Wrath of God 2
Now keep in mind that I only proved last week that the rapture does not have to happen before the tribulation. We have proved last week about the wrath, that it is just after the tribulation. But all we know so far is that the rapture is before that event, based on I Thessalonians 5:9:
9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation (this word means “deliverance”) by our Lord Jesus Christ
But how much before the wrath for the rapture? I laid a strong hint that it was at the end of the 6th seal, based on Revelation 6:12,13, 15-17:
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth… 15 And the… great men… and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
But I’d like a second scripture, but not in this short paper. Read my three blogs on the subject; there you’ll find one, I believe. You may ask, since the wrath is after the 6th seal, we could ask, Is the rapture before the 5th seal? No, the souls of the saved martyrs are still there, and not raptured. Is the rapture before the tribulation, everyone wants to know.
Well, we have a second proof that explicity shows the rapture is not before the tribulation. There is only one Scripture that points to that: II Thessalonians 2:1, 3-4:
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him (i.e., the real rapture)…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; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
There is no question that this speaks again of the tribulation, considering what it says about the “man of sin” and the word “revealed.” Clearly the Antichrist. Further, it speaks of the rapture– the word “coming” and “gathering together” are typical rapture words. But then it’s explicitly saying, rapture cannot happen until the man of sin is revealed. And when is he revealed? After at least 3-1/2 years of the tribulation. Here’s Daniel 9:27 again to remind you:
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one seven: and in the middle of the seven he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Remember, he’s not revealed until he desecrates the holy of holies in the restored Jewish temple—at the midpoint. That means we’re stuck in the tribulation until at least the 4th seal of Revelation, or after 3-1/2+ years. Remember at the beginning of Revelation 6, when we suggested the first seal was deception? Well, the Antichrist arrives on a “white horse,” allegorically, and wearing a crown, which suggests the return of Jesus, but look what happens afterward—wars, famine, and death of Christian citizens. That’s in no way Jesus–that was an effort at deception. He uses that deception to consolidate his power, and is pretending to be a friend of the Jews while he is otherwise occupied, solidifying his political position, and subtly fomenting wars. But…he is revealed when he commits abomination (placing an idol of himself in the holy of holies, etc) and surrounds Jerusalem by his armies to kill as many of them as he can, so they are urged to “flee for their lives.” They (and we) have already suffered the “beginning of sorrows,” seals 1-3, with wars and its effects, famine and plagues. And the second half of the tribulation shows who he really is—a man of exceeding hatred. He begins hunting us down. Killing the Jews and us.
So, these verses definitively say that Christians (and Jews) will have to suffer tribulation and persecution and mass murder before we/they get raptured. So this is the time period when we are raptured before the wrath. It adds to the idea that it’s at the 6th seal. So we’re hiding to avoid persecution and even being murdered for the Lord. Don’t think for a minute that this is only for the Jews to suffer. Christians and saved Jews are all the “seed” of Abraham. (Romans 3:28-30; 11:13-20), and when it says “elect,” that always includes Gentiles. .
These II Thess. verses are again proof positive that the pretribulation idea is wrong—and more to the point, it is heresy. I use such a strong word because of the effect that believing in this particular eschatological (future things) doctrine has on people when they find out it’s wrong. At least when the Antichrist begins his murderous rampage, they will be sure that they are in the tribulation—and haven’t been raptured yet. So they will be enormously disappointed in their pastors who teach it as truth, when it is a false doctrine. Their disappointment could very likely increase to apostasy, or falling away from the faith, also mentioned above as happening. (For you “once saved, always saved” Calvinists, this falling away from the faith is in my blog elsewhere). Since they are confused and don’t trust their religious leaders, they would be easy prey for deception. They might even seek “truth” in some form of witchcraft, like tarot cards, “talking” to the dead, following false prophets, etc. All leading them into Satan’s control. I’m saying this doctrine could lead more people to end their lives heading for Hell. Wouldn’t you be averse to a doctrine that has questionable Scriptural basis and such clear negative effects as this? Wouldn’t you want to study it deeply? Can you just say, “Well, I believe in “pan-rapture,” whatever it is, it’ll just “pan out” in the end. You can’t, on this important subject. But are you prepared rightly for the future? I mean, have you explained it to your spouse and children, so they can be prepared? Do you know it enough to be calm when you see wars, and the Antichrist strutting his stuff? Wouldn’t you even know when you saw the seven-year covenant at the beginning of the 7 years that you were taught wrong? How will you react in all this turbulence, knowing finally that God’s future is actually mapped out clearly in His Word?
When the pretribulationists use their favorite Scriptures, like I Corinthians 15 or I Thessalonians 4:16-17:
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: 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.
The problem is, this verse gives you no clue about WHEN this happens. So the pretribulationists say it’s before the tribulation; does the Bible say that? No, these verses could be anywhere in the chronology. So some people have picked “before the tribulation.” I can easily choose another time. You see what my problem is? II Thess. 2:1-4 clearly says that it will happen in the tribulation. That we will suffer the worst persecution ever; we may be asked if we want to give our life for our Lord. Are you ready for that? Get closer to your God a prepare your mind for that Now. As II Corinthians 13:5 says:
5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? (i.e., reprobates means unsaved.)
It happens that 36% of people are under pastors which teach pre-tribulation, according to a recent Gallup survey. That’s a LOT of people who are primed for deception when that day comes. Study it NOW, not in the future, when you will have to choose between not buying food at the grocery. This is Heaven or Hell. Death or Hell.
Pretribulationists’ beliefs also depend on certain actions of “the restrainer.” He/he has been restraining evil, but in the End Times, he/He will be asked to stop. Obviously, as a result, the outpouring of evil will vastly increase, resulting in the tribulation.
Here is how they figure it: One of the powers of the Holy Spirit is to restrain evil. Through acting in us. So they believe that the Holy Spirit is the restrainer, in us. But the restrainer will be asked to stop and leave. That conveniently leads to a pretrib conclusion that if the Holy Spirit leaves, we will leave too. And since the tribulation involves a gigantic increase in the outflow of evil—that strongly suggests he will have left by then; so we will leave before the tribulation too.
The only verses that pretribulationists are taking all this from is in II Thessalonians 2:6-7:
6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he/He who now restrains will do so until he/He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume…
First, the mention of capitalizing “He” (which suggests the Holy Spirit) instead of “he.” This is the translator’s and publisher’s choice, since Greek used all capital letters. So did God’s Word mean He or he—you can’t tell. It may be a person, or a Person.
Second, the restrainer is not named. Pretribulationists chose the Holy Spirit. Could they have done that to buttress their position that the rapture must happen before the tribulation? That’s what their doctrine is, but we don’t know if they made the right choice of the Holy Spirit, because we don’t know who is the restrainer. There are many other possibilities for the restrainer. One suggestion is Michael the archangel. We found him battling Satan in Revelation 12:7 last week. To his (and possibly help from other angels) degree of success, he restrains evil. If you think less of him as only one person, and couldn’t do the job, keep in mind that one angel killed 185,000 evil men in one night. The angels might be doing an outstanding job as restrainers now.
In Daniel 12, we see Michael as a watchdog, a protector, also a restrainer’s role:
“At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation…
This reference to ‘time of trouble” is a Jewish term that definitely points to the tribulation. But it doesn’t say that Michael is told to step off, or that he is he restrainer. If Michael is the restrainer in II Thess. 2:7, then God could ask him to leave (Why would He do that?—another subject; I do touch on it later). All this is saying, the restrainer could be Michael instead of the Spirit. If it was Michael, when he leaves, we could still be here. So the Spirit would still be around in us, and able to help us and spread the Gospel, and save more people.
Thirdly, pretribulationalists’ timing of the restrainer’s leave-taking is off; see Rev. 12:8. The verse says something restrains, is taken out of the way, “and then” the lawless one will be revealed. So we conclude that if you are a pretribulationist, the restrainer (Holy Spirit) is not going away—or, we are not going away—until the lawless one is revealed—but this starts 3-1/2 years after the tribulation starts, as we have seen. So the Holy Spirit restrainer doesn’t necessarily pull us out from the tribulation, does He?
Fourthly, pretribulationists believe that people will be saved during the tribulation, right? Scripture evidences that—see Revelation 7:9ff last week. But if the Holy Spirit is removed before the tribulation, how will anyone during the Tribulation be saved? As mostly Calvinists, you have to believe that the Holy Spirit must move in people before they can search for God. But if there is no preaching the Gospel, no one to give testimony, how is anyone saved?
As my personal comment, I must say, I am offended by the effect this doctrine has, since they really want to “take off” before things get bad—and leave our relatives and friends behind, totally lost, and having no clues about what happens next, believing some wild story perhaps about UFOs kidnaping people. They desperately need, more than ever, our help in guiding them away from fear, together with prayers. We could convert many. But the idea that we would take off at that most pressing time? To me, we would be AWOL. It would be an abandonment of what we could do to help. Believing this would mean we are simply comforting ourselves that we expect to avoid suffering, but our friends and relatives—oh, well. This would be callous.
Another point: Pretribulationists ask, Why is the “church” not mentioned in Revelation after John (a member of the church) is mentioned in chapter 4? Isn’t it because they’ve been raptured out of it? My answer: First, a definition: The Greek word for church is ekklesia. It means “assembly” or “gathering of called-out ones,” referring to a group of saved people. Not buildings.
My detail is (I hope you remember these we covered before):
- In Revelation Chapter 7, we read of the great multitude in Heaven who will be killed in the tribulation. They were church, they were called-out ones; see also the word “elect” used for God’s chosen ones, referring again to His church.
- In Chapter 12, we read how the church will experience the tribulation, which is described as the war that the dragon (Satan) will wage against those who hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
- The church is also mentioned in the verses found in Chapters 6, which describe how God’s people will be killed in the tribulation just as the Martyrs in heaven were also killed.
- In Chapter 15:1-2 we read about those slain who will be victorious over the Beast, the Antichrist.
I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. And I saw… those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. Note: those who are “victorious” are those who maintain their testimony even to the point of death (Rev. 12:11), speaking again of the church.
- The church is mentioned explicitly (vs. implied in 1-4) in Revelation 22:16:
16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
- I think the reason the word “church” is not explicit in the tribulation is because of the great apostasy; only a remnant of churches and denominations remain. They were in hiding, so they didn’t ”have services.” They didn’t act like churches do today, as we think of the word—so it’s better to not use the word.
One more point—”keep thee” in Rev. 3:10. Normal translation:
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Pretribulationists believe that God will keep us out of the ”hour of temptation,” the being ”tried”—by escaping at the rapture. But…
The Base Greek word for keep is “tereo,” which means ”watch over” or “preserve” or “reserve.” (From W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary, a reputed work.) No suggestion of it as “leave” or “escape.” Defining it as a rapture is a mistake. Protection can come without moving out of the disaster area, but protecting us through it. A better translation is the NLT for Rev. 3:10:
Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world.
Thus we’re here during the tribulation, and many are protected. This still does not mean no one is killed. I’m thinking of why God wouldn’t perform a miracle of raising us from the dead right after our martyrdom over and over. It could be that if only Christians were raised up, there would be again people who pretend to love Jesus, but only to be raised up—and save their hide. God would want everyone to show whether they are truly loyal to Him, or–faking it. He hopes that when some see how sinful they are that they’ve been faking Christianity, and are thinking only of themselves, they will repent and realize that heaven and hell are real, and they truly cling to Him. But that’s not my main point here. In any event, with the proper definition of the word, another pretribulationist effort to try to escape by rapture is wrong.
One last thing: Imminence. Pretribulationists have this doctrine of imminence, which means that the rapture has no prophetic signs beforehand. It could happen tomorrow. They say that if we all think about this, we will live a more meaningful life. We will all be on better behavior too; we wouldn’t want Jesus to come while we are thinking or doing something sinful, against His commands. Also, if we were looking intently for certain signs, we would unnecessarily focus on that, and we would be anxiety-ridden.
My answer to that is, first, imminence is destroyed, no question. We look for the covenant of Daniel 9:27, and we can then expect war and famine. So that’s a guideline on what to do—gather extra food or move to a place that we can farm, and “off the grid.” It needs to be away from the wartime nations. When we see the Antichrist reveal himself, we know what to do: Get ready to give our life for the Lord, preach to our friends—or flee to a place that’s isolated from the Antichrist, like Petra (near Israel). Sounds wild, but I suspect there will be lots of Christian communities there.
God never leaves His people in ignorance. He gives many signs about the future in the Bible, so we can make an informed choice and count the cost of following Him (Amos 3:7). He gives those signs to His prophets—so it’s too bad for those cessationists who don’t believe in special signs anymore and won’t listen when they will do them. Joel 2:11b, 28, and 31 are about the last days and predict a revival of these signs that pastors love to dismiss:
11… the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?… I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions…31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
Revelation is interesting in that it makes this promise in 1:3 that no other book does:
Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein…
Sure, we are blessed if we read Any book of His Word, but none of them say this in a promise. Let’s take advantage of it; read Revelation intently a dozen or so times, taking notes. I promise it will start to clear up some confusion. (PS: ask for the Holy Spirit to help, not commentarians. They usually have a prejudiced leaning on a critical verse that’s pushed by a denomination or a publishing house. God bless you as you work toward “being a Berean.” I hope I have helped.
