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Rapture or Second Coming

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Reasons why I question the  timing of the Pre –Tribulation  Rapture.

  • Yeshua said the wheat and the weeds (tares) are to grow up together until the harvest (Matthew 13:30).  Yeshua defined the timing of the harvest as the end of the age (Matthew 13:39, 49).  He not only presented the parable, but He explained it. I don’t understand how anyone could think that this simple teaching of Yeshua can be overruled by a teaching that says in exact opposite that the wheat and the tares do not have to grow up together until the harvest. The wheat is not snatched away early.
  • Yeshua said those of His disciples who endure to the end will be saved.  The end He was talking about was the end of the age, because His disciples were asking Him what would be the sign of His coming and of the end of the age (Matthew 24:13).
  • Notice in the passage that Yeshua comes down from heaven. Now read Acts 3:21.   He must remain in heaven until the time comes for YHVH to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets (Acts 3:21).
  • He does not sneak away and then come back later with his saints.  The Word of YHVH says that Yeshua must remain in heaven until it is time to restore everything. All bible students are certain that YHVH does not restore everything before the Tribulation, therefore.
  • Yeshua warned His disciples that they would “see” the anti-Messiah (Matthew 24:15).  He is revealed in the middle of the 7 year time.
  • Yeshua said that “after the tribulation of those days”, He would gather His elect. The elect are defined not as natural Israel, but as the elect and chosen in Yeshua (Matthew 24:29, Romans 11:7).  Elect and chosen are from the same Greek root word.  So when we read of the “elect” and the “chosen” in the gospels, we are not reading about natural Israel but we are reading about the elect and chosen in Yeshua, a new creation of Jew and Gentile.  And when we read of His warnings to His disciples (His elect), we know we are not reading teachings directed to natural Israel but to His elect.  A week prior they were sharing Passover with him as his body and his bride to be.
  • What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened (Romans 11:7).
  • Yeshua said the great tribulation would be cut short for the sake of the elect — not for the sake of Israel — but for the sake of the elect. (Matthew 24:22).  It is cut short for the elect because they are in the great tribulation.
  • The harvest is presented in the book of Revelation as taking place just before the final bowls of YHVH’s wrath are poured out.  This agrees with Paul’s teaching that our gathering would take place at the last trumpet, and that we would be rescued just before YHVH’s wrath is poured out.  The Bible says Christians  are not appointed to wrath.  The saints are seen in heaven before the first bowl of wrath is poured out (Revelation 14:14-15:2).
  • Paul teaches that our gathering and rescue would take place on the day of the YHVH, and that day would not come until after the abomination of desolation (the antiMessiah) is revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:1-5).
  • Peter teaches that we are to look forward to the day of the YHVH and speed its coming (2 Peter 3:10-12).
  • The church at Thyatira is told by Yeshua that those who do not repent will be thrown into great tribulation (Revelation 2:22).  Clearly some of the church enters into great tribulation.  Yeshua will not allow any other conclusion.
  • Purified saints are seen coming out of Great Tribulation.  Out of great tribulation comes a great multitude who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:9-15). Some of these are surely members of the church at Thyatira.
  • Yeshua warns His disciples that they will be delivered into great tribulation (Matthew 24:9).
  • Saints are encouraged to endure and persevere during the great tribulation reign of the anti-Messiah  (Revelation 13:10).
  • Saints are turned over to the anti messiah system for the last 3-1/2 years of the age (Revelation 13:5-7).
  • Saints overcome Satan and his anti-Messiah system by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and by loving not their lives unto death (Revelation 12:11).
  • The book of Revelation is written to the churches and for the churches (Revelation 1:4, 22:16).  To argue that the church is not in view because the word “church” is not used is to use an argument of silence.  There are plenty of people groups in view in Revelation 6 through 19 which fit the description of the church.  They are identified by their relationship to Yeshua.
  • The bride is not ready until Revelation 19.  This is after great tribulation and after most of YHVH’s wrath has already been poured out (Revelation 19:7).  It has taken this long for her to get ready because some of the bride was undergoing purification in great tribulation.  When these saints emerge from great tribulation with their whitened robes, then they qualify as part of the bride company.
  • Regarding the great commission, Yeshua said He would be with His disciples until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).  Consequently the Holy Spirit will be with the disciples until the end of the age.
  • Yeshua said on this earth we would have tribulation and He counseled us to overcome through it (John 16:33; Revelation 1:9, 2:9-10; Romans 2:9, 5:3, 12:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:6).
  • Yeshua asked the The church at Philadelphia, which was promised to be kept from the hour of testing, was not raptured.  Being kept from the hour of testing does not prove or even imply rapture (Revelation 3:10).
  • The souls of those who live during the reign of the Anti Messiah and refuse his mark and are martyred for the witness of Yeshua and the word of YHVH are raised at the first resurrection.  And that first resurrection slightly precedes the rapture of the living who joined the resurrected dead in the air.
  • “Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them.   And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Yeshua and because of the word of YHVH, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Yeshua for a thousand years.  The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of YHVH and of Yeshua and will reign with Him for a thousand years (Revelation 20:4-6).”
  • The “priests of YHVH and of Yeshua” refers to the church, for the church is  spoken of as a “royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.”
  • And Paul says that those resurrected from the dead will precede those of us who are gathered alive when we all rise to meet Yeshua in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17).  There is no mention or evidence here of a pre-trib raptured group.  If you’re part of the church and you’re raptured, your rapture will not precede those who have died in Yeshua who rise up at the first resurrection.
  • Because if you were raptured earlier, then there would have to have been a prior “first” resurrection.
  • John 6,  Yeshua says in several verses that He will raise up those who are His on the “last day.” The last day is the last day.  It is not seven years prior.
  • In John 11:24,  Martha expresses her belief to Yeshua that her brother would be resurrected on the last day. In John 12:48, Yeshua said that those who reject His word would be judged by His word on the last day.

Hopefully you will all “look at your lives and examine yourself “whether you are in the faith?  Will you be counted worthy to escape all these things?    Stay alert and watch.

Richard A Volunteer.