![]() I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. ![]() Another memorable statement of Jesus is found in John 16:33 Close John 16:33 10-14).Ĭlearly, tribulation here precedes the return of Christ and the rapture of the church. ![]() this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world" (vv. 9) Īnd this is said prior to the statement that "many will fall away. In Matthew 24, Jesus tells His disciples, "They will deliver you up to tribulation, and put you to death" (v. Since this chapter (3) precedes the next (4) on the rapture, and also declares that we are "appointed" to tribulation, even to "suffer" the same, it would seem apparent that tribulation precedes the rapture to come. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation even as it came to pass, and ye know" (vv. to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith: That no man should be moved by these afflictions : for you yourselves know we are appointed thereunto. Returning to 1 Thessalonians, we observe that Paul writes in chapter 3 that "we sent Timothy. Third, we need also to examine the word "tribulation." In the Greek it is thlipsis, translated as "tribulation" or "affliction" (sometimes "distress"). "Pretrib" would seem on the basis of 1 Thessalonians especially to be ruled out "posttrib" would have to be found elsewhere. 15), or, for that matter, a posttribulation rapture when no tribulation is mentioned before (note both passages carefully). Thus it is hard to sustain from this passage a pretribulation rapture of the church (similarly from 1 Cor. For rather than saying something like, "So shall we be delivered from tribulation," the text thereafter reads, "so shall we always be with the Lord." However, the implication in 1 Thessalonians 4 is that no tribulation follows the rapture. Second, nothing is said in either passage directly about the relation of the rapture to tribulation. However, the teaching here relates not so much to meeting the Lord as to the fact that our bodies (dead and alive) will be changed in this great future event. Speaks of the same event, saying: "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet." And we who are living will also be transformed. ![]() For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. Paul also in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 Close 1 Corinthians 15:51-52īut let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. "Caught up" in one early Latin translation is rapiemur, from which we derive the English word "rapture." So the rapture refers in this context to that moment when believers will be caught up, along with the dead in Christ, to a glorious meeting with the Lord in His triumphal descent. And the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive, who are left, shall 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." The final words are: "The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. First, the Christians who have died* will rise from their graves. We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.* For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. The place in Scripture that most clearly teaches a rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 Close 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17įor since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. The Raptureįirst, some comments about the rapture of the church. How is it possible to decide among such varying viewpoints? Surely the issue is an important one, and interpretations vary a great deal on this. Lightner speaks of "at least four different views of the church's relation to the tribulation: the church to be raptured before the tribulation begins, the church to go through the tribulation, the church to go through the first half of the tribulation, and the prewrath rapture of the church" (only the first three have any major followings). The New Testament speaks of "tribulation," also "great tribulation," and the debate hinges on whether the church (true believers) will or will not go through it. One of the most critical areas today in prophecy has to do with the understanding of tribulation.
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