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²⁷Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 Cor.12:27)

¹⁶Do you not know that you^[c] are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? (1 Cor.3:18)

³¹“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³²This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. (Eph.5:31,32)

²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil.3:20)

³For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Col. 3:3,4)

³⁰For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. (Math.22:30)

²In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?^[b] ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:2,3)

¹⁰Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. (Rev.3:10)

⁴Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. (Rev.4:4)

and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (Rev.5:8)

Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation (Rev.5:9)

And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel (Rev.7:4)

⁹After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb (Rev.7:9)

¹⁶But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. (Rev.12:16)

¹Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. (Rev.14:16)

⁷Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; ⁸it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure — for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. (Rev.19:7.8)

²And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.(Rev.21:2)

¹⁰And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, (Rev..21:10)

¹⁶For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

¹⁷Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thess.4:16,17)

¹Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. ²For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. ⁴But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

³Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, ⁴who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. ⁵Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. ⁷For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. (2 Thess.2:3-7)

³For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. (Habakuk 2:3)

¹⁴The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast; (Zephaniah 1:14)

⁷“And behold, I am coming soon. (Rev.22:7)

¹⁴And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. (Rev.19:14)

⁴Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. (Rev.20:4)

¹⁴And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Mt.24:14)

Previous - Revelation 3

Rapture Arguments

A Biblical Expectation

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

1 Thessalonians 4:17

1. The necessity of the rapture

There are multiple arguments for the rapture of the church.

1. The Lord is a God of miracles. Most of them are his usual way of acting in his creation - the wonders that are spoken of in the book of Job. Sometimes He chooses to divert from His usual way of acting, especially in difficult circumstances for mankind, as was the case with the rescue of Israel out of Egypt after many years of harsh slavery. The Endtime would also be characterized by utmost difficulties, a tribulation, never seen before. One could imagine that God will again perform miracles to get his people out of harms way.

2. The New Testament church is called 'the body of Jesus Christ' and 'the temple of God', even the wife of Christ. Whereas Jesus is in heaven and God is in heaven, the church, his body, his wife, his temple, is still on earth. One might expect this situation to be temporal and to see a change in this situation once the eternal is on the horizon. The temporal situation that is taught in the Bible presupposes the going of the church to heaven, i.e. the rapture of the church.

3. The Holy Spirit came from heaven to take his dwelling place in the church, as tongues of fire. According to Revelation 5, the Holy Spirit will again be sent out once the last phase before Jesus return to earth, the great tribulation, will start, this time, not as tongues of fire but as the eyes and the horns of the Lamb, not slowly moving with the pace of the church but 'sent out into all the earth'. This presupposes a going to heaven of the Holy Spirit, together with the church in the rapture of the church.

4. The Bible teaches us that the church has a destiny in heaven, not on earth. 'But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.' - Phil.3:20,21. If our citizenship is in heaven, we might expect to go there once. This presupposes a rapture of the church.

5. The Bible teaches us that our life is hidden with Christ in God and that when Christ appears, we will also appear in glory. The last presupposes a rapture of the church, together with a glorification.

6. Christ is called 'the heavenly man', whose image we will once bear. This means that we will be 'heavenly people', with a destiny in heaven, not on earth. Like Christ went to heaven after his resurrection, likewise the dead in Christ that will go the heaven when they will be resurrected. This presupposes a rapture of the church.

7. Jesus compares the ones that partake in the resurrection to the angels that do not marry and that reside in heaven. This at least suggests that the resurrected will, like the angels, also dwell in heaven, which necessitates a rapture of the church.

8. In the old testament, God took some of those that walked with Him up into heaven. Why then would Jesus leave his body, his bride to remain forever on earth? He would not. He will come to take her home, in the rapture of the church.

9. In the upper room, shortly before his sufferings, Jesus fully opened his heart to his disciples in order to share his most dearest of secrets with them. The first was about the many rooms in his Father’s house and that He was going there to prepare a place for them. And that He would come back and take them to be with Him that they would also be where He was. This can only mean one thing: the rapture of the church.

10. To the church in Philadelphia, being the 6th phase in church history, Jesus promised to keep them from (away from) the hour of temptation that would come upon the whole earth to test the inhabitants of the earth. This promise was given to them because they had kept the word of his perseverance. It was during this church phase, between 1700 and 1900 that important prophetic truths were rediscovered, one of them being the rapture of the church. Prophecy could be seen as God's long-suffering in executing his plans. Those holding on to these truths - the last 4 church characters still exist, including Philadelphia - would not enter the perilous times the rest of the book speaks of. This presupposes the rapture of the church.

11. The book of Revelation shows us a heavenly scene just before the Lamb takes the book in order to open the seals and to set into motion the Endtime events. Twenty-four elders are part of this heavenly scene and they (1) show characteristics of the overcomers of the 7 church phases in history, (2) offer prayers to the Lamb and (3) sing of their being redeemed by the blood of the Lamb from every tribe and language and people and nation. These 24 elders therefore cannot be angels or old testament saints and thus have to be the saints of 2000 years of church history. This presupposes a rapture of the church - which is seen at the start of chapter 4 in the picture of John hearing a voice 'speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here..."

12. In Revelation 6 we read of cries of revenge by martyrs of whom the souls are awakened from death by the Lamb that opens the fifth seal of the scroll. The cry for revenge is something that is strange to the New Testament church, the martyrs of which have followed Christ's example in prayer for forgiveness for their enemies. This presumes that the church period has come to an end and thus presupposes the rapture of the church.

13. In Revelation 7 we read of a clear distinction between the 144,000 out of the twelve tribes of Israel on on hand and an innumerable multitude out of every nation, tribe, people and language on the other hand. This presumes that the church period has come to an end for in the church the distinction between Jew and gentile was canceled. This presupposes a rapture of the church before the events of Revelation 7, that is before the start of the blowing of the seven trumpets.

14. In Revelation 11 the temple of God, the altar and those worshiping there are to be measured, indicating that temple service is again recognized by God. This can only mean that the period of the church has ended, a period in which an earthly temple had no place because the church itself represents the temple of God, with each believer in it. The ending of the church era presupposes the rapture of the church.

15. In Revelation 11 the two witnesses of God are named the two lampstands or candlesticks. The Greek word, used here, lychnia, is also used to describe the 7 lampstands that symbolize the 7 phases of church history. That two other lampstands are in place means that a new era has started in which a new light is shining. This is underscored by the way the two witnesses will operate: killing those that attack them with fire and having power over rain and over waters. like Moses and Elijah once had. The ending of the church era presupposes the rapture of the church.

16. In Revelation 12 we read of a very special rescue operation for 'the woman that 'had given birth to the male Child' - that is the people of Israel. The rescue operation looks much like the rescue of Israel through the Red Sea at the Exodus - with one difference: the earth replacing the sea as grave of the armies (the flood) that will persecute Israel. God coming to the rescue of Israel means that the period of the church is past. The ending of the church era presupposes the rapture of the church.

17. In Revelation 14, we read of the 144,000 sealed, together with the Lamb on the Mount Zion. It is at the start of Messiah's reign over the earth: 'For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.' Zion being central in God's plans means that the church period has come to an end, which presupposes the rapture of the church.

18. In Revelation 19, we hear about the bride of the Lamb instead of the 24 elders, which are never mentioned again. She wears much the same clothing: 'it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints' - 'and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments'. The bride being clothed with righteous deeds of the saints must mean she is a representation of the saints, just like the 24 elders. Also in Revelation 19 we see the heavenly armies accompanying Jesus on his return on the white horse. They are dressed in the same garment (same Greek word: byssinos): 'And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses'. The heavenly position of the church that is painted in this imagery presupposes the rapture of the church.

19. On two occasions the 'New Jerusalem' is seen coming down from heaven. The New Jerusalem is called the bride of the Lamb and thus it is a new analogy to the heavenly body of the church. She comes down out of heaven, from God, once a new heaven and a new earth have been created. She comes down from heaven while nations still exist, in the millennial kingdom of Christ. The coming down of the body of saints presupposes the rapture of the church.

20. In Mathew 25, we see Jesus on his throne of glory to judge the nations. The nations are split in the sheep and the goats. But there is a third category: the brethren of the Lord, the treatment of whom is important in the distinction between sheep and goats. In the church age such a third category does not exist. The only relevant distinction is between believers and non-believers. This suggests the era of the church is past, which presupposes the rapture of the church.

21. There is a very explicit Bible text with the word 'rapture' in it, in Greek 'Harpazo', in Latin: 'Rapturo', in English 'Caught up': 'For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.' The word 'Harpazo', 'snatch away' can also mean a horizontal movement, as in the case of Philip in Acts 8: 'And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away (Harpazo)...But Philip found himself at Azotus'. However, in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, the direction of the being 'caught up' or 'Harpazo' is vertical, heavenward: 'caught up...in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air'. In light of the above 20 arguments it is inconceivable that the saints of the church would directly return to earth after having met the Lord in the air. We will be with the Lord forever and this being together with Him starts not on earth. It starts in heaven and will remain there for most of eternity. For our citizenship is in heaven.

22. The continuation-of-life-texts after the Rapture-text

When ignoring the chapters for a moment and reading on from 1 Thessalonians 4 to Thessalonians 5, one gets the strong impression that life on earth will go on for a short while, be it with a lot of havoc and chaos:

'Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.'

The talk of peace and security is often heard, while in the background preparations are going on for the greatest war in history. Mind the difference between 'you' (the believers) and 'them' (the unbelievers). For 'you' that day won't come as a surprise while sudden destruction will come upon 'them'. How come that no destruction will come upon believers? With the enormity of chaos on earth, especially for those repenting and turning to God, who will be severely persecuted, one would expect hardship for the Christian also. Why does Paul speak as if it won't come upon them? Well, didn't he mention the rapture at the end of chapter 4? That is why.

23. The revelation of the lawless one can only happen in absence of the Holy Spirit that indwells the church, as taught by the apostle Paul: 'And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed'. There is only one power strong enough to restrain the pollution of the world by lawlessness, it is the Holy Spirit in the church. No other explanation is satisfactory (such as the Roman empire - which is already gone for many centuries - and which itself has been and will remain a source of lawlessness). This presupposes the rapture of the church before the darkest period in history will start.

2. The moment of the rapture

There are at least 4 different views on the moment of the rapture, which all refer to the 70th and last week of Daniel's vision of the 70 weeks (periods of 7 years), being 490 years until the Lord's return. The first coming of Christ moved the last period of 7 years far away from the first 69. Because of Israel's rejection of their Messiah, the last 7 years were shifted to the future - as was foreseen by God before the foundation of the world - in order for the church to be formed as the body and bride of Christ and house of God. The last week will see a revival of Israel through God's Spirit (no longer dwelling but actively working on earth) and through much suffering on their part - they will be fiercely persecuted by the world empire until the second coming of Christ. We see the 70th and last week of Daniel as a transition period, in which the Church will make place for God's earthly people of old, Israel.

The four rapture visions are:

(1) a Pretribulation Rapture - before or at the start of the last 7 years

(2) a Midtribulation Rapture - at the midst of the last 7 years

(3) a Prewrath Rapture - a few months toward the end of the last 7 years

(4) a Posttribulation Rapture - at the end of the last 7 years

Our position is between (1) and (2) but closer to (2) - a year or so before the midst of the last 7 years. The arguments for this position are the following:

1. God shortens the days of tribulation, which might mean that He leaves the church, with the indwelling Spirit, on earth as long as possible in order to hinder the lawlessness becoming overwhelming too fast. But there has to be time for the lawless one to manifest himself, which will happen at the 'abomination of desolation' at the midpoint of the 7 years. Therefore the church will be gone to heaven (and the Spirit within it) a short while before the midpoint.

2. Toward the end, things would accelerate: 'For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end' and: 'The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast'. The Lord will come 'with haste'. This does not line up with a 7 year period for the Endtime. It will be shorter.

3. The red horse of the second seal in Revelation 6 shares characteristics with the abomination of desolation, the midpoint of the last 7 years. This act of someone imagining himself to be the new emperor of a revived Roman empire sets himself in a holy place in Jerusalem, which will start world war 3 - desolation worldwide. If this is the case, then the only thing for the first half of the 7 years is the white horse. This would mean a slow down of events instead of an acceleration.

4. The first half of the last 7 years have no specific name, no specific beginning or specific number of days or months. The las half has all of this. It is called 'great tribulation' (we assume it to be equal to 'the hour of temptation'), it starts with the abomination of desolation and it lasts 42 months or 1,260 days. During this period, the church is gone according to Jesus promise in Revelation 3:10. No such promise is given for the first half of the 7 years.

5. History always moves gradually. Therefore we could expect a gradual transition from the church age into the future age in which the people of Israel will again be central in God's plans with the earth. The first half of the last 7 years would be this transition period, ending with the rapture of the church shortly before the start of the second half.

6. In the 20+ arguments for the rapture above, we have names texts in the book of Revelation, which presume that the rapture of the church has happened. So the rapture won't take place toward or at the end of the 7 years.

7. In the 20+ arguments for the rapture above, we have seen pictures of the church being in heaven, while the great tribulation rages on the earth - in the 24 elders, in the bride of the Lamb, in the heavenly armies and in the new Jerusalem. The rapture would take place before the great tribulation starts and not at the end of the 7 years.

8. Those pleading for a post tribulation rapture argue that we will be heading for earth after having met with the Lord in the air. This view however contradicts with other Bible texts: (a) They see the angels of the Lord being sent out with a loud trumpet call, in order to gather his elect from the four winds as the rapture. It is not. In case of the rapture, it is 'the Lord Himself' coming down, only with the voice of an archangel - no angels are mentioned. In case of the 'elect' being gathered of Mathew 24, they are being assembled according to Mathew 25 at the majestic throne of the King - not to meet the Lord in the air but to be witnesses of the behavior of the nations. (b) The heavenly armies - being human as witnessed by their clothes, 'arrayed in fine linen, white and pure' - are following the Lord, while He is coming in power and great glory. But then the angels have yet to be sent out to gather his elect. The armies of heaven cannot be the elect. They can only be the saints from the church age. This presupposes a pre- or mid-tribulation rapture or somewhere in between. (c) The resurrection of the saints that were killed during the great tribulation will happen after the total defeat of the empire and its forces and after the imprisonment of satan, not at the moment of 'the sending out of the angels to gather the elect', which will immediately follow the second coming. These are important reasons to distinguish the gathering of the elect at the second coming from the rapture of the church.

The only arguments in defense of a post tribulation rapture that we have heard of are (1) the words 'after the rapture' in Mathew 24:29, while that is about the second coming of the Lord, ending with Him sending out his angels to gather his elect. Somehow this could also be called a rapture, be it a rapture not toward heaven but toward Zion, where the elect, especially the 144,000 that evangelized the world during the great tribulation (Mathew 24:14), will be gathered in order to be with the Lamb (Revelation 14:1). It will be a rapture like that of Philip in acts 8:39,40). Further (2) The king being accompanied by the city to make a triumphant entry, which is nowhere backed in the Bible. On the contrary, the returning King will meet all armies in the world under control of two satanic beasts to prevent Him from taking over the rule of the earth.

Next - Rapture Characteristics

³And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. ⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:3,4)

⁶And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. (Rev.5:6)

⁴⁹Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1 Cor.15:49)

²⁴Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. (Gen.5:24)

¹Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. (2 Kings 2:1)

Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Rev.2:10)

Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. (Rev.3:11)

⁵The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments (Rev.3:5)

²¹The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne (Rev.3:21)

¹⁰They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev.6:10)

¹Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there (Rev.11:1)

⁴These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. (Rev.11:4)

and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. (Rev.1:20)

¹⁴And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

³²Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ (Math.25:32,39)

³⁹And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰But Philip found himself at Azotus (Acts 8:39, 40)

²⁴Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.

²⁶And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. ²⁷And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator. (Dan.9:24,26,27)

¹⁵“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), ¹⁶then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. (Math.24:15)

³When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” ⁴And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword. (Rev.6:3)

²⁹“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Mt.24:29-31)

Next - Rapture Characteristics