1. The believers in the Philadelphia church were given the following promise in Revelation 3:10: Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I

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1 1 1. The believers in the Philadelphia church were given the following promise in Revelation 3:10: 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. The Greek word for from is ek which means out of and not through. Church age believers will be kept out of the entire Tribulation. If this verse means that the Church will be kept safe during the Tribulation, then something goes terribly wrong because saints will be killed on a massive scale and the promise of this verse is meaningless. Only if Church saints and Tribulation saints are kept distinct does this verse make any sense.

2 2. None of the Old Testament or New Testament passages on the Tribulation Period mentions the church. 2

3 3 2. None of the Old Testament or New Testament passages on the Tribulation Period mentions the church. Deuteronomy 4:29-30; Jeremiah 30:4-11; Daniel 8:24-27; 12:1-2; Matthew 13:30, 39-42; 48-50; 24:15-31; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 5:1-10; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-11; Revelation chapters 6 through 18 In the book of Revelation, the Church is clearly found in chapters 1-3, dealing with events prior to the Tribulation. But in chapters 6-18 which deal with events in the Tribulation, the Church is not mentioned even once. It is impossible for anyone to turn to any Tribulation passage and to show that the Church is there.

4 3. The purpose of the Tribulation is to prepare Israel for restoration. It is not to prepare the church for glory. That s why it is called the time of Jacob s trouble in Jeremiah 30:7. 4

5 5 3. The purpose of the Tribulation is to prepare Israel for restoration. It is not to prepare the church for glory. That s why it is called the time of Jacob s trouble in Jeremiah 30:7. Luke 21:27 says: for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. This people is Israel. It is not the church.

6 6 4. The Bible says the church is not appointed to wrath: Romans 5:9: Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 1 Thessalonians 1:10: And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. 1 Thessalonians 5:9: For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Nahum 1:2: God is jealous the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.

7 7 5. The Bible describes the Tribulation Period as a day of wrath: Zephaniah 1:15: That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. Revelation 6:16-17 describes the first set of tribulation judgments which are the seal judgments and clearly states that they are wrath: Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? Luke 21: 35 says the Tribulation will come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth. No earth dweller can escape the judgments of the Tribulation, but since the Church is promised to be delivered from the future wrath to come; it is delivered from Tribulation wrath by the Rapture.

8 8 The result of the fourth seal judgment is that one fourth of the people on earth will be killed. How can anyone say that this is not wrath? It clearly is God s wrath. The seal judgments are the first judgments of the Tribulation Period and are clearly referred to as being wrath, and since Church Age believers are not to experience wrath, they are raptured before the Tribulation begins, and not during it.

9 9 6. After the Church Age is revealed to John in Revelation 2 & 3, he hears a trumpet, and is caught up to a throne in heaven in Revelation 4:1-2 in order to see the events of the Tribulation which will happen after the Church Age. John s calling up to heaven is a picture of the church being raptured up to heaven at the end of the Church Age and before the Tribulation, to go before the judgment seat of Christ for rewards. This truth is seen in Luke 21:36: But watch ye at every season, making supplication, that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.

10 7. In Revelation 4:4 John sees 24 elders with crowns of gold and wearing white robes as they sit around the throne. These 24 elders represent Church Age believers that have been raptured at the end of the Church Age as seen in chapters 2 & 3, but before the Tribulation which begins in chapter 6 with the seal judgments. 10

11 11 8. Revelation 1:19 gives us the outline for the book: Write the things which thou hast seen, (chapter 1) and the things which are, (chapters 2 & 3 concerning the present Church Age) and the things which shall be hereafter (chapter 4 & forward which concern the Tribulation, Millennium, and Eternal State). The present Church Age ends with the Rapture of the Church and the Tribulation begins only after the Church Age is concluded; hence the Tribulation is hereafter the Church Age and Rapture.

12 12 9. The pattern given in the Old Testament is one of delivering believers before a divine judgment is inflicted on the world as seen in the examples of Noah, Lot, Rahab, etc. in 2 Peter 2: Peter 2:9: The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. Thus, the bride of Christ (the Church) will be taken out before the Tribulation.

13 The Bible supports an imminent Rapture. (Imminent means it can happen at any time without any required preceding event). See 1 Cor. 1:7; 16:22; Phil. 3:20; 4:5; 1 Thess. 1:10; Titus 2:13; Heb. 9:28; James 5:7-9; 1 Peter 1:13; Jude 21; Revelation 3:11; 22:7, 12, 17, 20. If the Rapture came at any point during the Tribulation, then it would not be imminent, since there are things which must be done at the beginning of the Tribulation.

14 Paul himself believed that the Rapture was imminent even in his day. That is why he includes himself in his letter to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 15:51 when he says: Behold, I shew 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 shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. Imminency of the Rapture can be seen in Romans 13:11-12: And this, knowing the season, that already it is time for you to awake out of sleep: for now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is far spent, and the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

15 15 Imminency of the Rapture can also be seen in James 5:7-9: Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient: establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand; Murmur not, brethren, one against another, that ye be not judged: behold, the judge stands before the doors. This verse views the coming of the Lord as being at hand and views Him as standing before the doors. Christ s coming is imminent. Revelation 22:20 also views His coming as being imminent: He who testifies these things says, Yea: I come quickly. Amen: come, Lord Jesus.

16 16 Imminency of the Rapture means Christ could come at any moment. If the Rapture came at any point after the beginning of the Tribulation, which begins with the signing of the seven year covenant, it would not be imminent. The Rapture will not occur beyond that event. Imminency does not mean soon. It means that nothing else must come before it and that it could come at any point of time. The conclusion is that the Rapture will occur some time between this very moment and the signing of the seven-year covenant. The Rapture will precede the Tribulation, but it does not begin the Tribulation.

17 The New Testament views the Rapture as a blessed hope in Titus 2:13: Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. The word hope means an event whose occurrence is certain and is anxiously looked forward to, but whose timing is uncertain. This describes the Rapture. This blessed hope is negated if the Church must go through even a part of the tribulation.

18 13. The signs that Jesus gives in Matthew 24 all concern the Second Coming of Christ to earth and not the Rapture. There are no signs given for the Rapture because it is imminent and happens before the Tribulation Period. 18

19 14. Paul wrote to the believers in Thessalonica to correct their erroneous belief that they were already in the Tribulation Period because of the persecutions they were enduring. And in 2 Thess. 2:6-7 he tells them that the restrainer, the Holy Spirit, must be taken out of the way first, before the Wicked One will be revealed. Since one of the primary ministries of the Holy Spirit is to indwell believers, this will be done at the Rapture. And since the Wicked One, the Antichrist, is the one who will begin the Tribulation with the signing of a peace covenant with Israel (Daniel 9:26-27); the Rapture of the Church must take place before the Tribulation begins. 19