Rapture Timing
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Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sewed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sewed tears among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and sprouted a crop, then the tears also appeared. So the servents of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sew good seed in your field?' He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servents said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?' But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tears you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, 'First gather together the tears and bind them together in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.' " (Matthew 13:24-30 KJ)
Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And his disciples came to him saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tears of the field." He answered and said to them: "He sews the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tears are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sewed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tears are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and those that practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 13:36-42 KJ)
These verses reveal to us that the Christians and non-Christians are to live together until the end (Judgement) when God's people shall be uprooted. Also, the angels, spoken of here in prophetic context, act as the reapers of the crop, just as the angels in the tribulation will be set to the task of gathering the Christians.
Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of testing which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. (Revelation 3:10 KJ)
The promise is NOT "I will keep you from the hour of testing"-which would require the Greek preposition apo. Instead, Christ uses the preposition ek, which means "out of the midst of." Apo would mean that these believers could expect deliverance BEFORE the hour of testing; ek means that they can expect deliverance DURING the hour of testing. The Greek word for "keep" (tereo) is also used here. Tereo means "to guard or protect in the presence of danger."
For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be. And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake, whom He chose, He shortened the days.(Mark 13:20-21 KJ)
We know the tribulation will not be shortened, that would make other prophecies concerning it's length incorrect. The tribulation is shortened for God's elect only! This is the rapture and "God's elect" (used several times in the Bible) usually refers to the whole church of God both living and dead in Christ. The rapture shown here is followed by immediate destruction that no one could survive.
And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:26-30 KJ)
Jesus gave us clear examples of christians being removed and God's wrath following immediatly thereafter. He also states that the day of the Lord will not be unlike these examples. The day of the Lord is the rapture followed by God's wrath; this much is clear. Pre-tribbers try to stretch the day of the Lord to encompass the whole tribulation. But wait! The fifth seal represents the slaying of christains! If the whole tribulation is God's wrath, then is God responsible for the murder of christians?
When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" (Revelation 6:9-10 KJ)
If the whole tribulation is Gods judgement or wrath, then why are the martyrs of the tribulation asking how much longer it will be before God punishes the wicked? The seal jugements, therefore, odviously are not God's judgement. They are environmental catastrophies, war, starvation and disease (the disease is likely brought about by the war and natural disasters). We as christians are called to be good stewards of the Earth. We are also told that we are the salt of the earth, meaning that through our works, we keep the people of Earth from wickedness and moral decay, just as salt keeps food from rotting. The seal judgements are brought upon the whole Earth because we have failed in both areas. Christians are as much to blame for the state of the World as non-believers.
If you think it is unchristian to believe anything other then the pretribulation view, then what about all the godly believers who for almost eighteen hundred years, did not hold this view? Yes, the pretrib rapture view is brand new (relatively speaking). It can be traced back to a man by the name of John Darby and the Plymouth Brethren in 1830. The pretrib view found its way to the U.S. in the 1880s and brought with it friction and division. Pretribulation rapturism was included in the Scofield Reference Bible in 1909 and the revised edition in 1917. As a result of this new Bible, colleges began to teach this view. It was not the view of the early church nor was it the view preached by Jesus and the disciples. Jesus on many occasions told christians of the horrors they would experience during the tribulation and the persecution under the anti-christ. There were times when the early christians believed that the rapture could be imminent only because they were suffering great persecution, and believed they may have already entered the tribulation.
The pre-trib. rapture myth is a dangerous teaching. It is this belief that will lead to a great falling away from the faith. If the christians suddenly disappeared, everyone would know instantly what had happened. Many non-believers, of course, have heard of the rapture. Following such a disappearance, the first World leader to step up to the podium would face a million sniper rifles! Instead we know that many christians will embrace this new leader and will be deceved by him. The reason christians do not reconize the anti-christ when he appears, is that they believe they will be beamed up first (the he can't be the anti-christ because I'm still here syndrome). The christians who do wake up will be ridiculed and discredited.
Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying,"Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." (2 Peter 3:3,4 KJ)
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By: Ben Kohain