The Snare and Sudden Destruction
Some who make Bible prophecy their major study in writing and other ministry endeavors leave the Rapture of the Church out of their consideration. Or else they bring arguments meant to completely come against the preTrib Rapture in particular.
Some are even excellent writers and thinkers. These concentrate correctly on the darkening times, weaving into their messages current issues and events. They present such reports in speculating how those news items might be leading to the Tribulation, Daniel’s seventieth week.
However, if and when they mention the Rapture, they say and write that this event, prophesied by the Apostle Paul, will happen not before the Tribulation but sometime within the last 7 years leading to the Return of Christ at the time of Armageddon. There is, in their view, no Rapture prior to that terrible time. Christians, they believe and present uncompromisingly, will have to go through at least some portion of the Tribulation.
Some within this type of Bible prophecy presenters charge those of us who believe God’s Word holds forth the pretribulation Rapture as guilty of causing Christians to not recognize Antichrist when he comes on the scene – thus, because we teach and preach that all believers will not be on Earth when that man of sin becomes known.
It is a complete mystery to my way of understanding how such otherwise Biblically Astute, Christ-centered, and quite talented in some cases believers who are assigned to disseminate Truth from God’s Prophetic Word can so misunderstand. It is most perplexing that these go against the Scripture as presented –that God plainly presents the Rapture as occurring before God’s final Wrath and Judgment will fall.
They declare that God’s Promise is to keep us “through” the coming time of Tribulation, not “out of” that worst of all times. But the word in Christ’s most profound Promise in this regard is the Greek word “ek,” meaning “out of,” not “through.” We see this as follows:
The pretribulation Rapture is built upon a body of scriptural references. But the most powerful proof that the church –all believers in Christ of the Church Age or Age of Grace—will be kept out of the time of God’s Wrath and Judgment is given by the Ascended Lord Jesus Himself in one Statement.
“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” (Revelation 3:10).
The word “from” in the phrase “from the hour” is the Greek word “ek,” meaning “out of,” as stated previously. Jesus will keep the Church out of those 7 years of Judgment and Wrath soon to come.
Jesus, in His Ascended Position following His Resurrection, gave John the Message He wanted presented to the churches of the Age of Grace. The Message gave Christ’s Holy Assessment of each of the seven churches John was to address on the Lord’s Behalf.
In the above Statement, Christ was commending believers of the Age of Grace for their faithful belief in His death, burial, and resurrection as payment for their sins.
Because of this unbreakable belief that seals their souls forever (Romans 8:38-39), Christ would keep them out of the terrible Wrath and Judgment that would befall all of the world’s unbelievers. This Promise was a prelude to John being called into Heaven as a symbolic foreshadowing of keeping believers out of that Wrath and Judgment.
Revelation, then, beginning with chapter 4, lays out in terms of seven scrolls, seven trumpets, and seven bowls or vials, 21 specific Judgments through which God deals with the rebels of Earth. This is the unfolding of the time, the latter part of which the Lord foretells will be the worst time of all human history (Matthew 24: 21).
The purpose of this time of Wrath and Judgment, the overall prophetic picture throughout Bible prophecy portrays, is to 1) Judge the world for sin and rebellion, and 2) to bring out of that most terrible era a remnant of Israel (Jewish believers). This remnant will comprise the head nation of the world during the Millennial Reign of Christ, which follows Christ’s Return at Armageddon.
Now, the reason for the title of this commentary: The Snare and Sudden Destruction.
Those writers and other presenters who ignore any possibility of the pretribulation Rapture of believers in Christ watch and report on the issues and events of this darkening age but see no hope for believers escaping the seventieth week of Daniel –the coming 7 years of Tribulation. If Christians are alive when that era begins, they will, according to the anti-preRapture pontificators, go into that worst time of all history along with all the lost (those who do not know Christ for Salvation) and that are alive at that time.
However, here again is what the Bible tells us:
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
What hope is there in looking for the worst time of all human history? Our hope is in Jesus Christ and His Promise to Call us into His Presence before the 7 years of Judgment and Wrath begin, as, again, He told John to write to the Church (all born-again believers).
“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” (Revelation 3:10).
The anti-preTrib Rapture proponents do not discern the entire body of prophecy, else they wouldn’t miss the following.
“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:34-36).
There is a sudden moment coming when all things on Planet Earth will change in a millisecond. It will come as a Snare upon all the world. Here is that moment from another Holy Spirit Perspective:
“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-6).
What is this moment of snare-like change upon Earth? Paul gives us the explanation in the verses immediately preceding the above foretelling. In the last verses of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, he says this:
“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. 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: 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 15-18).
A profound question: What are the closing words of this Rapture Promise? “Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
What comfort can be found if we are facing 7 years of the most horrendous times of all human history?
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
–Terry
The Gospel Future
Somewhere in the past, a divorce occurred; pastors and Bible scholars separated the return of Jesus for His church from the proclamation of the Gospel. This tragic exclusion of a key aspect of the Gospel has led to a dearth of understanding among believers regarding Jesus’ appearing and the joyful anticipation that comes with such an eager anticipation.
I recall hearing several sermons where the preacher proclaimed that all believers would die before the Lord returns. Such a message contradicts New Testament passages such as 1 Corinthians 15:51 and 1 Thessalonians 4:17. Paul believed that many saints would be alive at the time of the Rapture, but not so those who hold to today’s most popular views of the end times. They disagree with the apostle.
The book of 1 Thessalonians reveals that the hope of Jesus’ soon appearing was a vital part of the Gospel Paul preached during his short stay in Thessalonica. Notice what the apostle wrote about its reception among the new converts:
“For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:8-10).
Upon turning to Jesus, the new converts immediately began waiting for His appearing, aka the Rapture. Paul included the return of Jesus for His church, the Rapture, in his preaching from the very beginning of his time in Thessalonica.
In Romans 8:23, the apostle identifies a key aspect of Jesus’ appearing, “the redemption of our bodies,” and then in verse 24, he states, “For in this hope we were saved.” Paul regarded the event we call the “Rapture” as a key belief because it signified the “hope” contained in the saving message of the Gospel.
What are some of the consequences of ignoring our “blessed hope?”
Believers Lose a Source of Comfort During Times of Loss
Perhaps the most significant result of neglecting the Rapture is this: It takes the eyes of believers away from Jesus and their ultimate hope at times when they need it the most.
When I was ten years old, my dad died suddenly of a heart attack. In the midst of my grief, I read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, as friends of my parents had told me about the Rapture months earlier. The Lord used this passage to comfort me after the loss of my believing father; I regarded the meeting in the air as the next time I would see him. I cannot fully explain how the teaching of a pre-Tribulation Rapture brought hope to my heart at an early age.
The brand-new converts in Thessalonica grieved over their loved ones who had recently died because they thought their fellow saints would miss out on the Rapture. In response, Paul soothed their sorrow with a special message from the Lord stating that the “dead in Christ” would “rise first” at Jesus’ appearing (1 Thessalonians 4:15-16).
If the reason for their heartache had been a failure to believe in a future resurrection, Paul’s response would’ve been similar to what he wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Instead, he emphasized the primary role of the “dead in Christ” in the Rapture as the remedy to their lingering despair.
Whether we are dealing with sickness, pain, grief over the death of someone we love, or another loss of some kind, the hope of Jesus’ imminent appearing encourages us with the reassurance that a much better life lies in our future. It’s been sixty-two years since I first heard about the pre-tribulation Rapture, but it still provides a daily source of encouragement and comforts me during times of sickness.
Believers Lack a Prophetic Perspective of World Events
If there was ever a time when New Testament saints needed to hear about Jesus’ appearing and the wonders of life after their death, it’s now. We read about natural and manmade disasters almost every week. Lawlessness remains out of control, with store chains such as Target and Walmart measuring their annual losses in billions of dollars. Recent revelations from Elon Musk and his D.O.G.E. department reveal the theft and/or waste of trillions of dollars, much of which has lined the pockets of corrupt politicians. The threat of a nuclear war remains an ever-present threat.
I couldn’t even begin to cope with these things apart from a prophetic perspective assuring me that God is sovereignly in control of all things. The Bible tells me that Jesus is coming for us before the Day of the Lord, during which time He will pour out His wrath upon the wicked (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11).
The modern-day loss of a biblical worldview in the church negatively impacts new believers as well as seasoned saints as it leaves them ill-prepared to live in a fear-ridden society. Earth-based theologies provide no prophetic context into which they can place the terrors of our day. How does one adequately deal with the deadly push for a Marxist New World Order apart from what God’s Word says about the last days?
Believers Place an Undue Emphasis on This Life
Another tragic consequence of discounting our “blessed hope” is that it leads to an excessive emphasis on this life. Many pastors sharply criticize Joel Osteen’s book, Your Best Life Now. However, their preaching emphasizes the temporal aspects of the Christian life while failing to mention the promise of eternal life or any of the benefits that lie ahead for us. Is such preaching all that different from Osteen’s premise?
This temporal emphasis results in many saints planning for their future as though Jesus will not return until long after their time on earth has ended. Such an outlook on life ignores the mindset of Philippians 3:20-21:
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”
The modern exclusion of Jesus’ appearing from the pulpit takes the eyes of the saints away from Jesus, ignores current realities that tell us the Tribulation period is ever so close, and, as noted earlier, leaves believers ill-prepared to deal with losses and other sorrows that will surely come their way.
Believers Rarely Hear Why Their “Blessed Hope” Matters
The message of the Gospel is this: Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried, rose again on the third day, ascended to heaven, and is coming again, at which time He will give us imperishable, immortal bodies and take us to the place He’s preparing for us.
Jesus’ resurrection means that we, too, will live forever with bodies that will never grow old, get sick, or die. This is the Gospel future; it’s our “blessed hope,” aka the Rapture:
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you” (Titus 2:11-15).
Please note Paul’s admonition for Titus to “declare these things,” which included his designation of our “blessed hope” as “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Since Paul exhorted his protégé to proclaim the good news about the Rapture so long ago, would he not make the same plea today to those entrusted with preaching His Word? Is it not even more critical to do so today as we see the Day of Lord rapidly approaching?
-Jonathan