Previous - Revelation 3
3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. (Habakuk 2:3)
14 The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast; (Zephaniah 1:14)
7 “And behold, I am coming soon. (Rev.22:7)
14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. (Rev.19:14)
4 Then 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)
Rapture Timing
Shortly before Mid-trib
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.
Revelation 3:10
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. One verse within Daniel's prophecy shows the gap between the first 69 'weeks' and the 70th 'week', starting with 'And after the 62 weeks (that came after the first 7 weeks), Messiah will be cut off...'
The 70th and 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 few months 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 (see the above point 23). 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 III - desolation worldwide. If this is the case, then the only thing for the first half of the 7 years is the white horse. A short while before the 'whtie horse' of the first seal, the church will leave earth in the rapture.
4. The first half of the last 7 years have no specific name, no specific beginning or specific number of days or months. The last 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 named texts in the book of Revelation, about circumstances on earth which presume that the rapture of the church has happened. So the rapture won't take place toward the end 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, which is shortly before the last 3.5 years 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) If the church would remain on earth until the last day before the second coming, then those gathered before Christ's throne to be devided like the sheep are separated from the goats, would include the church. They would be recognized as such by the behavior towards the 'brethren', whoever they are - a very misty group in the post-trib view. But where does this dividing of sheep from goats leave the rapture of the church? Will the church be raptured and at their direct return with Jesus be mixed with the goats in order to again be separated? These are preposterous consequences of an unbiblical view.
(c) 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 that still have to be gathered. They can only be the saints from the church age. This presupposes a pre- or mid-tribulation rapture or somewhere in between.
(d) 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. So the dead of the great tribulation will rise last. But concerning the rapture we read: 'the dead in Christ will rise first...'. These are important reasons to distinguish the gathering of the elect at the second coming from the rapture of the church.
Next - Rapture Characteristics
24 Seventy 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.
26 And 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. 27 And 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), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. (Math.24:15)
3 When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And 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. 30 Then 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. 31 And 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)
14 And 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 - Rapture Arguments
The only arguments in defense of a post tribulation rapture that we have heard of are (1) the words 'after the tribulation' in Mathew 24:29, while that is about the second coming of the Lord, at which He will send 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).
The second argument (2) is the self invented parable of the king being accompanied by the city to make a triumphant entry. This metaphor of the second coming 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.
39 And 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. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus (Acts 8:39, 40)
Next - Rapture Characteristics