GOD’S DIGITAL BIBLE
P.O. Box 3992, Santa Barbara, CA 93130
William Charnow
805.451.7635
godsdigitalbible.com
info@godsdigitalbible.com
PRESENTS
Is it a ‘Pretribulation Rapture’ or the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ?
By William Charnow
Author’s Note: “I have done exhaustive extensive about any and everything to do with all Rapture and 2nd Coming beliefs. Both sides/beliefs are talked about in this book. The Reader can decide for themselves what or who they want to believe.”
Sincerely,
William Charnow
Copyright 2024 by william Charnow/all rights reserved.
Is it a ‘Pretribulation Rapture’ or the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ?
Most Christians/believers today believe in a Secret Rapture Coming Back of Jesus Christ to the earth to take away/snatch his Bride or Church up to Heaven before the Great Tribulation. This is called –the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Belief or theory.
Other Christians believe in only the 2nd Coming. They say the scriptures people use for a secret Rapture are all about –the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ.
They say there isn’t a Rapture but there is a 2nd Coming returning of Jesus Christ to the earth.
The original church/body of Christians and believers through centuries –didn’t have a Rapture Belief or Dispensationalism Belief for over 1800 years.
That was until the Secret Rapture Belief and Dispensationalism was taught/popularized by Nelson Darby in the 1800’s, and the Scofield Bible from 1917 to the present, the Moody Institute, the Dallas Theological Seminary, the Jerry Jenkins and Tim Le Haye Fictional ‘Left Behind’ Books’, Hal Lindsey books, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Calvary Chapels, and most Baptist churches.
John Nelson Darby was a British man who in the 1830s to 1850 or so popularized Dispensationalism and the –Rapture Doctrine.
He started a group called the Plymouth brethren. John Darby was a Calvinist.
He’s the father of modern Dispensationalism which is the belief –that in different amounts of time God interacts with his chosen people the Jews.
The Scofield Reference Bible –published in the 1920s endorsed The Rapture and Dispensationalism theories. Most people believe it is the most modern up to date Bible and commentary. Because people believe the commentaries completely by reasoning –if it’s in the Bible and presented as truth and factual then it must be just like the real holy Word of God.
Believers having a Scofield Reference Bible had status in many Christian circles for many decades. It is still very popular nowadays among Rapture believing disciples.
No new baby Christians believes in a secret Rapture when they start to read and study the Bible. Because it isn’t clearly stated in any scripture passage that they read. The Rapture teachings must be taught over and over to a new baby Christian convert, and a kind of brainwashing takes over and they believe it, –because they want to Escape any problems or tribulations on the earth. And like all Rapture disciples –they don’t want to be hated, tortured, and die for their faith in the last days before Christ’s return again.
In the Old Testament and New Testament there are lots of scriptures saying Christians will have to –Endure persecution, suffer hardships, and die for their Faith in Jesus:
Jesus Christ said –“These things I have spoken –to you– so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you –will have Tribulation but take courage; I have –Overcome the world.” John 16:33
Jesus is telling us we can Overcome the World during Tribulation just like he did.
Jesus said –”Father, I don’t ask/pray for you to –Take them/his followers –Out/in a Secret Rapture of/from the world/tribulation and hard times. but keep them safe from the evil one/devil, wicked world’s government.” John 17:15
Paul –said “To the early Christians/the early Church to strengthen and encouraging them to remain true to the faith.
We must through –Much Tribulation– enter the Kingdom of God. Acts 14:22
Jesus called it “The Great Tribulation” not “The Great Wrath of God”.
Jesus Christ, all the authentic/not phony –disciples, early believers, apostles, the saints in ‘Foxx’s Book of Martyrs’, and today in Muslim, Hindu, and communist countries they all/real Christians –went through –great tribulation/torture and/or death– for God.
In the book of Revelation chapter 12 there are multitudes of Martyrs in Heaven who –came out of the Great Tribulation.
–This was their Testimony for the Kingdom of God”:
“And they/Christians overcame him/Anti-Christ/the devil by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they –Loved Not– their lives unto the death.”
Revelation 12:11
Jesus Christ said “Be Faithful/endure –even unto death, and I will give you the Crown of Life. Fear none of those things which you shall suffer. Behold, –the devil will cast some of you into Prison.” Revelation 2:10
God allows his followers to –suffer persecution, torture and death for Him.
And never deny their Faith.
God tests and tries his saints –to see if they really love Him more than anything.
There is –No Philadelphia/Revelation symbolic Church– today –to Escape the Great Tribulation. The Philadelphia church over 2000 years ago was kept safe from God during the hard trying times when and where they lived.
They had passed –God’s trying/testing of their faith already through hard times– so God didn’t need to test/try them again.
10 “Because you/the Philadelphia church in book of Revelation –have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try/test them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that –no person takes your crown.” Revelation 3:10-11
The main reason why God allows His saints to go through hard testing/tribulation times is found in this Bible verse:
“That –the Trying/testing of your Faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire/tribulation/torture/death, might be found unto praise and honor and glory –at the appearing/2nd Coming of Jesus Christ.
1st Peter 7
“But whoever shall Endure unto the End, the same shall be Saved.” Mathew 24:13
4 “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been Beheaded for their –Witness to Jesus Christ and for the Word of God/Bible, who had Not worshiped the beast or his image, and had Not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.
And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years/the Millennial Kingdom on earth. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.
This is the –First Resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who have part in the First Resurrection. Revelation 20:4-6
The 1st Resurrection is –right before the 1000-year reign of Christ on the Earth.
Not Before the Great Tribulation.
Most saints will be killed as Martyrs before God’s greatest wrath on the earth takes place in the Great Tribulation. Revelation Chapter 7.
The 2nd Coming is only a one-time event of –Jesus Christ Coming Back or Returning:
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery –We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, –at the –Last Trumpet/The 2nd Coming. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-54
1st Corinthians 15:52 says at the –last trumpet –the End of Death –is destroyed.
1st Corinthians 15:26 the –last enemy to be destroyed is Death.
Death is swallowed up in victory occurs at the Second Coming –Not –in a Secret Rapture. The Return of Christ is –when the Resurrection of the Dead occurs.
29 “Immediately –After the Tribulation –of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven/the skies, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And He will send His angels with a great/loud sound of a Trumpet, and they will gather together His saints from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Mathew 24:29-30
Jesus Christ is coming all the way back at the 2nd Coming. –Not halfway in the sky with a Secret Rapture and then go back to Heaven.
There is not one clear scripture –that the Church/Bride of Christ will miss the Great Tribulation. It has to be superimposed and taught mystically and symbolically that it is real or the truth.
The WRATH –that God talks about escaping is –from going to Hell –Not the Great Tribulation.
Rapture believers say when the Rapture takes place –the Holy Ghost is removed from the earth.
If the Holy Spirit is –removed from the earth– after the Rapture?
–How do people get Saved? Convicted of Sin? How do new saints get the Comforter/Holy Ghost?
Noah lived in a bad wicked generation but –he had to work for God, obey and trust God, and Endure –until the End of his life.
Moses went through the Wilderness trials/testings for 40 years before God took him to Heaven.
Lot was preserved and saved from wickedness –while living in Sodom and Gomorrah.
God protected the Israelites in Egypt –from his Plagues/wrath in Egypt.
“All who live godly in Christ Jesus –shall suffer Persecution.” 2nd Timiothy 3:12 —-Persecution can involve torture and death.–
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation/be tortured and –Kill you, and you will be –Hated by all peoples and nations –for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness/sinning will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”
13 “But whoever/real Christians –Endures to the End –shall be Saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom/of God will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
Mathew 24 9-13
Christians will be living during the Great Tribulation preaching the gospel just like –the early church did. They won’t escape through a secret Rapture. Instead they will be put in jails, tortured and beheaded for their Faith in Jesus Christ.
Shadrach, Meshack, and Abendigo –God protected them in the Firey furnace in Babylon.
In the book of Acts –young evangelist Stephen was martyred/killed by people throwing stones at him. Job had to suffer –to prove his Faith that he loved God more than anything else. In the real Bible saints always suffer and die for their faith. And all believers have to prove they Love God –more than anything else such as giving up money and possessions for God’s Kingdom, being persecuted, and being martyred. Most Secret Rapture believers are Lukewarm ‘CSC’ which means they are “Cruise Ship Christians”.
The Pre-Tribulation Rapture people impose/infer their theories into and on the scriptures that don’t support them –they infuse or force them in and insist that it’s right.
24 “But in those days, –After the Great Tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; 25 the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 Then –they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then –He will send His angels and gather together His elect/saints/chosen ones from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.” Mark 13:24-27
1” After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here/to Heaven, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”
2 “Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One/God Almighty sat on the throne.” Revelation 4:1-2
Revelation chapter 4 has Apostle John being transported by himself/with no one else –to the throne room of Heaven to see visions –is Not the Cruise Ship Christians or any Church snatched away.
–This occurrence is –Not Symbolic of the Church –being taken up to Heaven in a Rapture.
Jesus Christ said to God –“I pray –Not that you take them/all His followers/believers –out of the world/in a secret Rapture –but that you –Keep Them from the evil one/the devil. Luke 21:36
The Elect are not exclusively Jewish followers in the Great Tribulation. The Elect are all the Christian followers from every country/ethnic group –who are Christians or true Believers who have Endured until the End.
Rapture folks say –The Olivet disclosure/Mathew chapter 24 is written only to Jews. Because they say– no Church existed then.
They are wrong Jesus is talking about the final days before he returns to the earth to His church of believers then living, and also to his followers/Christians in the last days on earth.
“For we did not follow cunningly devised fables/ (such as the Secret Rapture and Dispensationalism) when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” 2nd Peter 1:16
Rapture believers say –The ‘Church’ is Not mentioned in Revelation until the –End of the Tribulation because –the Church is in Heaven all the time of the Wrath taking place on the earth.
All secret Rapture believers say –the Parable of the Fig Tree is really all about Israel being the Fig Tree and becoming a nation again in 1948. They say Israel is ‘God’s Time Clock’ – ‘he Fig Tree Generation’– for all their Dispensationalism Theories.
28 “Now learn this lesson from –the Fig Tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 29 Even so, when you see these things/ (the Signs of Jesus’s coming back again) happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 30 Truly I tell you–
This Generation– will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” Mark 13:28-30
Hal Lindsey, author of the ‘Late great planet Earth’ book, Calvary Chapels Chuck Smith, and the Rapture believers said emphatically –a Generation is 33 years–.
So, since the Jews became a nation again in Israel in 1948, they said –that in 1981 the church would be Raptured up to meet Jesus. 1981 came and went and No Rapture took place. Instead of Repenting and admitting they Lied. -–They changed their minds and said –lo and behold –a Generation is really 40 years.
A Generation according to the Bible is actually 40 years, so they got that part finally right. In Psalm 95:10 God says – “For 40 years I was Angry with that –Generation.”
So, then all the secret Rapture people said –The Rapture will occur in 1988 and it did not come to pass. Rather than give up their ridiculous Jewish Fig Tree Generation Dispensation prophecies. The Rapture folks all said for sure now a Generation is 70 years.
So, they said Jesus will return in 2018 in –a Secret Rapture. And Jesus didn’t Return in a Rapture in 2018. Nowadays all the Rapture Believers/teachers say –No problem, –a Generation is really 105 years, and that’s why Jesus hasn’t returned to earth yet.
Almost all Baptists and big popular Christian media are Rapture believers/disciples.
Any Christian ministry –must believe Rapture and Dispensationalism Theories to get on any mainstream Christian radio and tv shows.
9 Rapture believers say –”For God hath not appointed us to Wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also you do.” 1st Thessalonians 5:9-11
“And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the Wrath to come.” 1st Thessalonians 1:12
Rapture believers say God has – Saved us/the Church from the Wrath to come.
8 “But God commends/shows his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from Wrath/from going to hell through Him.”
10 “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved/from God’s wrath –of putting you in Hell by His life.” Romans 5:8-10
The Bible is talking about–Comfort one another –Because there is No Wrath from God –after you die. Jesus saved us from God’s Wrath –after we die.
Paul’s is –Not talking to Believers in Romans 5:8-10 –about a future Great Tribulation. –In the Future 2000 years.
The scripture passages are talking about –The Wrath to Come as –When they die and –don’t go to Hell –and get God’s Wrath.
The Believers at that time period–were –in great tribulation getting tortured for their faith and dying,
The Believers at that time period didn’t care about –a Great Tribulation to be delivered from –2,000 years after they lived and died. But they did care about dying then and –facing God’s Wrath after they died.
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but –the Wrath of God remains on them.” John 3:36
–This is God’s Wrath that Christians –are saved from:
3 Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature –children of Wrath, just as were others.” Ephesians 2:3
This is God’s –Final Wrath on sinners –that Christians are Saved from:
–“The Day of the Lord is a time that will be both “great” and “dreadful” or “awesome” terrible, fearful.” Malachi 4:5
–”See, The Day of the Lord is coming
—a cruel day, with Wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land desolate
and destroy the sinners within it.
10 The stars of heaven and their constellations
will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened
and the moon will not give its light.
11 I will punish the world for its evil,
the wicked for their sins.” Isaiah 13:9-11
30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a Fearful/terrible/dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrew 10:30-31
26 “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.” Hebrews 10:26-27
“Watch you therefore, and Pray Always, that you may be Accounted worthy to Escape all these things/during the Great Tribulation that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”
Luke 21:36
–Based on this scripture –Some Believers may be able to escape some or all of the Great Tribulation if they –Watch over their lives to Not do sinning. And are Praying all the Time and –having intimate personal spiritual and mental time with God –All the Time.
Rapture Believers say that –Dispensationalism– which is the theological system of –Ages of Time– ordered by God to control/orchestrate the affairs of the world. That it is ordained Bible prophecy –for Jews –for Israel –a separate program for them –separate from a program for his Church.
Dispensational Theology is two distinct peoples of God –the church with Jesus Christ and then –the Jews that are Israel.
Rapture Believers say there are 7 Dispensations –innocence, conscience, human government, promise, law, grace, and millennial kingdom.
God’s pattern works with man during Dispensations. That the church has not replaced the Jews in God’s plan for his people. The Old Testament promises to Israel are not transferred to the church.
Rapture Believers say –Israel its promises of lands, descendants. and blessings will be fulfilled in the thousand-year millennial in Revelation chapter 20.
Pre-Tribulation Rapture believers say the following scripture in Jeremiah chapter 30 is all about the Great Tribulation and Rapture.
4 “And these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.
7 “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of –Jacob’s Trouble/captivity in Assyria/Babylon, but –he/Israel shall be
saved out of it/ captivity in Babylon.
10 Therefore fear not, O my servant Jacob, says the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity/ in Babylon; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.”
11 I will correct you in measure and will not leave you altogether unpunished.
14 “For I have wounded you –with the wound of an enemy, –with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of your iniquity, –because your –Sins were increased.”
Jeremiah 30:4-14
Israel had constant ‘Jacob’s Trouble’ times. It always happened –because they served Idols, rejected God and his word, and they didn’t obey Him.
In verse 14 of Jeremiah chapter 30 God says — For I have Wounded You. The Jews throughout the entire Bible and to the present reject God and Jesus Christ as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So, they are in constant Jacob’s Trouble(s),
Dispensationalists say that the Great Tribulation time/7 years is really Jacob’s Trouble found in Jeremiah chapter 30. That Jacob’s Trouble is for the Jews during the –abomination of desolation in the Jewish temple during the Great Tribulation of the last half 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy.
Jacob’s Trouble –was the 70-year captivity in Assyria/Babylon and –when its citizens were taken captive by the Assyrians. Judah was punished in the sixth century B.C. at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and the nation of Babylon.
Most times when Israel in the the Old Testament suffered perils being taken away by their enemies. It was called –The Time of ‘Jacob’s Trouble’–. It was a common popular catch phrase of those days.
Rapture Believers say that –The Pre-Tribulation Rapture is when Jesus comes –before the 7-year Tribulation.
The Post-Tribulation Rapture has the Saints going through the Great Tribulation until the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ.
The Mid-Tribulation Rapture folks say Jesus comes in the Middle of the Tribulation/3 and ½ years into it.
Rapture Believers say in parts of Revelation where it says things like –”Hide us from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand.” Revelation 6:12-17
And –The Tribulation is Hell on earth where 1/3 of everything is destroyed.
They say –God is pouring his –Wrath out on sinners who rejected him –not his Church who loves him. God is not mad at his church.
And–
9 “For God has not appointed us to Wrath/going to Hell, but to obtain Salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.” 1st Thessalonians 5:9-11
24 “For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.” Luke 17:24
Rapture believers say that Luke 17:24 is a description of the Rapture? Because it happens in the sky like lightning from one part of the sky to the other.
32 “Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” 36 [Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.”
37 “Where, Lord?” they asked.
He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.” Luke 17:32-37
Rapture Believers say that the Body up in the Sky is –the Rapture of the church.
Rapture Believers say during the Rapture –millions of Christians will disappear. It’s called the –Great Evacuation.
They say after the Rapture there is chaos on earth. But that right now we are living in the “Church Age”, and there are No Signs needed for the Rapture to happen. It could happen anytime.
An old Popular Rapture song chorus by Larry Norman:
“I wish we’d all been ready.”
“There’s no time to change your mind.”
“The Son has come, and you’ve been Left Behind.”
Rapture Believers say 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 is their main Rapture Text. They say the apostle Paul is telling the believers living then/2000 years ago –that they are ignorant of the Rapture to come. And to not be ignorant that the church 2000 years in the future will be Raptured/snatched away/a catching away/caught away/Harpazo.
Jesus said “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and –Receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.” John 14:1-4
The Rapture believers say this scripture passage is –the Rapture of the Church.
Rapture Believers say –In the Book of Revelation, the church appears in chapters 1-3 on the earth. But after Chapter 4 the church never appears again not until Chapter 19 and the appearance of Christ.
What about the Saints who go to Heaven after that are beheaded on the earth in Revelation chapter 7? Rapture believers say –those are Jewish believers and tribulation saints.
The reality is that –these Saints in the Great Tribulation are suffering, and dying for God –just like the early church did.
Rapture Believers say why go up at the 2nd Coming to come right back down. Because at the Second Coming Christ comes with the Saints to the earth you would go up and bump into them and that doesn’t make sense?
The answer is simple –Since each saints’ bodies will be instantly changed as they ascend upward to meet the armies of the Lord waiting for them in the sky. Then the saints with new bodies will join the army of the Lord on horses and come back to the earth with them together.
Rapture Believers say that Israel is grafted in again after the Rapture takes place during the Great Tribulation.
23 “And they/Israel also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?”
25 “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved.”
Romans 11: 23-26
Rapture Believers say in Matthew 24 9-28 about –”Enduring to the End” during the Great Tribulation is only for (tribulation saints who didn’t get Raptured and Jewish believers).
Rapture Believers say the –”Jewish Wedding Model”– where the bride and groom would enter –their bridal chamber is describing the Rapture of the Church. When the Bride/the Church was taken back/raptured to the home of the groom.
And –Hidden in the bridal chamber (Hebrew: ‘chupah’) for the seven-day period, so shall –it be ‘Raptured’ with the Lord and the seven-year period of great tribulation that is to come. The Lord shall return for his bride/Rapture, to hide her within the bridal chamber at His Father’s house, for that seven-year period of Wrath upon the earth.
Rapture Believers say –The Rapture is just like the model of a Jewish Wedding shows. That is, after the resurrection/Rapture –at the return of Jesus Christ, the bride then enters the bridal chamber. The reason for this time of protection, is because God’s wrath is about to be poured out on the earth.
Rapture Believers say the ‘Harpazo’ is the “Snatching Up” of the Church.
Rapture Believers say –The Greek verb Harpazo, meaning, “to seize upon, spoil, snatch away, or take to oneself,” especially used of –Rapture (Acts 8:39; 2 Cor 12:2, 4; 1. Thess 4:17; Rev 12:5). Harpazo is translated “caught up” or “caught away”.
Rapture Believers say God –won’t drag his Bride/the Church through the mud/during the Great Tribulation. They exclaim God –doesn’t want to beat up his Bride/the church during the Great Tribulation.
Rapture Believers say that those who are “Taken” in Matthew 24:40 are destined for judgment, while those who remain on the earth are righteous individuals who will survive and enter the 1000 year messianic kingdom.
Dispensationalism Rapture believers say that the –Last Generation of believers/Jewish and tribulation saints will enter into Daniel’s 70th week, encounter the Anti-Christ and endure the Great Tribulation while they are up in Heaven having a good time.
Dispensationalism Rapture believers say of the 70 “sevens of Daniel’s Weeks,”
69 have already been fulfilled in history. This leaves one more “seven” week yet to be fulfilled. They believe that we are now living in a huge –Gap– between the 69th week and the 70th week. The prophetic clock has been paused, as it were.
For over 1800 years up until about the time of John Darby circa 1850, All Christians believed the 70 weeks in the book of Daniel had been –fully completed. There was No “Gap” Theory. All Christians thought the 70 weeks had been fulfilled in the 1st century. None were looking for some sort of temporally disconnected one week (7 years) and/or 3 ½ years that remained to be fulfilled.
All Christians for over 1800 years understood the 70 weeks in the book of Daniel as being completely fulfilled by –the First Coming of Jesus Christ and/with His Death and Resurrection. The 490 years/70 weeks have –Ended with –the Death/Resurrection of Christ.
“And He/Jesus Christ/the Messiah 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/Jesus Christ shall make it desolate, even until the consummation/accomplishment, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Daniel 9:27
John Darby and Dispensationalism Rapture believers say the “He” in Daniel 9:27 is either Titus of 70 AD, or the future Anti-Christ who will defile the Jewish temple with an abominable sacrifice.
Prior to John Darby –for over 1800 years –No Christians thought the
–“He”—in Daniel 9:27 referenced anyone but –the Messiah/Jesus Christ.
Cyrus I. Scofield picked up the new teaching/ Dispensationalism & Rapture Doctrines and published it. Since the Scofield Reference Bible of 1917, this theory has gained in much popularity. Another person who picked up the new tradition was Sir Robert Anderson who published The Coming Prince.
Critics of Dispensationalism say –If the passage is read properly in
Daniel chapter 9, it is Prophecy concerning Christ’s Seven-Year Mission (God’s number of completeness) to preach the Gospel to the “House of Israel” and to the “House of Judah”, culminating in the crucifixion of Jesus on a Wednesday.
Daniel 9:17 –”For the Lord’s sake” – For the sake of the Messiah: to whom the title Lord is frequently given in the Old Testament.
Daniel 9:21 –This was a type of that great sacrifice, which –Christ was to offer: and it was in virtue of that sacrifice, that Daniel’s prayer was accepted, when he prayed for the Lord’s sake.
Seventy weeks – These weeks are weeks of days, and these days are so many years. To finish transgression. To make an end of sin. To make reconciliation: all which words are very expressive in the original, and signify to pardon, to blot out, to destroy.
To bring in everlasting righteousness – To bring in justification by the free grace of God in Christ, and sanctification by his spirit: called everlasting, because Christ is eternal, and so are the acceptance and holiness purchased for us. Christ brings this in, By his merit. By his gospel declaring it. By faith applying and sealing it by the Holy Ghost.
“To seal up” – To abrogate/do away with the former dispensation of the law, and to ratify the new gospel covenant. “To anoint” – This alludes to his name Messiah and Christ, both which signify –Anointed. Christ was Anointed at his first conception, and personal union, Luke 1:35. In his baptism, Matt 3:17, to his three offices by the holy Ghost, King, Matt 2:2. Prophet, Isa 61:1. Priest, Psalm 110:4.
Daniel 9:26 “And after” –After the seven and the sixty-two that followed them. Not for himself – But for our sakes, and for our salvation. And the people – The Romans under the conduct of Titus. Determined – God hath decreed to destroy that place and people, by the miseries and desolations of war.
Daniel 9:27 “He shall confirm” – Christ –Confirmed the –New Covenant, By the testimony of Angels, of John the Baptist, of the wise men, of the saints then living, of Moses and Elias. By his preaching. By signs and wonders. By his holy life. By his resurrection and ascension. By his death and blood shedding.
“Shall cause –the sacrifice to cease” —All the Jewish rites, and Levitical worship. By his/Jesus Christ’s –Death he abrogated/put an end to this laborious service, forever. “And that determined” – That spirit of slumber, which God has determined to pour on the desolate nation, ’till the time draws near, when all Israel shall be saved.
Where is the future Millennium found in Scripture/the Bible?
&
During The Millennium –What will the 1000 Year Reign of Jesus Christ on the Earth be like?
ISAIAH Chapter 11:6 The wolf also shall –dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down –with the goat;
and the calf and the young lion and the young horse together;
and a –little child shall lead them.
Chapter 11:7 And the cow and the bear shall feed/together;
their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Chapter 11:8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp/rattlesnake,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on their den.
Chapter 11:9 They shall –Not Hurt nor Destroy –in all my holy mountain/Millennial Kingdom:
for the –New Earth –shall be full of the Knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
ISAIAH Chapter 2:4—He/Jesus Christ shall judge between the nations,
and He shall rebuke/correct many peoples;
and they shall Beat their Swords into Plowshares/for doing farming,
and their spears into pruning hooks/for doing farming,
nation shall not lift up sword/weapons against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
ISAIAH Chapter 11:4 —But with Righteousness shall He/Jesus Christ judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth:
and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
11:5 And Righteousness –shall be the girdle/belt of his loins,
and Faithfulness –the girdle/belt of his reins.
ISAIAH Chapter 65:17 –“See, I/God will create
a New Heavens and a –New Earth.
The former things will Not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.
REVELATION Chapter 2:25 But hold firmly/abide in/cling tightly what you have/your Salvation till I/Jesus Christ come.
26 And whoever Overcomes, and keeps/does/obeys My Works until the End,
to them –I will give power/Authority –over the Nations/in the Millennium—
27 ‘They shall Rule them with a rod of iron;
They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—
as I also have received/Authority from My Father.
MATHEW Chapter 5;5 —Blessed are the Meek, for they shall –Inherit/have authority/leadership on the Earth/in the Millennium.
2nd Timothy Chapter 2:12 —If we endure—with Him/Jesus Christ –We shall also Reign/Rule with Him/in the Millennium.
DANIEL Chapter 7
“I kept looking
Until thrones were set up,
And the Ancient of Days/God Almighty took His seat;
His outward appearance was like dazzling illuminated whitest snow
And the hair of His head like pure wool.
His throne was ablaze with flames,
Its wheels were a burning fire.
10 A river of fire was flowing.
And coming out from before Him;
Thousands upon thousands –were attending Him,
And myriads upon myriads –were standing before Him;
The court sat,
And the Books –were opened.
13 “I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like the Son of Man/Jesus Christ was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days/God
And was presented before Him.
14 And to Him was given Dominion,
Glory and a Kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men/women of every language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an Everlasting Dominion/Kingdom
Which will not pass away;
And His Kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.
18 But the Saints of the Highest One will receive the Kingdom and possess the Kingdom Forever, for all ages to come/eternally.
27 Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven –will be given to the people of the Saints of the Highest One; His Kingdom will be an Everlasting Kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’
END of “Is it a Pretribulation Rapture or the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ?
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Rapture/2nd Coming————1
