Featured The ‘Rapture’ of Flight 370

No, I didn't befriend the Pope of any of his underlings.
My sources? The Apostle John, and the rest of the apostles.
The Apostle John was that last apostle to contribute to the canon of Scripture. The Book of Revelation was the last book to be written. It was written before the close of the first century, ca. 98 A.D. The Bible indeed is a history book. That means it looks back on history. The Middle Ages and Medieval Period of history is well beyond the scope of the Bible by hundreds of years. You can ask John when you get to heaven.

If the Bible doesn't say, then I won't either. Those that come out dogmatically and state it factually are foolish to do so.

If that is your position, perhaps you should consider changing it and do something about it.
Here is what the Bible says:
Yea, and all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
The conclusion is this. If you are not suffering persecution you are not living "godly in Christ Jesus." What are you going to do about it?

This is verified in Phil. 1:29: For it is given unto you not only to believe on his name but also to suffer for his sake.
--This is God's will:
1. First to believe on Christ for salvation.
2. To suffer for his sake.
--If you are not suffering for his sake you are not in the center of his will.
--What are you going to do about it?

And again: We are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ if so be that we suffer with him.
--The question here, then, "Are you really an heir of God if you are not suffering with Him?
What are you going to do about it?

 

i detract this post.

 

1. Because it is different than your belief doesn't make it false. A good percentage of those on this board believe it to be true. Even some of those who contributed to the four volume work edited by R.A. Torrey "The Fundamentals," believed in the rapture and a seven year tribulation. Those fundamentals were formed or collated between 1910 and 1916. Obviously they were believed on much longer before that time. If it was a "fundamental" of that time, then why should it not be fundamental to our faith now? It certainly is not worthy of being called false doctrine, and you should abstain from referring to it as such.

2. This statement of yours:
"This alleged biblical doctrine was unknown in the Christian Church for 1800 years."
In logic it is called a universal negative. It is an illogical statement and impossible to prove or demonstrate. In order for you to prove this statement you would have to be able to go back into history and interview every Christian of every age that ever lived: "Do you believe in the pre-trib rapture?" Otherwise, you don't know if it was unknown in Christianity for 1800 years, and you can't prove it. If there was but one person who came to that conclusion on his own study, then you are wrong, aren't you? How can you speak so authoritatively for the entire human race of 1800 years of history? Were you there? Only God knows the hearts and minds of all those people.

3. You said:
"Nowhere in Scripture is it clearly and simply stated Christ returns in two distinct stages separated by a duration of 7 years."
First, let's tackle the seven year period.

Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
--No doubt you are familiar with Daniel's seventy weeks. The word "week" simply means "seven," any group of seven--seven days, weeks, months, years, etc. Here there are seventy weeks of years. A week of years is seven. That means there is a total of 490 years.
After 490 years everlasting righteousness will be brought in. It hasn't come yet. It is still future.

Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
1. There are seven weeks or 49 years to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Those are in troublesome times and went forth from the command given to Nehemiah (Neh.2:1ff).
2. There will be an additional 62 weeks or 434 years (483 in all) until the Messiah is cut off (specifically to the date of Palm Sunday leading to his death). That leaves one week of seven years.

Daniel 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a
with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
--There is a double fulfillment here. The Roman army will indeed come and destroy the city of Jerusalem as they did.
But that wasn't the end. The end is yet to come. The destruction of Jerusalem was by the Romans. The prince of the Romans is still to come.

Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week 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.
--And whoever that man is, he shall confirm the covenant (with the Jews) for seven years. In the midst of that seven year period (3 1/2 years) he shall make an abomination in the Temple, desecrate it in some way, and Temple sacrifice shall cease. Then there will be a time of Great Tribulation during the second half of this Tribulation Period.

As you read through the Book of Revelation you will find terms as 3 1/2 years, 1260 days, 42 months, all of which refer to half the period of the seven year Tribulation period. They are literal terms and should not be spiritualized.

Now when does Christ come?
He comes in two stages: the Rapture, and the Second Advent.
The first for believers, and the Second in Judgment.
There is a sharp contrast in these two which is easy to see in a simple comparison of Scripture. Even Jesus said there will be two resurrections. The first resurrection takes place at the rapture. The second will take place just a thousand years later after the Millennial Kingdom at the Great White Throne Judgment.

Paul wrote:
1 Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 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.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
--There is not a hint of the unsaved in this passage. He is coming for his own. He is coming for the church. The dead IN CHRIST shall rise first, and then we which are alive IN CHRIST. This is not for unbelievers. It is the rapture.

Contrast to:
2 Thessalonians 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
--This is the Second Advent! It is entirely different from the Rapture.
He is coming in Judgment, not in comfort; coming to judge the world in His wrath, not to keep believers from His wrath.

 

The Wrath of God begins "Immediately after the Tribulation".
And no child of God will abide under His Wrath, that day, or any day.

 

You will find at or near the end of the Tribulation the Battle of Armageddon, when Christ comes again and the enemies of Israel are once and for all defeated. At that time Christ sets up His Kingdom. There is no wrath for believers there at all--only a glorious Kingdom to enter into. He comes and his saints come with Him (Revelation 19). You will notice in that chapter that they are already in heaven. They have been there for the last seven years. There is no wrath after the Tribulation; the Tribulation is the wrath of God.

 

Interesting. Apparently this post made too much sense for the deniers of a pre-Tribulation Rapture to discuss.

 

Rev 6:14-17
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty 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?

Hmmmm. Seems the heavens roll up like a scroll, and then His Wrath is come.

 

A very specific time when all on the earth shall fear. I have no cause for fear. I won't be there. Neither shall any Christian. Why should we fear and run for the hills. God has not appointed us to fear. This Great Day is His Coming in Judgment, and they know it. It is the beginning of chapter 19. I don't believe everything is sequential here, but rather that the seals give a panoramic view of the entire seven year period, with the last seal coming at the very end.

 

Mat 24:3-4
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

Mat 24:29-31
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Sounds like the same event as Rev. 6

 

2Th 1:7-10
7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

Sounds like His Wrath starts after His return.

 

"with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power."

No, that is when He returns.
There is seven years of God's wrath that precedes that event.

 

So there is 7 years of wrath, and then His Wrath starts?

 

1 Thessalonians 4:16 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.

No, The seven years of wrath begin just after the rapture when the Lord Jesus Christ comes in the clouds, but not to the earth. We meet the Lord in the air, as it specifically says here.

At the end of the seven year period he comes to the earth, his feet touching the Mount of Olives which will be split in two, and judgment severely meted out against the enemies of Israel. It will be sudden and very swift.

Mark 8:38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

 

You keep saying "7 years of wrath", as if you got that from Scripture.

 

I did, and I explained it here:
http://www.baptistboard.com/showpost.php?p=2099488&postcount=24

It is called: "Daniel's 70th Week."

 

Not 70 weeks, 7 years of wrath. Where do you get 7 years of wrath?

 

Study the link, the post I made. 69 weeks of years have past.
The seventieth week is yet to come. It is a week of years, which is seven years. There is still seven years of Tribulation to come. This is according to Daniel. It is Daniel's Seventieth Week.

 

I was looking for a Scripture quote that says : "7 years of wrath".