This is such a great article that I wanted to share it with you.
The Bible tells us clearly that as we see "all these things" begin to take place to lift up our heads and expect Jesus to come for His bride. Paul reveals a great mystery that the OT writers never saw...the rapture. He reveals the mystery to us and then says, "Encourage each other with these words."
Recently I was in a Twitter discussion with a POST TRIB person who believes that all followers of Christ need to prepare to make it through the great tribulation. She thinks that the church is sound asleep and will not have enough "oil in their lamps" to endure the worst time in human history. In fact she tells us that most of us are going to have our heads taken off by the Antichrist and probably watch our kids and wives get butchered too! Are we really supposed to ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER with THOSE words?? It's ridiculous and makes no sense in the Biblical story of Christ coming for His bride. Thankfully the beliefs that she has are in very short supply among The Bride these days. Sadly she has taken to Twitter to denounce all Christians who disagree with her (me) as "false teachers". After going back and forth with her and seeing her venom, it made me wonder if Paul was speaking to HER in 1 Corinthians 14.
Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.
Anyway....
The Rapture is clearly taught throughout Scripture but it is not something that the wise Christian should heatedly argue or divide over. Unfortunately, many do choose to hold their understanding of the Rapture to be the thing which most defines and characterizes themselves. We should not do so.
Paul writes, “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory'” (1 Cor 15:51-54).
We will study and learn the Bible clearly teaches that the Rapture will occur ‘Pre-Tribulation.’ It will occur before the Tribulation begins.
Some believe it will occur ‘Mid-Tribulation,’ in the middle of the Tribulation, while others believe it will be ‘Post-Tribulation,’ at the end of the Tribulation, and some believe there will be no Rapture at all.
Here is why a post-Tribulational view of the Rapture could not be correct: When Jesus Christ returns at Armageddon, at the end of the Tribulation, He will bring us with Him, having been Raptured 7 years before at the beginning of the Tribulation.
When He returns at Armageddon, He will destroy all His enemies, all who have rejected Him.
If He destroys all the unbelievers… and if all of the believers are Raptured up to meet Him and given immortal glorified bodies, and then immediately turn around and accompany Him back… who is there to repopulate the Earth during the Millennium; who is there for us to rule and reign over?
The Bible teaches us that the Church will rule and reign with Him over the Earth during that 1,000 years but it also teaches that the Earth will be repopulated and filled by mortal humans: they will fill up the Earth… all the nations of the Earth. The Earth will be repopulated by all those who will have come to faith in Jesus Christ during the Tribulation but were not killed for their faith… those who live through to the end.
The believers who live through the Tribulation until the end will go into the Millennium and repopulate the Earth. All of the unbelievers who live through the Tribulation until the end will all be killed immediately upon Jesus Christ’s return at Armageddon.
Jesus Christ, Paul, Peter, John and even Moses and Isaiah all teach us the truth of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the True Church. A correct understanding of this truth is as important as any Scripture to the Child of God’s understanding of the depth of God’s love for the Bride He has chosen for His Son.
A correct understanding of the Rapture is not something upon which our salvation rests but it is important to our understanding of the relationship God has chosen to give to us, a relationship of absolute love.
We find The Rapture clearly taught in Scripture, that it can and will happen at any moment without any warning, with no other prophecy having to be fulfilled before the Rapture takes place. If we disbelieve the reality of the Rapture, all of our understanding of the End Times will be in error. It is a crucial piece of the entire puzzle of the End Times. If it is missing, the entire picture will be incomplete.
The Feasts of the Lord point to the Rapture. The Jewish Wedding points to the Rapture. Enoch points to the Rapture. The Flood of Noah points to the Rapture. The Israelites safely crossing the Red Sea points to the Rapture. Sodom and Gomorrah point to the Rapture. Isaiah points to the Rapture. Jesus Christ points to the Rapture. Matthew, John, Peter, Luke, Jude and Paul all point to the Rapture.
Paul teaches, throughout his letters, that it is coming and that it can happen at any moment. He tells us that those who believe and look for Jesus Christ’s soon coming, at any moment, will receive a special reward. Those who disbelieve the Rapture, or that it can happen at any moment, will still go up in the Rapture, but they will not gain that special reward:
Paul wrote, “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).
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