The Rapture Of The Church
The church’s blessed hope. Titus 2:13
THE LAST TRUMP
Many reject the pre-tribulation Rapture position because
of the words “at the last trump.” That’s where the error lies. They are confusing the last trump with the last trumpets of the Book of Revelation. The trumpets in the Book of Revelation are trumpets of angels announcing the horrendous judgments being poured out on the earth. They are NOT “the Trump of God” in the Rapture passage.
“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, in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.”
1st Corinthians 15:51-52
The Trump of 1st Corinthians is not announcing the wrath of God. It’s announcing gathering and transformation. Gathered together in the clouds to meet the Lord. The long-awaited change, believers receiving their resurrection bodies and being taken to be with the Lord before the terrible judgments of the Book of Revelation unfold on the earth.
The trumpet associated with the Rapture is not a trumpet of angels, it is “the trumpet of God,” and it’s not a trumpet of judgment, it’s the trumpet call of resurrection and of GATHERING.
“For the Lord himself will 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 we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
1st Thessalonians 4:16-18
Comfort one another???
If believers were to be Raptured only at the end of the Tribulation, or even if they were to be Raptured “pre-wrath” – how could we “comfort one another with these words?” The Tribulation, the entire Seals, Trumpets and Bowls passages of the Book of Revelation are all announcements of the terrible judgments of God’s wrath falling on an unrepentant, Christ-rejecting, evil world. Read the description of what happens at the very first judgments, the Seal judgments in Revelation, chapter 6. It’s going to be a horrific time right from the beginning.
The very beginning of the Tribulation, the “Seals.”
1. Conquest
Fire from the altar in heaven is thrown onto earth. Noise, thunder, lightning, an earthquake.
2. Peace is taken from the earth
Causes people to kill one another
3. Famine
4. Death and hell kill 1/4th of the world population
By sword, famine, plague, and wild beasts
5. Believers told to wait for vengeance until all have been killed.
6. A huge earthquake. Sun black. Moon red. “Stars” fall from heaven’
Heavens recede like a scroll being rolled up, every mountain and island removed.
Great men of the earth hide in caves in terror.
7. Fire from the altar in heaven is thrown onto earth. Noise, thunder, lightning, an earthquake.
Believers in Jesus Christ are not appointed to the wrath of God. They are appointed to meet Jesus Christ and be taken to be with him. That is “the blessed hope,” with which we are told to comfort one another.
“FOR GOD DID NOT APPOINT US TO WRATH,
but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ…”
1st Thessalonians 5:9
Yes, Comfort One Another
The Bride of Christ is not going to be on earth as the judgments are poured out. The Lord isn’t going to beat up his Bride and then take her to supper (the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.) How could the Scripture say “COMFORT one another with these words” if what we have to look forward to is the terrible judgments of God? Anticipating that would certainly not comfort anyone.
The “They” and the “You”
Next: What About John Darbe?
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