Last Days, End Times: The Rapture, Part 2 of 2 - By Tom Tillman - https://www.raptureready.com/2020/01/31/last-days-end-times-rapture-part-2-2-tom-tillman/
Some believe the study of Last Things, the Rapture in particular, is a relatively unimportant subject and not as useful to a Christian's growth as other areas of study. In reality, it is a most important area to study and understand. Our clear understanding of the Rapture is the thing that should, more than anything else, inspire us to live lives pleasing to God in every way; the understanding that we will be taken up to meet Him at any moment should cause us to walk circumspectly and carefully in all we do.
John and Paul call the Rapture our 'blessed hope.' John says, "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:2).
Paul: "looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13).
Our hope is not in the Rapture; the Rapture is simply the vehicle used to draw us up to our blessed hope who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our hope is in Him; we believe Him that He will do for us all that He has promised; and the first thing we will receive in the final installment of our Eternal Salvation will be our new, eternal, glorified bodies, like His own, which will be ours, in the twinkling of an eye, at the Rapture.
We are living in the time just prior to the Rapture; the time which demands a careful understanding of all of God's Word, especially regarding the study and understanding of Last Things. It's in virtually every book!
Jesus' return for us, His Bride, will happen at any moment, without any warning; no other prophecy needs to be completed before He comes for us, which could even be now.
When we understand and believe this truth, we are much more likely to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and worthy of the calling we have received (Col. 1:10; Eph 4:1).
Some hold to an understanding that the Rapture will happen around halfway through the Tribulation, a belief which they call 'pre-wrath' - that the Rapture will occur before God's Wrath is poured out. They believe that does not happen until the midway point of the Tribulation. The judgments and plagues which happen before that point, they call 'Satan's Wrath,' and that 'God's Wrath' doesn't begin until the midway point of the Tribulation.
Now what about that 'wrath' which some believe does not begin until well into the seven-year tribulation... and that the Rapture does not happen until then. Instead of a 'Pre-Tribulation' Rapture, they believe in a 'Pre-Wrath' Rapture; let's see where they say is the beginning of God's Wrath being poured out on the Earth:
In Rev 6:16, when the 6th seal is opened, there is a great earthquake and people have gone into caves to hide; it says, "and [they] said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?'"
The 'day of God's Wrath' - just because unsaved men in the midst of the Tribulation say that the day of God's Wrath has 'now' begun, doesn't mean it's true. The day of God's Wrath, the Day of the Lord, encompasses the entire 7-year period of Daniel's '70th Week,' the Tribulation.
People's understanding of Revelation and the End Times becomes faulty if they refuse to accept and believe the most important aspect of the 7-year Tribulation: that it has nothing to do with the Church whatsoever. It is the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy of 70 Weeks; 70 x 7year periods. It is the time that God resumes and finishes His chastisement of Israel, His Own special, chosen nation, the only nation He created and chose just for Himself. Israel is not like any other nation on Earth, and all of Earthly history revolves around Israel alone. Israel is the Earthly people of God. We, the Church, are the Heavenly people of God. His work of saving and setting apart for Himself the chosen Bride for His Son was a finished and completed work at the Cross. Actually, it was a finished work in God's mind even before Creation.
Paul writes to Timothy: "[God] who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began" (2 Tim 1:9). When He finally finishes adding Gentiles and Jews to His Bride, the Lord Jesus Christ will come for us, remove us from the Earth, and then, and only then, will God resume and finish His work with Israel.
Revelation is the blueprint for the Tribulation. After Rev. chapter 3, the Church is gone from the Earth. There is no more mention of the Church, at all, until chapter 19 when we return with Him to Armageddon.
If we look at the first four Seal Judgments in the first part of Rev. chapter 6, it is obvious that God has been pouring out His Wrath on the World for quite some time before the 6th Seal is opened. In the first 4 Seals opened, we see the four horses and their riders... we see the Antichrist rising up in power conquering, peace being taken from the Earth at the very beginning of the 7-year Tribulation, great famine, and then death of 1/4 the World's population... God's wrath and judgment began to be poured out from the beginning of the seven-year tribulation, gradually increasing in intensity and ferocity.
If He was planning to leave His Bride in that terrible place and time, He would have warned us many times throughout the N.T. There is never any mention of such a thing.
If the Bride of Christ had been living in Sodom, isn't it obvious that He would have gone to rescue her before He destroyed the city like He did Lot? Was Lot more precious to Him than His Bride?
Rahab is also a picture of the Rapture. Rahab, in Jericho, received and hid the spies. Because of her faith in the God of the Israelites, she and all her family were rescued before destruction came to the city and all who were in it. She laid out a scarlet rope... a picture of Jesus' blood... and she became the bride of Salmon; she became the mother of Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David... Jesus Christ is the 'Son of David.'
Do you think Rahab the Harlot was more precious to Him than His Bride?
Salmon means 'garment.' Who is our garment of righteousness? Jesus Christ.
Rahab, who was rescued before Tribulation came to Jericho, became the bride of 'garment.'... another picture of the Bride of Christ being rescued before Tribulation.
The World will certainly be receiving Judgments from God during the first half of the Tribulation. The Bible often teaches us that God Rescues the Righteous... never judging them with the wicked.
In Luke 17:26-29, Jesus told us what to look for in the end times... He said, "And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all"...
(Nothing special happened to give any warning... eating, drinking, marrying... life as usual.) Jesus continues: "Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. " Again... no special warning whatsoever... no sign to look for... a complete surprise!
It's important to recognize that Jesus, in Luke 17 and Matthew 24, is telling us about two separate comings. One, He will only come down as far as the clouds, and it will be a complete surprise to the World. We, who are watching and waiting for His coming will not be completely surprised; it will be a marvelous shock, the moment it happens that we are instantly harpazoed upward. The first thing I think many of us will say as we are on our way up to meet Him in the clouds will be 'I knew it!!! This is what I've been waiting and watching for!' We won't be looking down, afraid of heights; we will be looking up at Him. We will see Him as He is and we will be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and we will be like Him! He will receive us unto Himself that where He is... there we will be also... with Him forever.
Both Noah and Lot... both the pre-flood world and after, Sodom & Gomorrah are types/pictures for the present sinful world system and our removal from it, before God's judgment of the world in the Tribulation.
Noah and his family were sealed into the Ark of safety before judgment came on the world.
We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, into our Ark of Safety, the Lord Jesus Christ.
They were taken up and away from the God's judgment in their Ark of safety.
We will be taken up and away from the judgment to come in our Ark of safety, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Lot was forcibly taken and removed out of and away from Sodom before judgment. He was forcibly taken out. The angel said to Lot, hurry! Move it! for I cannot do anything... I cannot bring judgment on Sodom until you are out of the way, out and away from here.
Do you see? God is saying through all these many examples that when He judges the World through the 7 years of the Tribulation, He will not begin until He has taken us up, out of and away from here and has carried us back to Heaven, to our Groom, the Lord Jesus Christ, to finally consummate our marriage to Him and then to enjoy our 7-year bridal week with our groom as He showers us with unimaginable eternal rewards, which we will have earned during our time while we've been waiting for Him.
If our attitude has been one of faithfully watching and waiting for His return... like a child or a puppy anxiously waits at the window searching for the first glimpse of Daddy's car coming around the corner... if that has been our attitude, Paul says that the Crown of Righteousness will be ours (2 Tim 4:8).
God never judges the righteous with the wicked, the saved with the unsaved... His children of light, with the children of darkness. In fact, no judgment awaits us except regarding our works and our rewards.
See, again, how Peter almost says the same thing that Jesus did: "For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah... bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked... then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of trials [out of and away from EK, the Greek word] and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment" (2 Peter 2:4-10).
Out of trials ... the same word again, EK!! Out of... away from... distance from a specific time and place.
He never punishes His children, and He will never judge Us. He corrects and disciplines His children because He loves us, but He never judges or punishes His children.
Peter was teaching us from Lot and Noah that this is God's character, not isolated incidents. It is to convey a general principle. The Greek word translated 'out of' is again... EK, meaning 'out of,' 'away from' the specific time and the specific place of the event described.
Isaiah 57:1: "The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil."
No word in any part of Scripture is there by accident. God says what He means, and He means what He says. Here, in Isaiah, the Hebrew word translated "taken away" is acaph: it means 'to gather in, receive, take away, remove and withdraw.' God will not allow the righteous to be punished with the wicked. Here, in Isaiah, He says the righteous are gathered in, received, taken away, removed and withdrawn... to be spared from evil.
Enoch was raptured up, out of and away from... before the flood.
"Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him" (Gen 5:21-24).
Noah and his family rode in the Ark, up and out, away from... before the flood.
Lot was forcibly taken up, out of and away from Sodom, a picture of the World before destruction.
The Revelation teaches us of the Rapture: Revelation is divided, by God, into 3 distinct sections: Chapter 1; Chapters 2-3; Chapters 4-22.
In Rev. 1:11, The Lord Jesus Christ says to John, "What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia." In Rev. 1:19, He says, "Write the things which you have seen [1] and the things which are [2] and the things which will take place after this" [3].
The things you have seen: In chapter 1, John saw the Lord Jesus Christ glorified in Heaven.
The things which are: Chapters 2-3... the times of the Church Age... Us, the Church... the 7 letters to the 7 specific churches of that time, that also represent a map of the entire time of the Church, about 2,000 years.
And then, the things which will take place 'after this,' after the time of the Church Age... that is, the 7-year Tribulation and then the Millennium and then Eternity.
(John saw the Lord Jesus Christ glorified: "I saw One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters" (Rev 1:13). "We will see Him as He is and we shall be like Him" (1 John 3:2).
The things which are: Rev 2-3... Seven letters to seven churches... seven specific churches... at that time... but also prophetically... concerning different time periods of the entire church age... from beginning to end... starting with the Church at Ephesus, representing the current Church of John's time.
The last 2 Churches, Philadelphia and Laodicea, represent our time.
Philadelphia... the true Church of the last days.
Laodicea... the Apostate, falling away Church we see all around us.
The Church at Philadelphia is often called The Church of the Rapture because of the Lord's promise to keep us from the hour of trial that's going to come upon the whole world. "Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly!" (Rev. 3:10-11). That trial then begins in the next chapters.
Notice that He does refer to His Wrath or Judgment... but He includes all of it by referring to it as simply... the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole World... Then He says, Behold I am coming quickly!
This is the Lord's personal confirmation to John... to the Church... to us...of a pre-tribulation Rapture.
There is no such promise of rescue to Laodicea, the apostate, fallen away Church we see all around us today.
The 7 years of the Tribulation, in Revelation and Daniel, is the culmination of the great prophecy in Daniel 9, the '70 weeks of Daniel': the prophecy of the history of God's dealings with Israel. The 7-year Tribulation is the 70th week of that plan. But in that gap of time, nearly 2,000 years between the end of the 69th week and the beginning of the 70th week, God planned to establish and grow the Church, the Bride He had chosen for His Son. That gap of time between the 69th and 70th 'weeks,' in which the Church has lived and grown, will end when God is ready to begin His final 7 years of dealing with Israel for her sin and rejection of their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are His body, and He has promised to take us home before He finishes His work with Israel and judges the whole World. We will study the 70 Weeks of Daniel later.
(Something we overlook, because God has been so gracious with us in His complete grace, mercy, patience and forgiveness of all our sin - all praise and thanks to Jesus Christ's finished work on the Cross: that same grace and mercy is not poured out on Israel. He has been scourging them for 2,000 years because of their rejection and crucifixion of His Son, and He will finish that work during the 7 years of the Tribulation. He has never fully rejected or thrown them aside, but He has preserved them until His final work of the salvation of Israel at His return at Armageddon.)
After those first three chapters of Revelation, after the time of the Church in Chapters 2-3, it says in Rev. 4:1, "After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, 'Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.'" Notice that God's voice is like a trumpet.
After these things... After what? After the time of the Church on the Earth. John sees an open door; the voice says, 'Come up here!' After that, there is no more mention of the Church at all throughout the entire tribulation period. After the Church is gone from the Earth, it's all Tribulation... all Israel... until Jesus Christ returns at the battle of Armageddon... accompanied by us... the Church, His Bride and His Saints.
During all the rest of The Revelation, the entire book... God finishes His dealing with Israel... Not the Church. We are gone; He will have completed all His dealings with the Church. Jews and Gentiles will believe during the Tribulation but they are not part of the Church, and most will be killed for their faith. They are the ones to whom Jesus said, "He who stands firm to the end will be saved."
When we study Daniel chapter 9... the 70 weeks of Daniel... we will see even more clearly how all of Rev. chapters 4-19 is God's completion of His dealings of chastising and scourging of Israel... a 7-year period, the final week of the '70 weeks' Vision given to Daniel... the final 7-year period with absolutely no mention of the Church at all... only Israel.
If the Church were going to go through the Tribulation, even part of it... isn't it obvious that Paul would have warned us, prepared us, instead of telling us to be comforted?
Now we come to another obvious and important proof that the Rapture will take place before the Tribulation.
In Rev 4, John is taken up into the throne room of God where He sees God the Father seated on His throne and where he receives the rest of the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John:
Rev 4:2-4, "Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads."
Here, John is giving us 4 more proofs of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.
Who are these Elders and why are they here? The obvious answer is that probably... 12 represent Israel... maybe patriarchs and/or prophets... and 12 represent the Church... maybe the 11 disciples and Paul.
There have been other visions of God's throne room to other prophets, but none saw these 24 Elders.
I Kings 22:19, "Then Micaiah said, 'Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left....'" No extra thrones and no 24 elders.
Isaiah 6:1-3, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple... The angels cried: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!'" Neither Micaiah nor Isaiah see extra thrones or 24 elders. They are not there yet in the O.T.
Ezekiel 1, Ezekiel sees a vision of God on His Throne; he saw the four living creatures, and he saw God sitting on His throne... but no extra thrones... and not the 24 elders.
Daniel however, unlike these previous 3 Prophets, is seeing into the same time as John: the Tribulation... and Daniel does see thrones and people seated on them in the throne room of Heaven.
Daniel and the Revelation go together but Daniel's vision was limited; he saw less than John.
Dan 7:2-8, 21, Daniel talks about seeing World kingdoms and about the rise of the Antichrist.
Daniel's vision of the Ancient of Days in verses 9-10:
"I watched till thrones were put in place,
And the Ancient of Days was seated;
His garment was white as snow,
And the hair of His head was like pure wool.
His throne was a fiery flame,
Its wheels a burning fire; [sounds like what John saw in Revelation]
A fiery stream issued
And came forth from before Him.
A thousand thousands ministered to Him;
Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. [100 million]
The court was seated, And the books were opened."
It appears that this court Daniel sees, which has been seated on thrones, are the 24 Elders John sees.
The court was seated... remember, we will rule and reign with Him.
Daniel continues: "I was watching; and the same horn [Antichrist] was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them" (verse 21). How do we know this isn't the Church being 'beaten'? Hold on...
Daniel continues in verses 24-26:
"The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom.
And another shall rise after them; [the Antichrist]
He shall be different from the first ones,
And shall subdue three kings. [the rise of the Antichrist]
He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,
He shall persecute the saints of the Most High,
And shall intend to change times and law.
Then the saints shall be given into his hand
for a time and times and half a time. [3 1/2 years]
But the court shall be seated,
And they shall take away his dominion, To consume and destroy it forever."
He, the Antichrist, will be judged by this court.
This vision is of the Tribulation and the Saints being persecuted and subdued are not the Church; they are the Tribulation Saints. How do we know?
Jesus said, "and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt 16:18).
The True Church is always victorious: "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ..." (2 Cor 2:14).
In the tribulation, there is no Church, and the gates of hell do prevail against the Saints, for a time, times and half a time... the final 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation.
Rev 4:4, The 24 elders: When John arrived at the throne room of God, he saw a group never before seen in any of the Bible's pictures of God's throne previous to the time of the Tribulation. Neither Isaiah, Ezekiel, nor Micaiah reported seeing any other thrones or any others seated in the throne room; and yet, Daniel and John, both seeing visions of the tribulation time, saw extra thrones and people seated on them.
Nothing in God's Word is by accident! Never forget that!
Who are they? They have thrones, so they are ruling and reigning. They surround the Throne of God, so they're assisting Him. We, the true Church, are the only ones to whom it is promised that we will rule and reign with Him for 1,000 years and forever.
Rev. 1:5 says, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."
Tribulation Saints, those martyred for their faith during the Tribulation, serve the Lord in His Temple (Rev 7:14). Theirs is a priestly role but they are never referred to as kings, never ruling.
Only the Church is given the status of royalty: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people..." 1 Pet. 2:9).
Only we are granted a seat at the Lord's side on His Throne:
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Eph 2:4-7).
"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. Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice:
'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!'
"And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:
'Blessing and honor and glory and power
Be to Him who sits on the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever and ever!'
"Then the four living creatures said, 'Amen!' And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever" (Rev 5:9-14).
We are the ones who are around the Throne, there in Rev. 5, worshipping God the Father and His Son, the Lamb of God. The plagues of the Tribulation have not yet begun. They all start in chapter 6.
We will come back to Revelation at a later time.
Paul writes to us, about us, in 1 Cor 6:2-3: "Do you not know that the saints [the Church] will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you [the Church], are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters [among yourselves]? Do you not know that we [the Church] shall judge angels?"
We will rule and reign with the Lord Jesus Christ forever; we will judge the World and we will judge angels.
The 24 Elders: they are dressed in white, designating righteousness.
We have been made righteous... by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
Rev 3:5, He [of the Church] who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments..."
Who is the overcomer? the true born-again Child of God.
"For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith" [Our saving faith]. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:4-5).
The 24 Elders are wearing crowns; they have already received their rewards from Jesus Christ.
Rev 22:12, "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work."
Remember... Salvation is free... we can't earn or deserve it... it is all God's work... However, rewards are always in relation to faithful service... different Crowns are part of different rewards.
They have heads that will hold crowns, so they have bodies which they received at the Rapture. This is important... Right now, in Heaven, Christians who've died are born-again, living Souls living within Spiritual bodies. Only Jesus Christ has been given His glorified Eternal Body. They, and we, will not receive our glorified, eternal bodies until the Rapture!
No one in Heaven now, except Jesus Christ, has a physical head able to hold a crown.
Paul said this clearly to Timothy: "Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing" (2 Tim 4:8).
Paul knew that when he died, he would go into the presence of the Lord. Remember, he said "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord," but he also knew that not until the Rapture would he receive his glorified physical body and the rewards that had been stored up for him, including his Crown of Righteousness... on that day! Now, here in Revelation 5, Paul is probably one of the 24 Elders with crowns on his head... now having his rewards and a physical body capable of holding those rewards.
Rev 5:9, "And they sang a new song..." [the song of the redeemed]. Never before has this song been sung by anyone because the redeemed have never before been in Heaven in fully redeemed bodies.
They, we, are singing...
"Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, 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'" (Rev 5:8-10).
This is the interim period after the Rapture but before any events of the Tribulation.
The Rapture: the Pretribulation Rapture is clearly taught throughout the writings of Paul, Peter, John, Jude, the Gospels... including Jesus and much of the Old Testament.
God wants us to understand this reality and to be patiently but expectantly watching and waiting for Jesus Christ to return for us in the clouds at any moment.
"Be ye therefore ready for in such an hour as you think not your lord cometh" (Matt 24:44).
"Surely I am coming quickly.' Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Rev 20:21). That is at the very end of the Bible
