MidnightCall Magazine
In this issue:
- Before the Last Flood — By Norbert Lieth
- Gaza Flotilla: Aggression or Self-Defense? — By Arno Froese
- Far East AsiaTrendsToday – Part III:Geo-prophecy or Geopolitics? — By Wilfred Hahn
News From Israel MagazineIn this issue:
- The Myth of the Al-Aqsa Mosque: Part 1 — By Herbert Novitsky
- ON THE HORIZON:
- Obama Honors Jewish Heritage Month
- Building an Electronic Human Brain
- ‘Iran Critics Must Get Rid of Nukes,’ Says Turkish PM
- Israel Joins Prestigious OECD Club
- Israel Accepted after Unanimous Vote
- Spy Satellite Successfully Launched
Tribulation Church
Dear Editor
Quoting two simple verses, “Looking for the blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) and “eagerly waiting” (Hebrews 9:28) obviously cannot solve the complex rapture puzzle. Where is the chronology? It is nice to be hopeful, but that does not explain anything. Three scholars, Drs. Archer, Feinberg, and Moo could not disagree more and presented three very contrasting positions in the book, Three Views of the Rapture. If anyone should know of the Rapture, it would be Jesus. All he could say were a few shallow promises: I will prepare a place for you and then return to take you there (John 14:3; 1:51), “I do not ask to keep them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one [Antichrist]” (John 17:15).
A better answer came after His death, when a vision of John was given concerning the fate of the “seven churches.” If these churches represent all of Christianity then and now, then the picture looks like apostasy and judgment for six of the seven representative churches. In other words, about 87% of the church needed some degree of discipline and judgment. They must “overcome” in faith to the point of death while being tested in great persecution. They did experience this historically (2 Thessalonians 1:10). These become the future Great Tribulation Church (GTC). This is the church that is expecting judgment but also looking for the Day of God (Revelation 20:4; 6:11; 15:2), or the Day of the Lord (1 Peter 4:17; 2 Peter 3:10). For these Tribulation churches, the relief and reward is delayed until the Second Coming (2 Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 11:18) because there are other “harvest fields” to attend (that is, the Greek and the pagan world, Matthew 15:24). No secret Pre-Tribulation Rapture was promised or implied anywhere.
According to Bible prophecy, there will be a great apostasy from Christ’s church (1 Timothy 4:1-2). This apostasy — the apostasy — will occur before the Rapture, the Tribulation, and the rise of Antichrist, and will involve a departing from the faith by those who call themselves Christians. Paul speaks of a particularly significant departure from sound doctrine. Can we assume there will be no judgment for this?
The most that could be promised to the most faithful Philadelphia church was that they would be kept from the global “hour of testing” (Revelation 3:10), which is the wrathful “Day of the Lord,” after the Great Trib and the fall of Babylon the Great (Revelation 14:7; 18:10). Peter said they would be on earth until the “day of visitation” which is the Day of the Lord (1 Peter 2:12). These represent the Great Trib Church (GTC). They are all converts during the Great Trib, who will experience the historical parallel of the early believers enduring intense persecution. They carried the hope and promise of a rescue for the end times.
The “Last Trump” of God (1 Corinthians 15:52) is wrathful for the unbeliever but it is rescue and the “Day of Christ” to the believer (Christian Gentiles, Philippians 2:16). This “Day of Christ” is also the “Day of the Lord” at trump seven (Revelation 11:15). It is the time of rescue (Rapture) for remaining believers who survived the Great Trib. This includes the believing Jews, the Jewish Church (JC), who are ready and go with Him to the wedding feast (Matthew 25:10). Immediately thereafter comes judgment (God’s direct orge wrath and also Armageddon) for unbelievers so that no believer will experience that judging orge wrath of God (1 Thessalonians 5:9, as opposed to thumos, wrath of man). This is final testing for the new Gentile believers (the Great Trib Church, or GTC).
For all current believers before the Trib, they will never experience the wrath of Satan through Antichrist in the Great Trib (the Trumps), but only endure the first four seals (crusades, wars, famine, plagues), which is the wrath of man. The wrath of Satan begins with the Great Trib, which starts halfway through the seven-year Trib.
C. Calef, CT
Answer: You made two profound statements in the first paragraph of your letter, defining the coming of the Lord as “the complex Rapture puzzle,” and that the Lord Jesus Himself only gave a “few shallow promises.” Indeed, the Rapture is a complex puzzle, and for that reason, the Apostle Paul, when revealing details about the Rapture, says, “Behold, I show you a mystery.” That mystery is between the Bridegroom and the bride. Quite frankly, it is no one else’s business. That is also the reason why Jesus does not mention His coming in the clouds of the air. Jesus came for the Jews in the first place, and not for the Gentiles, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). We must keep these facts in mind when reading Holy Scripture.
You asked, “Where is the chronology?” There is none. The taking away of His bride is so intimate that it becomes impossible to place it into a “straightjacket of time.” True faith waits for the Lord today, everyday, all the days of one’s life.
The seven churches were literal, physical churches, but none of them exist any longer. These letters are addressed to each angel of that particular church. What is the function of that angel? The same function an angel has for each individual believer. Jesus makes this clear when He speaks of little children in Matthew 18:10: “…In heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” When Peter was freed from prison by an angel, the church did not believe the answer to their own prayer and said, “It is his angel” (Acts 12:15). Hebrews 1:7 confirms, “Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire,” and verse 14 adds, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”
The angels of the churches address the church as a unit, but give specific promises individually. The Church of Philadelphia is warned, “Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown” (Revelation 3:11). But then note carefully the singular address, “him that overcometh…I will write upon him my new name.” Then in verse 13, he addresses each individual person: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Revelation 3:13). That promise is valid today for each individual, just as it was for the Church of Philadelphia and the other six.
Those dear believers were waiting and expecting people. They knew the words of the Lord: “Behold, I come quickly.” For them, chronology was of no use and could be ignored.
Jesus said of the Church of Philadelphia, they “kept my word.” That Word is precious, and gives hope and comfort. The closer we keep His Word, the more we yearn for the moment of His appearance in the clouds of heaven, and “Behold, I come quickly” becomes a living reality.
The last trump of God is the initiating sound for the Rapture and is not related to any judgment listed in the Revelation.
Looking for a chronology for the Rapture is dangerous because it assumes that the Antichrist, deception, and last days are somewhere in the far distance. John devastates this thinking with one sentence: “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (1 John 2:18). The coming of Antichrist, the great deception, and the last time are always a present reality of Holy Scripture.