Multiple Raptures? (Part 3 of 4)

The asserted differences consist of:

1. In the Rapture, believers meet the Lord in the air (1 Thes 4:17); in the Second Coming, Christ comes to the earth with His saints (Rev 19:14).

The Greek verb for “meet” is apantēsis, used when VIPs made a formal visit, and a welcoming party went out to meet and escort him back to their city or house. This word occurs three times in the NT, the other two being:

1. Mt 25:6 But at midnight, there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.
2. Acts 28:15 And the brethren, when they heard about us, came from there as far as the Market of Appius and Three Inns to meet us. And when Paul saw them, he thanked God, and took courage.

In Mt 25, the wise virgins were ready and returned to the wedding feast with the bridegroom. In Acts 28, the brethren came from neighboring towns to accompany Paul to Rome. So, my interpretation of 1 Thes 4:17 is those believers went to meet the Lord in the air, then returned with Him to earth. It was one single event, not two separate incidents.

2. The Rapture is before the Tribulation (1 Thes 5:9; Rev 3:10); the Second Coming is after (Rev 17-18).

First, what do the passages say?

• 1 Thes 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
• Rev 3:10 Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
• Rev 17-18 Please refer to the Bible.

Pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, and pre-wrath supporters claim that “not destined us for wrath” and “keep you from the hour of testing” imply that believers will be removed or raptured before the tribulation or wrath. That is one possible assumption. Another interpretation is that God will keep believers safe even as they go through tribulations all around them, as when the Lord made a distinction between Israel and Egypt during the ten plagues (Ex 8:22, 9:4, 26, 10:23, 12:13). The latter is God’s pattern, not the former. Throughout biblical and church history, God protected and delivered His people, not by removing them from the scene, but as they underwent trials.

• The Rapture is God delivering believers from the earth (1 Thes 4:13-17, 5:9); the Second Coming is God taking away unbelievers to judgment (Mt 13:41-42, 24:40-41, Rev 19:20-21). I will cite only those Rapture verses not already quoted above. The Second Coming passages are listed in full.

• 1 Thes 4:13-15 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this, we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
• Mt 13:41-42 The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
• Mt 24:40-41 Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left.
• Rev 19:20-21 And the beast was seized and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

The Second Coming verses indicate God judging unbelievers, the Antichrist, and the false prophet, but do they prove that it is separate from the Rapture? My answer is NO. The difference in focus is easily explained by the respective context. In 1 Thes 4, Paul was comforting the Thessalonian Christians who thought the dead in Christ had missed the resurrection and were grieving over them. So, his emphasis was on explaining the sequence of the Rapture, not the details of Christ’s return. In Mt 13, 24, and Rev 19, Matthew and John were describing the end times and final judgment, so the focus was on the Lord judging the unbelievers.

What I find surprising, however, is that supporters of the separate incidents missed “the sign of the Son of Man.” As I have demonstrated, this can be none other than resurrection. In other words, the resurrection and rapture of Christians take place when Christ returns to judge the world, and the two are simply two sides of the same event!

(To be continued)

Multiple Raptures? (Part 2 of 4)

The classic texts for the Rapture are:

• 1 Thes 4:16-17 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
• 1 Co 15:51-52 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will 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 imperishable, and we will be changed.

Note the following:

• The Lord will come with a shout and trumpet call, i.e., it will NOT be secret;
• The dead in Christ will be raised imperishable and rise first (resurrection);
• The alive in Christ will be changed, from perishable to imperishable, mortal to immortal, and be caught up (raptured) together with them to meet the Lord in the air;
• This will happen in the twinkling of an eye, i.e., instantaneous.

The primary texts for the Return of Christ are:

• Mt 24:29-31 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. (Also Mk 13:24-27; Lk 21:25-27)
• Rev 19:11-16 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness, He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Again, note the following:

• Christ’s return will be after the tribulation;
• There will be cosmic cataclysms;
• The sign of the Son of Man will appear, which we will examine next;
• Heavenly armies will follow Him;
• He will send His angels with a great trumpet to gather His elect i.e., Christians;
• He will strike down the nations with the wrath of God.

Before we compare the Rapture to the Return, let’s see what this sign of the Son of Man is. The scribes and Pharisees repeatedly asked the Lord for a sign. His answer was:

• Matthew 12:39-40 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
• Jonah 1:7 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.
• Matthew 16:4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.
• Luke 11:29-30 As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

Some people thought the sign of the Son of Man was the cross. But the Lord Himself said unequivocally that His sign is the sign of Jonah, which is being raised from the dead after three days and three nights, i.e., resurrection. With this understanding, let us evaluate the claims of the separate incidents schools.

(To be continued)

Do We Recognize Each Other in Heaven?

Q. I attended a funeral service for an 86-year-old lady who is a Christian. During the service, their children said they wished to meet their mom in Heaven soon. This raised a question in my mind. The question is: do we recognize each other in Heaven? For example, will that lady recognize her children in Heaven when they meet again?

There is no direct statement in the Bible to that effect, but lots of indirect evidence points to the conclusion that we will recognize each other in Heaven. For us to recognize each other, we must retain our identity and have the memory to recall it as the same person. Let us take a look at some cases in the Bible:

• Saul and the medium at Endor (1 Sam 28:3-19). Saul asked the medium to conjure up Samuel. When the woman brought up a divine being, Saul knew it was Samuel (v 14) and asked him what he should do (v 15).

• David and his infant son (2 Sam 12:13-23). The Lord struck David and Bathsheba’s son with illness (v 15) because of his adultery and murder of Uriah, and the child died. Initially, David fasted and wept to plead with God. But after the child’s death, David worshipped and stopped fasting because he knew he could not bring the child back, but he will go to him (v 23). The Lord has taken away David’s sin (v 13), so he knew he would not be banished to hell. He expected to see and recognize his son in Heaven.

• Jesus’ Transfiguration (Mt 17:1-8, Mk 9:2-8, Lk 9:28-36). Jesustook Peter, James, and John up a high mountain and was transfigured before them. Moses and Elijah appeared and talked with Jesus (Mt 17:3). Moses lived at least 1391-1271 BC, some historians suggesting even earlier. Elijah was born about 900 BC and taken up to Heaven. There was no way that the disciples could have seen them, yet Peter recognized who they were without Jesus introducing them. We may recognize people intuitively in Heaven.

• The rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31). In Hades, the rich man lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus (v 23) with him. All the individuals retained their identities and communicated with each other. Abraham reminded the rich man of his former life; he even remembered his five brothers. Since there is recognition in Hades, and Heaven is incomparably better, there is recognition in Heaven.

• Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances (Jn 20:19-29). Jesus appeared to His disciples for the first time on Easter Sunday (v 19) without Thomas, then again eight days later with Thomas (v 26). Both times they recognized Him.

• Paul’s consolation to the Thessalonians (1 Thes 4:13-18). Paul comforted the Thessalonians that when the Lord returns there will be a resurrection of those who have fallen asleep (died) in Christ (v 15). This will be followed by the rapture of those alive in Christ (v 17), to be always with the Lord. These would not be words of comfort for those who have lost loved ones if we will not recognize each other in Heaven.

There are other passages, but these give us sufficient evidence to believe that we will know each other in Heaven.

Spiritual Body

Q. Would you give me some bible references as I would like to study the nature of our spiritual being when we leave this earth?

Sure. The nature of our being will depend on when we leave this earth:

• If we die before Christ returns:
  • Eccle 12:7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

Our physical body (the dust) will return to the earth and decompose. Our soul (the spirit) will return to God to face judgment. Then we will be resurrected (raised) when Christ returns.

• If Christ returns before we die:
  • 1 Co 15:51-53 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will 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 imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

If we are alive (not having fallen asleep), our bodies will be changed from perishable to imperishable, from mortal to immortal.

Paul wrote about our resurrection body earlier:

• 1 Co 15:42-44 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

Our resurrection body will be:

1. Imperishable – incorruptible, perpetual,
2. Immortal – undying, everlasting,
3. Glorious – bright, holy,
4. Powerful – strong, able,
5. Spiritual – obedient to the Holy Spirit.

It will not be subject to aging and diseases, nor the limitations we encounter in our physical body. For example, it can enter rooms when the doors are shut (Jn 20:19, 26) and vanish from sight (Lk 24:31). In short, it will be a transformed body as God planned it.

Ezekiel’s Prince

Q. Are Ezk 46 and 47 referring to the Millennium? The New Jerusalem? Are we the foreigners among them? The boundaries seem to describe a much smaller piece of land than the world it is now. Who is the prince? He certainly is not Jesus, as he offers sacrifices.

Many bible scholars believe Ezk 40-48 refers to the Millennium. It is not the new Jerusalem, which appears only in the new heaven and earth:

• Rev 3:12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God. And he will not go out from it anymore, and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.
• Rev 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
• Rev 21:10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

Foreigners in the Millennium are referred to in Ezk 44 in the NASB:

• Ezk 44:7-9 when you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to profane it, even My house, when you offered My food, the fat, and the blood; for they made My covenant void—this in addition to all your abominations. And you have not kept charge of My holy things yourselves, but you have set foreigners to keep charge of My sanctuary.” ‘Thus says the Lord God, “No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary.

Verses 7-8 look back to the end of Judah when worship was so lax that even pagans were allowed to serve in the sanctuary and keep charge of the holy things or temple utensils. V 9 looks forward to the Millennium and forbids unbelieving foreigners from entering the sanctuary. There will be Jewish and Gentile believers inhabiting the Millennial Kingdom. If by “we” you mean present-day Christians, we will not be among the foreigners as the Millennium has not yet begun.

The prince(s) is mentioned 19 times in 17 verses from Ezk 44-48. There has been debate as to his identity. Some felt it was David:

• Ezk 34:24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them; I the Lord have spoken.
• Ezk 37:25 They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever.

I doubt this since David had been dead for 400 years by the time Ezekiel wrote his prophecy. Nor could it be a resurrected David:

• Acts 13:36-37 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.

Others believe the prince to be the Lord Jesus. This is impossible because:

• Ezk 45:22 On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering.

The Lord is sinless and does not need daily sacrifices for Himself:

• Heb 7:27 who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
• Ezk 46:16-18 ‘Thus says the Lord God, “If the prince gives a gift out of his inheritance to any of his sons, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince. His inheritance shall be only his sons;’ it shall belong to them. The prince shall not take from the people’s inheritance, thrusting them out of their possession. He shall give his sons inheritance from his own possession so that My people will not be scattered, anyone from his possession.”

The Lord never married and did not have sons. So Jesus does not fit the clues and could not be the prince.

Since the text did not identify the prince, the most that can be said is that he will be a rulerof Israel related to David during the Millennium. Beyond that would be extra-biblical speculation.

Baptism for the Dead?

Q.  Was there a practice of baptizing of the dead in Corinth?  Is that biblical? Or was Paul just using this practice to illustrate how the Corinthians were contradicting themselves since they claimed there was no resurrection?

A. Baptized for the dead is referred to only in 1 Co 15:29, a controversial verse, and practiced today mainly by the Mormons. There was such a practice by some in NT times, but it’s not biblical. Let’s see what some modern versions say to get at the meaning:

• Amplified Otherwise, what do people mean by being [themselves] baptized in behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?
• ESV Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?
• Expanded If the dead are never raised, what will people do who are being baptized for the dead [it is unclear what this practice was or whether Paul approves or disapproves]? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people being baptized for them?

The practice, then, consisted of someone being baptized on behalf of those who have died, by proxy. Some in Corinth believed that there is no resurrection:

• 1 Co 15:12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

Paul used v 29 simply to show that the claim in v 12 is inconsistent with the practice of baptism for the dead, because, if the dead are not raised at all, why bother? He did not endorse this practice, nor did he rebuke it strongly as another gospel. For a practice to be biblical for the church, I believe it needs to be taught by the Lord in the gospels, practiced by the early church in Acts, and reinforced by the apostles in the epistles. For example, both believers’ baptism and holy communion satisfy the above criteria, and are ordinances generally accepted by the Church, though there may be minor variations in their mode of expression. Some sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church (e.g. confirmation, confession or penance, extreme unction, holy orders etc.) do not meet all three criteria and are not generally accepted by Protestants. Baptism for the dead is mentioned only once in an obscure verse, and not considered biblical, though some cults misinterpret this text and turned it into a doctrine.

The Antichrist’s Appearance

One more interesting passage on the Antichrist, possibly giving clues as to how he might look like, is found in Zechariah 11:

• Zech 11:15-17 And the LORD said to me, “Next, take for yourself the implements of a foolish shepherd. For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces. “Woe to the worthless shepherd, who leaves the flock! A sword shall be against his arm and against his right eye; his arm shall completely wither, and his right eye shall be totally blinded.”

Note the following:
• He is a foolish and worthless shepherd. Foolish does not refer to his intellect, but his wicked character.
• His deeds – he leaves the flock and does not care; he won’t seek the lost, heal the broken, feed the hungry, but will prey on them. He will oppress and destroy God’s people.
• His earthly judgment – his arm will wither, and his right eye will be blinded. This could be figurative of his strength and intelligence, but more likely literal.

Now Revelation has this to say about the Beast:

• Rev 13:3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.
• Rev 13:12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.
• Rev 17:8 The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come.
• Rev 17:11 The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.

Putting these passages together, commentators conjectured that the Antichrist will:
• thrive (“once was“),
• encounter an assassination and died (“now is not“), but
• the fatal wound (which blinded his right eye) healed, and
• he rose again from the dead (“yet will come“), staging a mock resurrection to mimic Christ.
That’s the speculation. I hope we’re not around to see these ourselves.

(To be continued)

Reincarnation?

Q. You believe in resurrection but we believe in reincarnation. Our system is more fair than yours as each person is rewarded or punished in the next life based on what he has done in this life. So no need to talk to me about Jesus.

A. Many people believe that you have your faith and I have mine. What’s true to you may not be true to me. Both are equally valid. Or we may be saying the same thing in different words, so don’t bother me. That is a classical error in post-modern thinking, a relativistic fallacy. In arithmetic, 1 + 1 = 2. It does not equal 0, or 3, or any other number. When you give $5 to buy a $2 snack, try to convince the storekeeper to give you $4 change because that’s “true” to you. No one will buy that logic. Why apply it to spiritual matters of eternal significance?

Everyone is entitled to his/her own beliefs, but the important thing is “Is what you believe in TRUE?” Because if it’s not, then you may believe with the utmost sincerity, but it will still lead you astray because it is false. In the same way some believe in reincarnation because it seemed fair to them, but is it true?

Before we look into its validity, let’s define what we mean. Reincarnation, or the transmigration of the soul, is the belief in successive rebirth of the soul or spirit, after biological death, into a new life in a new body that may be human, animal or spirit, depending on the moral quality of the previous life’s actions. What evidence is there to prove it? Proponents claim that déjà vu, or the feeling that one has experienced something before, is the recall of past life memories. Often the recall is drawn out under hypnosis. Supporters view recall by young children that they have lived before as especially significant, on the assumption that they would be less tainted.

But a claim is not proof. First of all, the memory could be false. In psychology, false memory refers to the recollection of an event, or the details of an event, that did not occur. Some memories could be implanted by hypnosis using the power of suggestion. Others are ideas or stories people have heard when they were young and impressionable, and later retrieved from their memory bank but with the source wrongly attributed to a past life. This is especially likely when most of the cases occur in cultures which believe in reincarnation. As to the past life memories of children, a more plausible explanation is that the memories are suggested by evil spirits. Demons are fallen angels and they have been around a long time. They know past events and people, and can inject such ideas in people’s minds, including children’s.

Furthermore, notwithstanding reincarnation’s assertion that the rebirth of the soul could be in an animal body or as a spirit depending on the karma, none of the cases cited involved such entities. No evidence, not even false memories, had been produced for such claims. No pigs, dogs or any other animals. No disembodied spirits either. Published cases invariably describe alleged past lives as another human being, typically in a historical or cultural context the person had heard or read about, or known to the hypnotist. Now I am a simple guy, and in matters of logic or problem-solving, I adopt Occam’s razor i.e. the simplest solution is usually the correct one. So why believe a proposition comprising of multiple past lives across species when there is no concrete evidence supporting it?

But the main reason I do not accept reincarnation is Scriptural – the Bible simply rejects such teaching to be false. This is not a case of your words against mine, because the Bible has been around for two thousand years, been subjected to scrutiny by skeptics throughout history, and had stood the test of time with flying colors. It is attested by history, archaeology, fulfilled prophecies, testimonies of changed lives, and had proven itself to be reliable and trustworthy. The Bible says:

* Heb 9:27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment – You only live once in this world. There is no endless chance.
* Lk 16:26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ – The parable of the rich man and Lazarus teaches that there is no going back; the judgment is final.
* Jn 9:3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. – Jesus dismissed the disciples’ speculation that either the man or his parents sinned, causing him to be born blind. He rejected the notion of the man’s sins before his birth i.e. in a past life, because there is simply no prior life.

We will discuss karma in the next post, but my conclusion is that if you believe in reincarnation, you have believed a lie. Examine the evidence and choose who you trust, because your eternal well-being depends on it.

Rapture – Pre or Post? 1

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Pictures show:
1. Eschatological positions
2. Post-tribulation used to be the dominant view until dispensationalism came in the 1800’s, but is currently a minority view. This is not a formal random sampling, but an informal poll at a pre-tribulation website. The percentages are indicative only.
3. Rapture
4. The dead in Christ will be raised first.
5. Sequence of seals, trumpets, and bowls in Revelation: 7th seal = 7 trumpets; 7th trumpet = 7 bowls
6. Post-tribulation rapture

Q. What is your position on the rapture and why? Can you provide scripture support?

A. My eschatological position is historic Premillennialism i.e. Post-tribulational rapture. Currently it is a minority view, but I hold it because it is biblical and best reconciles all the available evidence. Since you asked for only the biblical basis, I will restrict myself to direct scriptural evidence and related references only, and not go into historical and philosophical considerations.

The word rapture comes from the Latin verb rapio, which means to snatch or seize, and refers to Christ’s removal of the Church from the world. The most direct reference to this is 1 Thes. 4:16-17 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

The words “caught up” in v 17 translate the Greek word harpazo, which occurs 13 times in the NT, and is where the idea rapture came from. Notice the following:
* The Lord Himself will come down from heaven i.e. the Second Coming of Christ;
* It will be a noisy and public, not secret, event, with loud command, voice of the archangel, trumpet call of God;
* The dead in Christ will rise first i.e. resurrection of dead Christians, followed by those who are still alive.

1 Thes. 4:17 itself does not mention tribulation, but provide the important clue that the rapture will be at the time of the resurrection. Now, when will the dead in Christ be raised? The same author Paul tells us in 1 Co. 15:51-52 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed–in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. The dead will be raised at the last trumpet. Again there is no specific mention of tribulation, but when is the last trumpet?

The only series of trumpets in Scripture is the seven trumpets in Rev. 8-11. The last time the trumpet is sounded is in Rev. 11:15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” Note that the Kingdom of Christ begins upon the sounding of the seventh trumpet. But when is the seventh trumpet in relation to the Tribulation?

When you analyze the book of Revelation, you will see that there are 7 seals, 7 trumpets and 7 bowls. The opening of seals begin the seven-year Tribulation. Since we wish to know the timing, we need to ask “Are the seals, trumpets, and bowls sequential or contemporaneous?” This is an exegetical problem that requires more space than this blog can afford, so allow me to state the conclusion first and provide the rationale later. The majority view is that they are successive but nested, i.e.
* The seals come first;
* The 7th seal is or includes the 7 trumpets;
* The 7th trumpet includes the 7 bowls.
In other words, they are telescopic with the 7th seal consisting of the 7 trumpets, and the 7th trumpet consisting of the 7 bowls.

The 7th trumpet is therefore at the end of the Tribulation, not before, and the rapture at the last trumpet is therefore post, not pre-tribulational. In the next post I will continue with evidence from Revelation and the Olivet Discourse.

(To be continued)