The Rapture of the Church

Copyright 1998;
William A. Simpson

For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven
With a shout,
with the voice of an archangel,
and with the trumpet of God.

And the dead in Christ
will rise first.

Then we who are alive and remain
shall be caught up
together with them
In the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air.

And thus shall we always be
with the Lord.

(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

All Scripture quotations taken from
The New King James Version

Just as cults have made a mockery of the wonderful doctrines of God's grace, so have they also done grave injustice to the doctrine of the rapture of the Church. The recent incident concerning the Heaven's Gate cult was no more than one diversionary tactic among many that the devil has foisted upon a world already wary of cults. Satan's purpose in so misleading those confused souls was to divert the minds of many people from the truth, and to turn their hearts firmly against discussion of one of the great truths of the Christian Scriptures. Except among Christians who are well-informed doctrinally, and whose hope is in heaven and not on earth, there is little talk of the rapture of the Church these days. Satan knows that the time is near, and desperately desires that hearts be turned from this hope, the promise of the redemption of the body. So, he offers outrageous counterfeits that make a mockery of this wonderful doctrine also. He knows the heart of man, having tempted and seduced him through every generation since Adam. He knows our hot buttons, and he knows how to deceive man by manipulating our emotions.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of web pages on the internet which address the issue of the rapture of the Church. Only a small percentage of these are based upon a literal, or normal, interpretation of the Bible. Many theologians, of the liberal camp, make the prophetic Scriptures mean something other than what they say. These theologians believe that the Bible must be spiritualized, and that it cannot be understood properly if it is taken literally. Among conservative theologians, the Bible means what it says, and is itself the Authority upon which we base our interpretations.

There is almost universal agreement on the important bit of prophecy quoted above. It is seen uniformly as a message of hope, and not a thing to fear. To fear what the Bible calls our "blessed hope" is to profess a lack of understanding concerning it. For if a Christian understands this doctrine, it is the source of the only real hope that any of us has. Indeed, Paul finishes that passage in First Thessalonians by saying:

"Therefore, comfort one another with these words."

Conservatives are those who interpret the Bible literally, or normally, following the usual rules of grammar and structure, not twisting the Scriptures to make them fit into some preconceived mold of prophecy.

The Heaven's Gate members are in their graves. They are not riding a comet. Neither did they take their rolls of quarters with them. But there is a day coming when the Church Age saints who have died are going to be resurrected, and when living believers will be transformed from mortal to immortal. Among all the generations of man since Adam, one generation will escape death altogether -- the generation that is alive at the time of the rapture. In that Day many millions of people will actually leave the earth. Hear what Paul said elsewhere:

"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall 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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1 Cor 15:51-52).

Taken with the passage in First Thessalonians quoted above, it is clear that a day will come when all of the believers of this age, from Pentecost until the day it occurs, will receive immortal flesh, through either the resurrection of the dead, or the translation of the living. This has nothing to do with cults, but is a grand promise given only to Christians, saints who have been born again; sinners yet, but with a heavenly hope.

There will be no explicit event upon which we may fix the day or the hour. Those we cannot know. The believer will have nothing to do with the event, but it will be wholly orchestrated and executed by the Son of God Himself, in a moment, an atom of time, or, time indivisible. The Greek word is atomos. The believer will not do any more to be raptured than he did to be saved. Rather, it will be done to him by God. We need not wait on mountaintops or in deserts, but simply be watchful from day to day and from moment to moment. We need not sell our possessions and remove ourselves from the people of the world, but Paul told Titus that we are always,

"...looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ..."

Rather, we are to be in the world, ministering the word of reconciliation to sin-darkened lost souls. This, the devil will never use a cult to do. His intent with many is to divert them from hearing the gospel, so he often tempts people into cults in order to isolate the spiritually blind from those who are lights themselves in a dark place. The devil's gospel has to do with the things of men, and not the things of God. We do not look for signs, but for Jesus. There are no signs that must precede the rapture of the Church, though there are many that precede the Second Coming of the Lord to the earth.

In the Oriental marriages in the time of Jesus' earthly walk, the order was something like this: Long before a child was old enough to consider such matters, his parents would enter into a legal agreement with the parents of the bride, whereby the daughter was, in essence, bargained for. The father of the boy had to pay a bride-price to the girl's father. From that moment, the two children were legally espoused to one aonther. If, later in life, other plans should seem more desirable to the young man, he had to file for divorce, though he had never lived with his bride. And the restrictions upon divorce almost precluded divorce altogether. Once the bride-price was paid, the boy's family went back home to live. There may have been little contact between the two families while the children were growing up.

Then, as the son began to assume the role of an adult, usually working in his father's business, he would prepare a home into which to receive his bride. He would clear his land, dig his well, build and furnish his home, preparing it as well as his means allowed so that his bride would be pleased.

The daughter would begin to amass her trousseau, the things she would need to properly manage her husband's household. Her parents, if they the had the means, would begin to build a dowry for her, that her side of the family might not be defamed by a lack of preparation.

When the groom had prepared his bride's new home, he would go unannounced to the street outside her door, and call for her. She would, if it were night, light her lamp and go out to meet him, whereupon she would then follow him to her new home, where, if he had the means, he would present her with an emerald, not a diamond. A party would commence that often lasted for days. She would then be his wife, and not just his espoused wife.

The parallels between the old Mosaic codes and the rapture of the Church are remarkable. We were chosen by God to be the bride of Christ before the foundation of the world, when we clearly had no choice in the matter. Our heavenly Father paid the Bride-price with His own Son's precious Blood. Now our espoused Husband has gone to prepare a place for us. though we cannot now see Him, we have the advantage of being able to communicate with Him daily. One day, unannounced, He will appear in the clouds and call us. He will shout, "Come up here!" We will see the dead raised in immortal bodies --all our saved loved ones who have passed. We will ourselves then be instantly "translated," made immortal. Together with the souls who have been raised, we shall physically leave the earth to meet the Lord in the air. We will be transported immediately into the home that He is now preparing, where we shall enjoy festivities that only God could devise. This will last for seven years. For more detail on what happens following these seven years, see the article entitled the Kingdom of Heaven.

This is not a moment to fear, but an event to look forward to with an infinite hope. It will mean an end to earthly troubles, and the beginning of life in a glorified body. It will mean standing in the loving embrace of a God such as the dark world never dreamed of. Such glory! Such peace! Such enlarged knowledge! Such beauty and love as we cannot even imagine today. For those who live to see the rapture, it will mean life without the shadow of the grave. It will mean seeing face to face the One who loves you enough to have died in your place. It will mean receiving rewards for your Christian labors.

Today, we are limited. We know that if we live long enough, we shall die. Our lives are temporal, because the flesh is sinful. But in that moment, we shall change from mortal to immortal. Our bodies will be made of eternal stuff, and death will be impossible, for we shall then stand before God in a sinless state. Indeed, Christian, the life that is in you now is not that temporal life that you were born with, but is already that eternal life that was imparted to you the moment you first believed the Gospel of grace.

When the flesh of the Christian dies, the person does not die. Only the flesh. According to Paul, the axiom is: absent from the body, present with the Lord. Should you not live to see the rapture, you will not lose consciousness in death. You will simply leave the body and go to be with the Lord. And then you will return with Him to be rejoined with your flesh and resurrected at the rapture. But if your hope is not for the rapture, then it is for the resurrection, in which case, you are hoping for death also. For only the dead are resurrected. The living are changed.

We think of ourselves as temporal creatures, but we are not truly so. It is important for the Christian to begin looking at life from an eternal perspective. We view our lives by the landmarks we pass. There is the day of birth, the beginning of school, the graduation from school, the finding of career employment, the getting married, the children that we bring forth, their birthdays and schooling, their graduations and marriages, our retirement. And what? The grave. For the Christian, the grave is not the end, but the beginning. We do not die at death, but live on in the presence of God, to return yet again to our resurrected flesh. Thereafter, our immortal flesh shall never die. Our hopes ought not be set on earthly things that pass away, but on heavenly things that are eternal. Since we shall live beyond the grave, does it not make sense to begin seeing ourselves as eternal creatures? If we set our minds on earthly things, we shall die. But if we set our minds on heavenly things, then we can begin to live here and now with hope, peace, assurance, and communion with the very God who will bring it all to pass..

Some people fear that they will be mixed up in some sort of spiritual soup, either at death or in the rapture; that they will lose their identities, or that they will not really like what is available to them. Who wants to spend eternity sitting on a cloud playing a harp? But that is not at all what heaven is like. Remember, the devil deceives us easily with implanted images and social traditions. There is nothing Scriptural in that whole scene. We will be extraordinarily busy, but we will also be tireless, and far, far more capable than we are today. The raptured saint is still the person he was before, but without sin. And immortal. You will still be you, in person and character, but you will be enormously intelligent and completely fulfilled. No earthly lottery can possibly give anyone those things. And they are already yours by the promise of God, though you cannot yet experience them. You will look like yourself, only flawless. All the facelifts and tummy tucks in the world cannot stave off death. You may fight the appearances of aging, but one day gravity will work its work on you and drag you beneath the ground. We cannot fight the effects of aging. Our hope is the rapture.

Every earthly hope ends at the grave. If you are hoping for a promotion at work, you will one day retire and then die. There is no hope in it. If you are hoping for a husband or a wife, you are hoping for the grave. For you will die, and so will your mate. Every earthly hope stands in the gloom of the tomb that awaits. But the Christian hope is no dark end such as that. It is to see the source of all glory, and of everything that is good.

There are three primary views concerning the timing of the rapture. Conservatives hold that the rapture takes place immediately preceding that time known in the Bible as the tribulation period, or the Time of Jacob's Trouble. This position is called the Pre-tribulation position. Others believe that the rapture occurs midway through that time of judgment. This is called the Mid-tribulation position. Still others teach that the Church will endure all of the judgments of that terrible time, to be raptured at the end of it. This is called the Post-tribulation position. Of course, there are also those who say that there is no such thing as a rapture of the Church. These we will dismiss out of hand, since the Bible clearly states otherwise.

While the Bible does not actually use the word rapture, it does plainly describe the event to which we have assigned this name. We received the word from a Latin translation of the Greek word harpazo, which in our English Bibles is translated caught up, or snatched away. The latin word from which our word rapture stems is rapare.

Let us begin at the bottom and work our way upward toward a proper ending. Post-tribulationists base their arguments, not on a positive reading of Scripture, but upon faulty reasoning. They maintain that there is no history of Pre-tribulationism in the early Church. However, the silence of the Church fathers on the subject would not negate the Scriptures. The entire field of eschatology (the study of things to come) did not become widely discussed in the Church until the time of the Reformation. Every era of Church history has had its own particular focus. It is clear that every writer of the epistles believed that the rapture was imminent, that it could occur at any moment. Who outside of the apostles do we need to write on this subject?

If the tribulation period must precede the rapture, then the rapture would lose its imminence. Instead of watching for the return of the Lord for His saints, the admonition would be to watch for the rise of the antichrist and the beginning of the tribulation. There are many passages which prove the imminence of the rapture, but among the more important in this context are 1 Cor 1:7; Phil 3:20-21; 1 Thes 1:9-10; Tit 2:13. If there were anything which preceded the rapture, then we would be told to watch for those things, and not for the rapture.

Besides, there is no silence, as is charged, amongst the early Church fathers. Clement mentioned the rapture as imminent, as did Didache, among others.

There is tribulation promised in the Bible, but it is never once promised to or related to the true Church. Most often, it is the nation of Israel that is being addressed (Mt 24; Lk 23, Mk 13). Post-tribulationists invariably confuse the prophecies given to Israel with those given to the Church, contending that the Church is somehow the "new" Israel. Of course, the Bible makes no such claim, but is always very careful to distinguish between the Church and Israel, just as it is also careful to distinguish between Israel and the Gentile nations.

There is a passage in Revelation which Post-tribulationists are quick to jump on. It is found in the letters to the seven churches, at 2:22. In order to understand this passage correctly, it must be compared to other Scriptures. In His great declarations concerning the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven in Matthew thirteen, Jesus spoke several parables to His disciples. Among these were the parables of the wheat and the tares, and the parable of the dragnet. In both of these, Jesus taught that the professing Church (as distinct from the true Church) would be composed of both the saved and the unsaved. The saved were the wheat, or the good fish. The unsaved were the tares, or the bad fish. The tares were in the field together with the wheat. The bad fish were in the net together with the good fish. All call themselves Christian (see Mt 7:21-23). But not all are saved.

There is an element in the professing church that is not saved. Those who call themselves Christians, but who have not been born again, are not saved. These are those who will endure the great tribulation. At the rapture of the Church, the born again believers will be removed from the earth, and the unsaved portion of the professing church will enter the tribulation as the great harlot of Revelation seventeen. By failing to rightly divide the Bible, liberals make an indecipherable hash of prophecy. They fail to distinguish between what is the true Church, and what only calls itself so. Speaking to the saved of the the Church Age, Jesus says,

"Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth." (Rev 3:10)

Nowhere is there any warning given to the Christian that he must be watchful against the judgments of the tribulation. This is but another trick by which the devil would rob the Christian of his greatest hope.

Another argument of the Post-tribulationist is that the first resurrection, the resurrection of the saints, occurs at the Second Coming of the Lord. There is a resurrection that takes place at that time, but it concerns Old Testament saints and tribulation saints. It is the completion of the first resurrection. The Post-tribulationist uses the argument that since this is clearly stated to be the first resurrection, that it must include all of the saved of all of the ages. However, the Bible itself refutes this notion. When Jesus arose from the tomb, the bodies of those who were in the graves that were opened during the earthquake at the crucifixion were raised. Where do these fit into the picture if the Post-tribulationist is correct? No, it must be understood that the first resurrection is in three phases: the resurrection of the first-fruits at the time of Jesus' resurrection; the main harvest at the rapture of the Church; and the gleanings, at the Second Coming, when the Old Testament saints and tribulation saints are raised. This is the only interpretation which accords with a literal rendering of the all of the Scriptures on the subject taken together. We shall deal with the differences drawn in the Bible between the rapture and the Second Coming somewhat farther down the page.

The Mid-tribulation position is similar in the respect that it is a trick of the devil designed to destroy the hope of the Christian. Both seek to take away the brightest glimmer of Christianity. Neither position is based upon a literal or plain interpretation of the Bible, but both must twist the Bible into some sort of fantastic allegory in order to make their theories work. Post-tribulationism fails on several accounts, and Mid-tribulationism is a weak sister. It teaches that the Church must only endure half of the judgments of God. It was necessitated theologically by all of the distinctions which the Scriptures draw between the event of the rapture and the event of the Second Coming, to be discussed under the Pre-tribulation position below. However, it still uses many of the same arguments of Post-tribulationism; i.e., the denial of imminence and the promise of tribulation. Like its sister, it teaches that the Church is cleansed somehow by the time of judgment.

Against that argument stands the Scriptural truth of the complete sanctification and perfection of the believer before the bar of God's justice. What sin are we being purified from that Jesus has not already borne in His body on the tree? Furthermore, how are we thus cleansed? There is no Scriptural record of anyone ever being cleansed by being subjected to the judgment of God. But let us for a moment allow the proposition that there is some manner of cleansing possible, although in truth, we deny it on account of Biblical silence concerning it, and on account of many, many Scriptures to the contrary. For the only cleansing available to the sinner is the washing of regeneration by the Word. But if it were possible, then only the generation alive at the time of the tribulation would be cleansed. How would the poor dead saints ever become purified? They would be left in the unenviable position of being saved, but with no possibility of making it into heaven. Perhaps this is where the Romans came up with the notion of purgatory! Again, of what shall the born again believer be convicted, that he would need further purification?

Another argument of the Mid-tribulationist is that the Church is raptured with the sounding of the seventh of the trumpet judgments. On the surface, this seems reasonable, until one considers the nature of the seal and trumpet judgments. For the Mid-tribulationist claims that these seals and trumpets are not manifestation of God's wrath, and that, therefore, the Church is not being subjected to God's wrath. However, since the Bible declares these events to be times of the outpouring of God's wrath (see Rev 6:16-17; 11:18), it seems an almost ludicrous proposition. Unless, of course, the Bible does not mean what it says. Then, anything goes! It can mean whatever you need it to mean in order to make your particular interpretation work.

Now let us turn to what the Scriptures, literally interpreted, have to say about the matter. The reasons for accepting a literal approach to this question are many. First, even the allegorizers admit freely that if a literal interpretation is the correct method of interpretation, then there is no escaping the fact of a pre-tribulation rapture of the Church. This, by no less an authority than Oswald Allis himself, in his work entitled, "Prophecy and the Church." Allis was actually speaking of a premillennial return of Christ to the earth if a literal approach be true, but one follows the other, for both depend upon a literal interpretation, and both are positions accepted by conservatives for that reason. If one of the chiefs of the allegorizers makes such an admission, then all that is really necessary is to establish the literal method of interpretation and the issue is decided. This we have done in a linked article on Bible interpretation. But we shall not let the matter rest there, for we are armed with great and precious truths concerning this, our blessed hope.

Let us consider the nature of the seventieth week of Daniel. For the uninitiated, the seventieth week of Daniel coincides with what is known as the time of Jacob's trouble.it is also that same time which is called the tribulation. It is a time when unparalleled judgment is poured out on the nation of Israel in particular, but also upon the entire earth. This is to be a period of seven years, the last half of which is called the great tribulation. However, as noted above, the first half is also a time of judgment.

Concerning this entire time, the Bible uses the following words and phrases to describe it: wrath, judgment, indignation, punishment, hour of trial, hour of trouble, destruction, and darkness. No less a Person than Jesus Himself bore all of God's wrath on behalf of the believer. Every bit of judgment for every sin every believer ever did or ever will commit has already been borne by our Savior, as our Substitute. Consequently, there is no reason to suppose that God will yet subject Christians to such a time as this. Furthermore, nowhere does the Bible ever limit these descriptions to the last half of this period, but clearly and repeatedly categorizes the entire time by these terms.

Next, we turn our thoughts to the nature of the Church. The lowliest, least educated Christian holds a more exalted position than the highest of the prophets. Neither Moses nor Isaiah nor Elijah nor Samuel nor Joshua have ever been said to be "in Christ." Yet, that is the position of every Christian. The Church -- not the professing church, but the true -- is not an organization; it is a living organism, the Body of Christ on the earth. No Old Testament saint was ever indwelt by God, but the weakest Christian has dwelling in him all the fullness of the Godhead in all the Persons in the Trinity. There is no reason given in the Bible for the Church to go through the tribulation, for she will not be there.

Since we form His Body, if any portion of the true Church were on the earth during the seventieth week of Daniel, then Christ would be pouring His judgment out upon Himself. And why should the judgment of God fall upon Jesus, since it has already done so at Calvary? Christians are declared to be justified, perfected, sanctified, forgiven, called, chosen, glorified, empowered by God, made members of His household, citizens of heaven, ambassadors from heaven to earth, and completely new creatures. All our sins are sealed up in a bag, put behind the Father's back, paid for, forgotten, and separated from the Christian as far as the east is from the west.

For what, then, is God going to subject His dearly bought children to such great wrath? As the Bride of Christ, shall Christ first beat us severely before marrying us? What bride would marry such a man as that? But this is the teaching of both the mid and post-tribulationists.

Just as Enoch was removed from the earth before the Flood, so also will the Church be removed before this great visitation of judgment. Just as Lot was taken out of Sodom before it was destroyed, so also will the Church be removed before the earth receives God's judgment. It must be borne in mind that when God the Father looks upon His children, He does not see their sins, for those have been placed behind His back. Rather, He sees Christ, whose righteousness has been already charged to our accounts.

Then there is the purpose of the tribulation period. Only three purposes are detailed in the Bible for this time of judgment. The first, of course, is to punish Israel, and to bring that nation to its knees, so that it will finally accept Him whom it crucified. The second is to punish the Gentile nations for partitioning the land that God gave to Israel. In May, 1948, the United Nations partitioned that land (even calling it a partitioning) when they reestablished the nation of Israel. The third purpose of the tribulation is the final destruction of the professing church, that great harlot who professes to be something that she is not, whose heart is where her treasure is, in the world.

There neither is nor could there be, any purpose named in the Scriptures for the true Church in relation to the tribulation. This is a time that is to try them that dwell on the earth. The Greek word that is translated dwell is katoikeo. It has the sense, not so much of living in a place, but of having one's heart in that place. One dwells on his lover's face. In like manner, every person who is not born again does not have the things of God in his heart, but the things of the world, though his life may be characterized by good works.

We must also consider the further distinction drawn in the Scriptures between the Church and national Israel. Every person born a Jew is a Jew, whether or not he believes anything. But a person only becomes a Christian by faith in the crucified Savior to save. In other words, a Jew is a Jew because of physical birth, whereas a Christian is a Christian because of a spiritual birth, a second birth. That person may have been either a Jew or a Gentile before he became a Christian.

Furthermore, amongst the Jews, God was unapproachable. One had to come to Him through priests, much as the Romans contend is true today. However, the Bible declares that when the veil of the temple was torn at the crucifixion, the way was opened for all who believe into the very presence of God, who also indwells them.

Also, the nation of Israel was no mystery, but the Chruch is a mystery hidden from ages in Christ, but manifest in these last days. The Church did not come into being until after the rejection by the Jews of their Messiah. Israel is a family, where the Church is a living organism. Israel was under the Law of Moses; the Church is under the wonderful grace of God. The head of Israel was Abraham; the Head of the Church is Christ. Jesus offered two final discourses; one to the Jews on the Mount of Olives, and another to the Church in the Upper Room. Israel was the unfaithful wife; the Church is the Bride of Christ. Finally, though other contrasts are left unstated here, Israel crucified the Messiah whom the true Church worships.

Those who teach that the Church is the new Israel deny the very clear promise of God to that nation that He will certainly fulfill His national promises to them. While Israel has been set aside for a time, it is only for a time. God will yet keep the promises that He made to Abraham and others. When the fullness of the Gentiles is accomplished, then God will turn again to the nation of Israel, to convict them and then to restore them. Hear the words of the apostle Paul:

"I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!" (Rom 11:1).

Paul goes on to explain that even during this age, there is a faithful remnant of Israel, who have become Christians, but that Israel will yet be restored. Consider his further words:

"I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.

Now if their fall is riches for the world, and ther failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fulness?... for if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?" (Rom 11: 11, 12, 15, 16)

We have not considered the great prophecy of Ezekiel, where he saw the vision of the valley of dry bones, speaking of the dispersion and regathering of the nation of Israel. If the Church is the new Israel, then that prophecy was a lie. As the Scriptures say, "Let God be true, but every man a liar." (Rom 3:4)

There is a passage in 2 Thessalonians that states that the Restrainer will be removed before the antichrist is revealed to an unsuspecting world. Since the Holy Spirit is this Restrainer, and since He has been promised to us, and further promised that He will never be taken from us, then it necessarily follows that if He is taken out of the way, then the Church must be removed also.

There are nearly twenty distinctions that may be drawn between the events of the rapture and the events of the Second Coming. Among the more important and relevant of these are the following. At the rapture, the believers leave the earth to be with the Lord in the air; at the Second Coming, they return with Him to the earth. The rapture of the Church begins the seventieth week, whereas the Second Coming climaxes it. The rapture is imminent, whereas the Second Coming is preceded by many signs. The translation of the saints is a word of great hope, whereas the Second Coming is a word of dread. The rapture is related to the saints of this age, whereas the Second Coming is related to Israel and the Gentiles and the falsely professing church. There is no removal of the curse at the rapture, whereas the heavens and the earth are transformed at the Second Coming.

In the second and third chapters of the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the letters to the seven churches are found. The entire Age is portrayed, some conservatives contend, in those seven letters. Be that as it may, chapter four begins with John being translated into heaven, from which perspective he watches the terrible events of the tribulation unfold, and which events he records for our enlightenment. It is interesting how he begins this passage:

"After these things I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven. And the first voice I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."

Not only is it interesting, but it is also significant. For we notice that this event occurred immediately after the letters to the seven churches. That is, as soon as the Church Age ends in those letters, John was translated into heaven, where he saw the things that would take place on the earth following the Church Age. What follows in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is a depiction of the scene in heaven, and we shall shortly see that the Church is already there. After this, then comes the descriptions of the judgments of the tribulation. Not once after the fifth chapter is the Church mentioned in the Book of the Revelation while the great judgments of God are being unleashed upon the earth. The next time the Church is found is when she is returning with her Groom at the end of the tribulation. Surely, if the Church were to be on the earth during any portion of this seven year period, there would be some warning, some word of exhortation to her as to her role, her ministry, her purpose during this unparalleled time of destruction. Not only is such word not found in the Revelation, it is also not found in any of the epistles or the Gospels. The Bible's absolutely unbroken silence concerning the Church during the tribulation is a very strong argument against her being involved in it.

A further examination of the verses (4:2-4) following this verse is also enlightening:

"Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.

Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads."

So, John, on the earth, receives the dictation of the seven letters, looks up and sees a door opened in heaven. Ezekiel also saw heaven opened. John heard a voice that said to him, "Come up here!" He had no sooner heard the voice than he was translated from earth to heaven, where he beheld glorious visions of the scene there.

Notice that he describes the colors of the One who occupied the throne as like stones of jasper and sardius. This jasper was a brilliant white stone, and the sardius was a blood red stone. Way back in Leviticus, where instruction is given concerning the high priest's breastplate, the order is reversed. That is, the sardius stone was the first stone in the breastplate, whereas the jasper was the last of the twelve stones. This, according to M.R. DeHaan, because those who lived in Moses' day and in all of the Old Testament would rightly see Christ in His crucifixion first, and then in His glory. For they would be looking at both events long before they occurred. John, however, went to heaven long after the crucifixion, and, looking back, would see Christ in His glory first, and then, looking farther back, would see the crucifixion. The order in Leviticus was correct for that time, and the order in the Revelation was correct as well. The intricacies in the details of Scripture preclude any possible or even conceivable human authorship.

There is no detail too small, no fact that is insignificant. The rainbow like an emerald speaks eloquently of the wedding ceremony that is taking place in heaven at that moment. In the Old Testament period, and even well into the the New Testament times, the stone that a man gave his bride was not a diamond, but an emerald. Thus, we have a picture of the wedding in heaven of the Bride to her Groom set before us here in chapter four of Revelation, shortly before the judgments of the tribulation are about to be wrought upon the earth..

Let us not overlook those twenty-four elders. They are another important consideration in the proofs of a pretribulation rapture of the Church. Notice that they are wearing white robes. Those who teach that these elders are disembodied spirits have trouble with this brief clause. For disembodied spirits lack shoulders upon which to hang those white robes. Therefore, they must teach that the robes are not really robes, but are something else. Yet, the Bible clearly states that the elders were wearing white robes. Even the word elder has strong significance to the Church.

Furthermore, they are all wearing crowns. Crowns are not promised to Old Testament saints. Only the Church, amongst the saved of all the ages, are promised crowns. The Bible does not say specifically who these elders are, but the implications are pretty clear that they are Church Age saints, already resurrected and in heaven, before the seal judgments begin to unfold in chapter six. In fact, John, rperesenting the Church, watches the judgments on earth unfolding from a heavenly perspective!

Others teach that these elders are not men at all, but are angels. Again, however, angels do not receive or wear crowns. Never is such a notion even hinted at in the Scriptures. Even without faith of any sort, simple logic would lead one to the conclusion that these elders are not angels, but men. No angel is ever promised that he will sit upon a throne. No Old Testament saint receives this promise of an eternal throne. But the Church is assured of this very thing. The fact that the elders are seated upon thrones indicates very strongly that these are Church Age saints, and not angels or Old Testament saints or tribulation saints.

In the Mosaic system, the priestly class was divided into twenty-four "choruses." Not every Jew was a priest, but only some of those from the tribe of Levi. The Church, however, is a kingdom of priests, a royal priesthood. Thus, even the number of the elders has Church significance. If the Law is a shadow of which Christ is the substance, then it only stands to reason that there would be twenty-four of these elders.

There are other considerations as well. For example, as discussed briefly above, Daniel prophesied of a period of 490 year during which God would deal with the Jews nationally. Daniel was careful to give a beginning point for this 490 year period. Daniel set the time for the beginning of this period when the order would go forth for the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the city and its wall. This decree was issued in 444-445 B.C., when Artaxerxes authorized Nehemiah and a party of Jews to begin the project. 483 years elapsed before Jesus was rejected by the Jews, leaving a period of seven years yet to be accomplished in that 490 year period.

However, when the Jews rejected Jesus, He turned His ministry to the world in general, introducing a mystery age, the Church Age. The final seven years comprise what is known in the Bible as the time of Jacob's trouble, the tribulation. For 483 years, God dealt with the Jews nationally. When they rejected Him, He began to deal with them individually, as He also deals with the rest of mankind. This will continue throughout this Age, until Israel enters into a comprehensive Middle East peace brokered by the nation of the antichrist. At that time, the clock will start again on the 490 years, with seven years to run.

The angel who gave this prophecy to Daniel was very explicit when he said that the entire term of the 490 years had to do with Daniel's people, the Jews, and with the holy city, Jerusalem. The gap that began with the rejection of the Messiah, and which has now stretched for nearly two thousand years, is the mystery period of which Jesus spoke in Matthew thirteen. However, when that mystery age is completed, God will once again turn His attention to the chastisement of national Israel.

The entire context of this prophecy precludes the presence of the Church. If the Church were still around, there would be some mention of her purpose and mission to both Israel and the world. But the witnesses who testify during the tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble, are not Christians, but Jews. Twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes. The two witnesses of the Book of the Revelation are not Christians, but are also Jews. All who bear testimony in that day will be Jewish, not Christian. This is as strong an argument as any that the Church will not be on the earth during any portion of the tribulation.

Furthermore, the message that is preached during the tribulation is not the Gospel of grace that is preached today. It will be the same gospel that Jesus preached prior to His rejection. the Jews will be proclaiming to the world,

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"

My friends, there is more proof that the Church will be translated before the tribulation begins than there is that you are sitting there reading these words. We do not question the motives of the men who teach otherwise, for many are very devout, and present their arguments in terms that prove a scholarly approach to the problem. Nevertheless, it would be irresponsible to suggest that they are not misguided. It has ever been the devil's purpose to disguise the truth, and to hide it from view with seductive reasonings. He uses every means at his disposal to turn our hearts and minds away from this wonderful doctrine of the Scriptures. For in so doing, he also turns our hearts from the only hope that we have.

In the early decades of the Church, there was an imminent hope, and there was no debate as to whether or not the Church would endure the rigors of the judgments of God during this period. The epistles uniformly warn us to be watchful, and to look eagerly forward to that blessed hope. That the early church fathers spoke little of the modern debate does not indicate that they did not believe in the imminence of the rapture. Rather, it indicates that there was little disagreement on the issue, and that it needed no long and divisive debate such as it is being subjected to today.

Several of the writers of the epistles warned of the great apostasy that would characterize the professing church in the latter days. This denial of our hope is but one of many departures from the faith of the Bible. Every departure leads to diminished hope and an increasing separation from God through fear. For those of us who believe in the imminence of the rapture, this apostasy is just another sign of the times. We believe that it is a clear indication that the time is drawing nearer by the day. While we regret that so many churches that call themselves Christian are denying the great truths of Christianity -- indeed, even denying the Lord who bought them -- our hearts are made more hopeful by this fulfillment of prophecy, for the more we see the world stage shaping up for the events which follow the rapture, the closer we believe the rapture itself must be.