THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE

THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE IS THE ONLY REASONABLE EXPLANATION OF A TIME WHEN SOME ARE TAKEN AND SOME ARE LEFT!               By Pastor Joseph Chambers

   No sensible explanation can be given of St. Matthew 24 that excludes the warning of a sudden rapture that catches men unprepared. Jesus warned of the suddenness of that day, that only the Father knows the time and that the day was as Noah’s day, where men were eating, drinking, and giving in marriage. Then He said, “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” (St. Matthew 24:40-41) He concluded the warning by saying: “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” (St. Matthew 24:42)

To try to rearrange the Lord’s teachings and explain away this great truth borders on arrogance. When we suggest that the one being taken away is the wicked and the believer is left, then where is the wicked taken, and for what is the believer left? Any such explanation will be hard put to fit into the pattern of events. The word for “COMING” as used in this context is the Greek “PAROUSIA” not “APOLALUPSIS”. When “PAROUSIA” is used it means a coming to a specific place at a specific time for a specific meeting. It is personal. When “apokalupsis” is used as in verses 30 and 31 of this same chapter, it means the unveiling of His awesome holiness and glory. It is general rather than personal and relates to His return to fight the battle of Armageddon and to establish His kingdom.

Nothing Would Change Our Church World And The Unchurched Crowd Like A Good Education About Their Future If They Miss The Rapture. The gates of hell will be wide open and the grotesque creatures out of the abyss will torment men beyond words. John saw this horrible drama and described it clearly. Because most people can not comprehend our world without the barrier between the earth and the realm of the wicked dead and the fallen angels they refuse to accept such a condition. Revelation is not the only Book of the Bible that paints this picture. Joel prophesied of such a day and warned us. “A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.”(Joel 2:2)

Now read the words of what John the Revelator saw. “And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power… And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them…And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.” (Revelation 9:2-3, 5-6, 10-11) You do not want to be here when these demons are turned loose.

There are two parts to this vision of John, separated by a short space.Both of these dark periods are called woes. “And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.” (Revelation 9:16-19) These creatures are fallen angels that have festered in their judgment, locked in the abyss. They are evil beyond description and hate mankind because of both jealously and accusation.

Jude spoke of these judgments in times past. “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” (Jude 1:6-9)

Much of our world has little or no understanding that the coming Great Tribulation is the judgment of these fallen angels as well as fallen men.Those that believe the false teachers of Post Millennialism, Preterism, and all the other man-concocted doctrines need to see why the Great Tribulation is absolutely necessary. When you understand the judgment God has planned for the wicked then your hatred for the Pre-Tribulation Rapture will cease. To even consider the Kingdom of God without the finality of cleansing our world from the Kingdom of Satan is both hopeless and not Biblical. Every evil force and every evil creature in Satan’s realm will be loosed on this earth either during part of the Seven years or the entire period.

When you add the “False Church and the False Prophet,”and their forcing the Mark of the Beast on one and all it begins to make for good understanding. The False Prophet, Satan, and his false Christ will create havoc all across the world. Even greater than creatures out of the abyss and the False trinity will be the judgment of God. Everything has got to be cleansed of evil and the fire of judgment will be unleashed for that purpose.