36. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

37. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

38. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark.

39. And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

40. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

41. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

42. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

43. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

44. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

11. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

12. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

13. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark.

Now having both texts in front of us, let's examine what is being said. Notice that Jesus uses the reference to this story, but not only that but let's look more closely at what is said; Jesus says in Matt. 24: 37-39, in vs. 37, that as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in his coming. Then in vs. 38, He describes that time and says things went on "until the day that Noah entered into the ark", and then again in vs. 39 compares it to his coming. Now if we look at the actual story in Gen. 7, we see that it is clear in vs. 13 that Noah and the rest of his family "entered" the ark the day that it started to rain. Taking the story into account, it was the flood that was the judgment, but it started with the first drop of rain. Using the comparison of the actual story with what Jesus is saying about when He comes, it is clear that it is at the start of the time indicated ( tribulation ). There is a common argument among mid and post believers that according to this story that they went "through" the judgment and were protected, which they claim is a proof that we will go through the judgment and be protected. There are several flaws to this reasoning; first, they (Noah and his family- representing the raptured church) were protected and went through this judgment for a reason, to repopulate the earth. There will be no need for repopulation after the rapture so this reasoning falls short to make it fit in this senario. If we look at some other factors we can see that this story does more to substantiate the pre-trib view; first if we look at the comparisons, Noah and his family were in the ark, which is a symbolism of Christ, and they are "in" the ark (Jesus) and not a drop of the judgment touched them, they were lifted up above the judgment and came back down when it was over. There is something else to look at in this section of scriptures, if we look at vs. 40-41 of Matt. 24, notice that it is described as though things are going on as usual and it is even more indicated to be that way in vs.38-39. The only problem with this for mid and post theories, is that it is hard to imagine that things would be going in this manner with millions being killed for refusing the mark and the war the anti-Christ will be waging against those opposing him, also those opposing him are not likely to be carrying on things as normal. It should also be noted that not ONE PERSON in Noah's family was harmed in ANY way while in the ark, so the theory of being protected through the tribulation is ridiculous and is not in any way supported in this section of scripture and not at all in the book of Revelation, especially chapter 13.

10. 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.

First, the entire text should be looked at to get a proper understanding and an accurate assessment of what is being said. The seven churches being referred to in chapters 2&3 are the complete text to consider. There are several theories as to who these churches represent, one being that each church represents seven distinct time periods from the apostles time to the present. This view is only theory and even though the time periods can be made to fit, I don't believe it accurately fits the scenario, and I will explain why in more detail in the next section. For now let me explain my belief of this verse. The seven churches represent the church as a whole; If you were to survey the church worldwide, but especially in America, you will find people who fit each of the descriptions in these seven churches. Seven is God's perfect number and represents completeness, and if you go back and read chapter 1 it is very hard to get the idea that He is speaking to seven distinct churches and not the whole. The church has been plagued with the conditions described in these seven churches from the start and will continue to be until Jesus takes us home. Because these seven churches represent the whole, I believe the message is this; There are going to be false professors, lukewarm, and those who are in church for all the wrong reasons, but there are also going to be a lot of Philadelphia's in each church as well. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23 that not everyone would make it, indicating that these types would exist in the church, thinking that they were o.k. and they would make it just the same. He also says in the same chapter in verses 13-14 that there would only be a few out of the great numbers the churches boast that would make it. The church of Philadelphia is the only one of the seven that Jesus had nothing bad to say about, and this is the only one He makes the statement to of keeping them "from" the tribulation. This in no way indicates that this is done because of their "works", but I believe rather it is the result of OBEDIENCE to His word and an undying faith in Him. Jesus makes it clear in verses 8&10 that His satisfaction with them was in that they "kept my word". So who does this represent? I believe according to the scriptures that it is all of those who do everything they can every day to please Him and live according to His word: are they perfect? no way, but they love Him and have made the choice in their hearts to SERVE Him the best they can without wavering. They will still sin, make mistakes, and do wrong from time to time, but they hate sin and all appearance of evil and do not desire to sin nor continue in it. There is also the questionable word "from" in verse 10, those of the mid and post beliefs claim that this word means "through", I have put together a separate page of information on this very word and it's real meaning. The word in question is "ek", and is talked about in detail in the supplemental page titled "Preposition "Ek" means Out Of".

1. Now we beseech you, bretheren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

2. That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

3. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

5. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

6. And now ye know what with-holdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

7. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

8. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

Take a close look at vs. 1 and it appears that Paul is speaking of two separate events; "the coming" and "our gathering". Then he tells us in verse 2 that someone had told them a lie that they had already missed that day, and in 2 Timothy 2:17-18 he tells us who those trouble-makers were. Then in verse 3 he reminds them of what he had already told them, according to verse 5. The falling away he describes in vs.3, I believe has been in process for several years already, many will argue that according to Joel chapter 2:28-29, that there will be a great revival in the last days. I don't disagree that there will be a spiritual awakening in the last days, but at the same time I believe that the falling away can and will happen at the same time. Let me explain briefly, first, a falling away is speaking of those falling away from the faith, and the pouring out of the spirit spoken of in Joel ch.2 is also speaking of those of the faith; the age of being lukewarm is desolving even now, but will even more so when the tribulation starts. So it is easy to see how the division will be made that some will depart from the faith and others will be revived. Now let's look at verses 6-8. There is much controversy as to who or what it is that "withholdeth", but one thing is for sure, according to vs.8. that what ever it is must be "taken out of the way". Some hold that this verse is referring to government as we know it, some that it is referring to authority in general. I believe it is clearly speaking about the Holy Spirit and will explain why: The Greek word for both "withholdeth" and "letteth" is katechon, this uses the neuter gender and corresponds to the phrase to pneuma "the Spirit", also in verse 7, the neuter gender is used to describe "he who letteth" , [ ho katechon], which is used in John chapter 14 throughout to describe the Holy Spirit and the Comforter. It is clear in verse 7 that Paul is not speaking of a departure of the Spirit, but that it is "taken out of the way", in the form of the restraining work of the church in the world. If it weren't for Christians in the world today openly opposing the evil in society, the devil would have control now. If the church is raptured off the earth, then the door is open for a complete rule of evil, allowed by God to fulfill the prophesied events.

1. After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.

2. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

3. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

4. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

There are several teachings on these verses, but the main view among pre-trib believers is this; In verse one, John is representative of the church and this verse gives us a picture of the rapture using the "voice as it were of a trumpet" to tie in with 1 Thess. 4:16 and 1 Cor. 15:52. I believe there are some other interesting points to discuss on these four verses. It is quite a coincidence that Jesus has just finished speaking to the church in chapters two and three and then starts chapter four by saying "Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter". First in question is what was being referred to as "hereafter", hereafter what? It does fit the theory very well that he is referring to the tribulation period about to come upon those left on the earth; which I believe 3:10 is indicating the same thing. Now let's look at something interesting in verse four: If you will notice that now John is in heaven and in the presence of the throne and also twenty-four elders; these elders are believed by some to represent the twelve patriarchs or tribes from the Old Testament and the twelve apostles from the New Testament. It is also believed that these elders represent the church, both old and new. What I would like to look at is the fact that they are in white raiment and are wearing crowns of gold: according to many scriptures there is a specific day set aside for the rewarding of this crown, look at these scriptures; 1 Cor. 9:25, 2Tim. 4:8, James 1:12, 1 Pet. 5:4, Rev. 2:10 & 3:10. It is also important to note that there is no mention of this type of crown ( other than these same crowns in 4:10 ) throughout the rest of Revelation.

31. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.