a question for all premillenialists

[Ed Edwards]

Deacon JD: //I would also like to hear your interpratation of Mt 24:29-31.//

That interperation is found in post #11 (for me it is the top post on
page 2) above.

Deacon ID: //I have little confidence in commentaries, dictionaries,
and opinions of others, because all come from man.//

Me neither. That is why I give my viewpoint and not those of
other eschatological students. I know I got my understanding from
the Holy Spirit. Nobody so far really wants to discuss why the
Holy Spirit will tell me one thing and someone else something else.
But you must assume it is just a man's writings.

The most usual pretribulation rapture understanding of Matthew
24:31 is that it refers to Jews only (Matthew was a Jew writing to
Jews). But God let me see the nature of the Greek 'kai's (English
usually 'and'). The major outline and the minor outline (and some
conjunctions as well) are all using the Greek word 'kai'.
And didn't your school teacher tell you never to start a sentence
with 'and'? But nearly every sentenece in Matthew 24:4-44 starts
with an 'and' (or maybe a 'but'; 'kai' can also be translated 'then').
Yes, the retorical device 'polysendynton' is in play here in
Matthew 24.

Here is a reason why I believe Matthew 24:31 is seperated from
the 'after the tribulation of those days' in Matthew 24:29:

1 Thess 2:1 (KJV1611 Edition):
Now wee beseech you, brethren,
by the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ,
and by our gathering together vnto him,

This verse calls the pretribulation resurrection/rapture
the 'gathering'; so does Matthew 24:31 .

 

[Ed Edwards]

Deacon JD: //I am a common sense type guy, and I base all my beliefs in scripture.//

Amen, Brother Deacon JD -- Preach it!

I'm a retired Engineer (Electronic/Software). I've the practical
outlook for Engineers make systems that work using
known principles of mathematics & science but sometimes
a lot of guesswork and experimentation.

I know in eschatology there really isn't a way to totally verify
one's ideas until after the fact. But I do know that we have
to explain all scripture, not just the handy ones that directly
support our theory.

BTW, I might mention this I've found.
In the New Age Movement it is popular to
"be searching for the truth". But I found if one (like myself)
finds Jesus is the Truth - I'm immediately labeled a BIGOT
IE those dudes & dudetts are talking out of both sides of thier
mouth. (or signing different stuff with each hand, for our
death brothers & sisters)

Here is a couple of pretribulation resurrection/rapture passages
as seen from a Jewish viewpoint:

The Holman
Isaiah 57:1-2 (HCSB = Christian Standard Bible /Holman, 2003/ ):
The righteous one perishes,
and no one takes it to heart;
faithful men are swept away,
with no one realizing
that the righteous one is swept away
from the presence of evil.
2 He will enter into peace-
they will rest on their beds -
everyone who lives uprightly.

Yes before the evil of the Antichrist in the Tribualtion
Period comes, the righteous (in Christ) shall be
'swept away' (compare the Hebrew translated 'swept away'
to the the Greek term translated 'caught up' in 1 Thess 4:17 ).

Micah 7:1-2 (HCSB): How sad for me!
For I am like one who-
when the summer fruit has been gathered
after the gleaning of the grape harvest -
[finds] no grape cluster to eat,
no early fig, which I crave.
2 Godly people have vanished from the land;
there is no one upright among the people.
All of them wait in ambush to shed blood;
they hunt each other with a net.

Again, the gathering 'gathered' is mentioned, the
pretribualtion resurreciton/rapture - this time from
the viewpoint of those LEFT BEHIND to suffer
the Tribulation Period tribualtions. "Vanished"
also is a Left Behind viewpoint of the pretribualtion
resurrection/rapture.