapture was not revealed until the Lord Jesus Christ saved Paul and revealed it to him from heaven. That is why, it is so important for us to rightly divide the Word of Truth.
Do not let anyone deceive you! the rapture is a Pauline truth that only Paul could write about, it was not in prophecy. These next five verses are the verses that so many folks want to call rapture verses. But they definitely are not rapture verses. They are second coming verses.
Matthew 24:40-44:
v40. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
v41. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
v42. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
v43. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
v44. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
But, for the umpteenth time the ones taken were taken in judgment the ones left will go into the millennial kingdom, my friend I hope you can now see that these verses have absolutely nothing to do with the rapture of the church, in fact these verses will not happen until at the very least seven years after the rapture. Furthermore these are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, describing His second coming to setup His kingdom. During Christ's kingdom reign all unbelievers will be removed from the earth in judgment before Christ's Earthly Kingdom starts.
The following verses are the real rapture verses given to the apostle Paul.
1Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Corinthians 15:52 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.
This is not the last trump in Revelation, it is the last trump in the dispensation of the grace of God, the parentheses are now removed.
1Thessalonians. 4:16 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:
1Thessalonians 4:17 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.
1Thessalonians 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
This clearly says, the church which is called His body was not appointed to wrath.
Romans 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
The church the body of Christ, will be caught up to be with the Lord in the air where we shall ever be with Him. The rapture is not a spectacle for all to behold it is a silent catching away of the church the body of Christ. It will take place before the tribulation can begin . In Romans, Christ says that we are saved from the wrath to come. Christ said it, and Paul wrote it.
Paul writes to the body of Christ:
Here is a very important point to ponder: You cannot explain nor explain away the apostle Paul's gospel using the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, the two books of Peter and the 5 books of John or the books of James or Jude. These seven men are kingdom writers under the law, they write to and for the nation Israel. But, all of these things were written for our learning. Paul is the only man that God chose to write to and for the body of Christ in the dispensation of the grace of God.
Therefore only Paul writes about the rapture. Again if it is not Pauline it is not the rapture. Never forget Paul got his information directly from the risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. The other writers were not inspired to write about something they knew nothing about. Actually the rapture has nothing to do with the Jews under the law; their gospel is the gospel of the kingdom and their new abode will be the new Earth.
May I suggest that if the apostle Paul is the only writer for the dispensation of the grace of God concerning the rapture of the church, then isn't it reasonable to say that we should study Paul's writings to learn about the rapture? Paul writes to the Gentiles and all of his words come directly from the risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. Let's not get the rapture and the second coming mixed up, without right division it is a very easy thing to do. By revelation the Lord Jesus Christ laid out for the apostle Paul, how the church the body of Christ would be removed from the earth.
The rapture, the departure or the catching away of the church the body of Christ will come first and then, the end will come. When I first became a Christian many years ago, I thought these two events, the second coming and the rapture were exactly the same. But with just a little study and above all the use of right division just as Paul told Timothy. I found these two events to be completely separate and altogether different and they will be at least seven years apart. In the second coming, the Lord Jesus Christ's feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives. In the rapture He will catch us up and meet us in the air!
The trumpet shall sound and the Lord Jesus Christ will catch us up to meet Him in the air. At that time He will not come to earth. He will take us before the Bema seat of Christ to receive our rewards for things done in the body.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 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.
Why do so many theologians continue to try an discredit the apostle Paul? Haven't they ever read 2Cor.4:3-4
2Corinthians 4:3-4
v3. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
v4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Well I think I may have just answered my own question! If Paul's message has no value then 2Cor.4:3-4 would be a mute point! Back again to the last trumpet, the trumpet sound and call us unto Him. Once again this is not the last trump of Revelation, it is the last trumpet of the dispensation of the grace of God. Furthermore this trumpet can not be found in any other Scriptures because it was hid in the mind of God before the world began. It was brought to light when Christ revealed it to the apostle Paul alone from heaven. Therefore no other writer could have written about it. The secret of the rapture was hid in the mind of God. Please note: God deals with His secrets this way:
Deuteronomy. 29:29 The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever,...
I omitted the last part of verse 29 because we are not under the law. Christ nailed the law to His cross.
This Is Our Blessed Hope
1 Thessalonians. 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1 Corinthians 15:52 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.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 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;
2Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Falling away is not the best translation for 2Thess.2:3, a better one would be departure. Did you know that a good many of our troublesome passages are caused by the translators?
Here is The Basic Gospel:
1Corinthians 15:1-4
v1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
v2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
v3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
v4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
How do we know that we need Paul's gospel?
Romans 16:25.
v25. Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
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