IS THERE A RAPTURE?
It seems to be very popular today for people to teach that there is going to be a rapture. Not only is this theory being taught in numerous churches, we are now seeing movies and books thriving off this very topic. Unfortunately, there are many different versions of the rapture. So, your left to decide which version you like the best. One of the more popular views is the one that the Left Behind Series teaches. They simply say, that one day there will be SECRET coming of Jesus and all the Christians will be taken away and the rest of the people will be left behind wondering where all these people have gone. Then there will be 7 years of tribulation. During this time the people on earth will have a chance to become Christians. If they do, Jesus will come a 3rd time and let them be a part of his physical kingdom he sets up on the earth for a 1000 years. Although this makes a very entertaining story, the bible doesn’t teach this. I intend to show in this study that the bible doesn’t teach this theory, but teaches that there will be a final 2nd coming of Jesus when he will judge both the Christian and non-Christian on that day. I would ask that you look up every verse that I give. I feel very confident that if you study the verses that I present to you from the bible, that you will have no difficulty in seeing that there isn’t going to be rapture.
I will be covering many topics in regards to the rapture theory. This will be a moderate study and will by no means cover everything. We will be studying the following topics.
Is there a secret coming of Jesus?
Will Jesus rapture just the righteous leaving the wicked behind for a period of 7 years?
Jesus will establish his kingdom on the earth right?
Matthew 24 teaches the rapture theory doesn’t it?
Surely Revelation teaches the rapture theory right?
I sincerely hope that you open up your bibles and study for yourself what I will present to you. You should never take someone’s word for it. This is why we have so many people today believing in the rapture theory. They here it preached by their preacher or bible teacher and so people assume that it is fact. We need to be just like the Bereans in Acts 17: 10And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. With this in mind lets begin our study.
In order for there to be a rapture that is taught today,
there has to be a secret coming of Christ. They say that the righteous will be
taken away and the unrighteous will be left behind wondering where in the world
all these people disappeared. They will have absolutely no idea that Jesus had
come. One of the verses that people like to use to prove the rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4:16
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. 17Then 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.
This is the verse where the get
their word “rapture” from. It comes from the two words “caught up”. It amazes me that someone can take two words
out of the bible and turn it into a word that’s not found in the bible and then
base a whole theory off of it. Read the
verse again and notice that Jesus will come with a shout, with the voice of
an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. Now for this to be a verse that
teaches a secret coming of Jesus snatching up those righteous people seems to
have some major problems. This is probably one of the noisiest verses in the
whole bible. There is only one way that the rapture can hold up and that would
have to be that only the righteous could hear this great noise at the supposed
secret coming of Christ. This would mean that the unrighteous couldn’t see or
hear Christ at this coming.
Well let see what the bible says
in Revelation 1:7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will
see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will
mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen
Notice it doesn’t say ever righteous eye will see him but EVER EYE
WILL SEE HIM. We have just barley started this study and I think it is
abundantly clear already that there isn’t going to be some secret coming of Jesus
that the unrighteous are unaware of. Let us take a look at another verse that
goes right along with this verse.
Acts 1:9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they
watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10And
while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men
stood by them in white apparel, 11who also said, “Men of Galilee,
why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from
you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
Here we are told that Jesus VISIBLEY ascended into heaven and when he comes again it will be a VISIBLE coming. Again, how can you say that there is a secret coming of Jesus?
This next verse is
my favorite. 2 Peter 3:10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the
night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements
will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will
be burned up.
I don’t know about
you, but I think I would notice something like this. You see there’s just no
way around it. When Jesus returns at his second coming, it will be audible and
visible and everyone will see it and here it even those that are in their
graves. John 5:28“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all
who are in the graves will hear His voice. I hope that you can see clearly that
there will not be a secret coming of Jesus.
The “rapture theory” demands that the second coming will be a secret coming. After this secret coming of Christ, there will be 7 years of tribulation. During this time people will have a chance to turn to God and be resurrected at the end of this 7 years of tribulation. Then Jesus will reign on the earth for 1000 years in his earthly kingdom. Then he will turn it over to the father after that. There are several different versions of the “rapture theory” this is just one of them.
I
feel like we have more than abundantly proven that
this supposed secret coming is not found in the bible. In fact intend to prove
beyond reasonable doubt that there is only going to be a second coming only. It
will be the final coming and this leaves absolutely no room for a third coming.
Will Jesus rapture just the righteous leaving the wicked behind for a period of 7 years?
Answer No. In this
section were going to show that there is only going to be a second coming of
Christ when all will be judged. This leaves no room for 7 years of tribulation.
John 5:28“Do not marvel at
this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His
voice 29“and come forth—those who have done good, to the
resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection
of condemnation.
Here we
learn that both wicked and the righteouses are raised. The righteous will be
raised to eternal life in heaven and the evil ones will have eternal life in
lake of fire. This verse alone contradicts the “rapture theory” of 7 years of
tribulation and disproves it all by itself.
Let’s take a look at several more passages that teach this same thing.
Acts 24:15“I
have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a
resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. 16“This
being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward
God and men.
2 Corinthians 5:10For we
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may
receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether
good or bad.
Notice we
must ALL appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
John 12:48“He
who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the
word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.
Here we have last day
mentioned, not days or years.
1 Corinthians 15:51Behold, I
tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed— 52in 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.
Please notice that it says we shall ALL be changed at the LAST TRUMPET.
2 Peter 3:10But the day of
the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away
with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the
earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
This is a very interesting verse, it covers a lot of ground. First it teaches no one is going to know when he is going to return. So this rules out their being supposed signs we can look for to know when that time is near. Second, it teaches that when he does come the earth is going to be destroyed. Please tell me how there can be 7 years of tribulation on the earth if the earth isn’t there?
MATTHEW 25:31“When the Son of
Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on
the throne of His glory. 32“All the nations will be gathered
before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divides his sheep from the goats. 33“And He will set the sheep on
His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34“Then the King
will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35‘for
I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a
stranger and you took Me in; 36‘I was naked and you clothed Me; I
was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ 37“Then
the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and
feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38‘When did we see You a
stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39‘Or when did we
see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40“And the King will
answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one
of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ 41“Then He
will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the
everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42‘for I
was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43‘I
was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me,
sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ 44“Then they also will
answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger
or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45“Then
He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not
do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46“And
these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal
life.”
This was a long section of scripture, but it is basically establishing that when Jesus comes ALL nations will be before him and the ones that are righteous will go to heaven and the ones that are wicked will go to hell. Notice, this all happens at once, there’s no room for a 7 year time span.
Matthew
13: 24Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The
kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25“but
while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his
way. 26“But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then
the tares also appeared. 27“So the servants of the owner came and
said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it
have tares?’ 28“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’
The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29“But
he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with
them. 30‘Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time
of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind
them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
36Then
Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came
to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” 37He
answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed
is the Son of Man. 38“The field is the world, the good seeds are the
sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39“The
enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the
reapers are the angels. 40“Therefore as the tares are gathered and
burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41“The Son
of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all
things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42“and will
cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of
teeth. 43“Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Here we have the parable of tares and the wheat. It’s just
another great example that teaches a final second coming. The tares represent
non-Christians and the wheat represents Christians. At the end of the age or
the end of the world when Christ comes, he will separate the evil from the
righteous and cast the evil into hell and righteous will enter into heaven.
Please note that both the tares and the wheat are harvested at the same time,
as so it will be for us at Christ second and final coming.
Jesus will establish his
kingdom on the earth right?
No. This is another false teaching of the “rapture theory”. It teaches that Jesus will establish his kingdom on the earth for 1000 years. Have you really thought about what this is implying. It is saying that Jesus failed to setup his kingdom when he was on earth and is not reigning yet. So he’s going to come back one day and setup and establish his kingdom on earth so that we can reign with him for this1000 year period. I’m going to establish that Jesus was successful in setting up his kingdom when he was on the earth, and that he is reigning now. We will see that this kingdom is the church. I will also show that we are reigning with Jesus now. Finally, I will show you that when the final second coming occurs, we will be with Jesus in heaven not on the earth.
Acts 2:33“Therefore being
exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the
promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. 34“For
David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
35 Till I make Your enemies Your
footstool.” ’
36“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly
that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Here we see that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. This tells us that after Jesus died he is now reigning with authority.
Hebrews 4:14Seeing then that
we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son
of God, let us hold fast our confession
Hebrews 8:1Now this is the
main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is
seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2a
Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected,
and not man. 3For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts
and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to
offer.4For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since
there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law;
Jesus is now sitting at the
right hand of God with full power and authority.
John 6:15Therefore when Jesus
perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king,
He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.
I want you notice here that the Jews wanted to make Jesus an earthly king. If he wanted to reign as a king, he had his opportunity right here. He didn’t, because he came to the earth to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies and law and to establish a new covenant by his death on the cross. In doing so he purchased the church with his own blood.
Acts 20:28“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
He has done everything he was suppose to on the earth and he has no reason to set foot on earth again.
John 17: 1Jesus
spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour
has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2“as
You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life
to as many as You have given Him. 3“And this is eternal life, that
they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4“I
have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given
Me to do.
If Jesus says he finished his work, don’t you believe him? He could not make this statement if he still had more to do on the earth. He is now reigning at the right hand of God in heaven. Another quick point I would like to make is that John the Baptist and Jesus were both preaching that the kingdom was “at hand” which means near or close. In fact lets take a quick look at this verse.
Mark 9:1 And he said unto them, verily I say unto you; There are some here of them that stand by, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God come with power.
As you can see from this verse, the kingdom has already been established since all those people that were there have died long ago. The kingdom is also promised to come with power. If we can show when the power came, we can show when the kingdom came. Following the resurrection Jesus said, Luke 24:29“tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high” Now read Acts 1:8, where Jesus assured them of the power by saying: “But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you:” Jesus is saying that they will receive the power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. When did the Holy Spirit come? It came at Pentecost.
Note carefully these points:
a. The kingdom and the power were to come together.
b. The power and the Spirit were to come together.
c. The Spirit came at Pentecost
Therefore the kingdom came at Pentacost.
Col. 1:13He has delivered us
from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son
of His love, 14in whom we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins.
Here is very clear passage that shows that the kingdom is established now and not some time in the future.
Matthew 13: “Explain to us the
parable of the tares of the field.” 37He answered and said to them:
“He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38“The field is the
world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the
sons of the wicked one.
Matthew 13:41“The Son of Man
will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all
things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,
These 2 verses also establish that
the kingdom is here now.
1 Corinthians 15:24Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
This is completely opposite of
the rapture theory. It says here, that when Jesus comes he will deliver the
kingdom to the father. He is reigning right now over the kingdom. When he comes
and gathers all the nations before him, he will judge the people and cast satin
and his angels into the fiery lake and then his reign will be over. The rapture
theory would have us to believe that when Christ comes, he will establish his
kingdom then. Surely you can plainly see from this passage that the kingdom is
already established.
Revelation 5:9And they sang a
new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take
the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to
God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and
tongue and people and nation,
10 And have
made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the
earth.”
11This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We
shall also live with Him.
12If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him,
He also will deny us.13If we
are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
Have we died with Christ? Rom.
6:2-3; Col 3:3
Do we now live with Christ? Rom.
6:4; Gal 2:20
Do we endure with Christ? 2 Tim.
3:12
Do we know reign with Christ?
Rom. 5:17
Philippians 3:20For our
citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who will transform our lowly body that it
may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is
able even to subdue all things to Himself.
1 Peter 1:3Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has
begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, 4to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and
that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5who are
kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in
the last time.
I think that these 2 verses are
self-explanatory. It is plain to see, that we will be in heaven and not on the
earth. Consider this next verse.
John 14:2“In My Father’s house
are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a
place for you. 3“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
Why would Jesus prepare a place
for us in heaven, then turn around and establish an earthly kingdom? Doesn’t
make any sense does it. With this in mind lets see how silly this gets when we
put the rapture theory to it. Jesus prepares us a place and raptures us at a
supposed secret coming. So, I guess he lets us stay in heaven in the place he
prepared for us for 7 years. Then, he tells us that have to go back to the
earth now so that we can live with him for 1000 years in his new kingdom. The
rapture theory just doesn’t make any sense.
Again, I must answer no. This chapter can be a whole study by itself, but I’m just going to cover it briefly in this study. First, lets take a look at what Jesus says.
Matthew 24:1Then Jesus went out and departed from the
temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2And
Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these
things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon
another, that shall not be thrown down.”
This statement really got the disciples attention, because the Jewish nation was thriving and at peace. So you can imagine that they were going to have some questions for Jesus.
Matthew 24:3Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
We have three questions asked here. The first question is, when will the temple be destroyed? I intend to show that verses 4-35 answer this part of the question. The second and third question is, what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the world. I intend to show that verses 36-51 answer these questions.
History shows us that Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army in 70AD. They didn’t just conquer the people, they completely tore down the city walls and temple. They went as far as to dig up the roads. If you ever get a chance you should read Josephus account of the destrution of Jerusalem. He was a historian that was actually there when the temple and Jerusalem was destroyed. His account of what happened before and during the destruction sounds exactly like Matthew 24. Lets examine the following verses.
4And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5“For many
will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6“And
you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for
all these things must come to
pass, but the end is not yet. 7“For nation will rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and
earthquakes in various places. 8“All these are the beginning of
sorrows. 9“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill
you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10“And
then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
11“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12“And
because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13“But
he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14“And this gospel of
the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations,
and then the end will come.
Basically Jesus is telling them
what will happen before the destruction of Jerusalem occurs. He warns them that many will claim to be him
and deceive many. He also tells them there will be rumors of war. He tells them
they will have tribulation and be killed. He warns them against false profits.
Now verse 14 is very interesting because it tells us that the gospel of the
kingdom will have to preached to all of the world before the destruction of
Jerusalem will happen. The last part of the verse “ and then the end will come”
is referring to the end of Jerusalem and not to the end of the world. The
gospel of the kingdom was preached to the whole world before 70AD. Please
consider the following verse.
Colossians 1:23if indeed you continue in the faith,
grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel
which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of
which I, Paul, became a minister.
Colossians was written somewhere
between 60 – 64 AD and Paul is telling us in this verse that the gospel has
been preached to the whole world. Now we have our prerequisite mentioned in
verse 14. This means that the destruction of Jerusalem can now take place. Let look at this next group of verses.
15“Therefore when
you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16“then
let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17“Let him who is
on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18“And
let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19“But
woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those
days! 20“And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the
Sabbath. 21“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has
not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall
be. 22“And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be
saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. 23“Then
if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe
it. 24“For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great
signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25“See, I
have told you beforehand. 26“Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He
is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not
believe it. 27“For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes
to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28“For
wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
The abomination of desolation is
talking about the Roman armies. We know this because of Luke’s account in
chapter 21 verse 20.
20“But when you see
Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near.
When you study Matthew 24 you need to also look at Mark 13 and Luke 21. They record the same information but most of the time you will find more detail in one account than the other. When the Roman army came in, they surrounded Jerusalem to keep them from leaving their city. This was a very good tactic back then, because they would run out of food and water eventually. If anyone came out and tried to escape they would kill them. After they were starving to death, the army would move in and easily conquer the city. So Jesus tells them when you see the army approaching don’t bother getting your coat run like crazy to the mountains. The reason why he tells them to pray that they don’t have to flee on the Sabbath was because the Jews locked the gates on the Sabbath. You were not allowed to travel more than a mile on the Sabbath. So they made sure no one could leave the city. The Christians would be trapped in the city if the Roman army came on the Sabbath. It has been recorded in history that most of the Christians went to Pella when the Roman army started approaching. There isn’t any recorded deaths of a Christian being killed during this flee. Jesus also warns them not to be lead astray by someone saying that Jesus is in the desert. This actually happened back then. There were false prophets that would lead Christians out to the desert to see Jesus. They would lure them out there and they would have men ambush them and kill them. It was a very difficult time for Christians back then. Lets move on to the next section of verses.
29“Immediately after
the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon
will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the
heavens will be shaken. 30“Then the sign of the Son of Man will
appear in heaven, 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 His angels with a great sound of a
trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one
end of heaven to the other.
This section of scripture is often
misunderstood due to its symbolic meaning. The rapture theory would say that
this will happen sometime during the rapture process. This is another great
example where it pays to find other examples in the bible using this same
symbolic language. When you run across a difficult section of scriptures you
can almost always find other places in the bible that will help you understand
it better. These verses are talking about the judgment on Jerusalem. This
judgment is their destruction. The same language is used to describe the
judgment on Babylon in Isaiah 13 verse 10.
10For
the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The sun
will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to
shine.
If you just read Matthews account, you might just think that the stars are going to literally fall from heaven. But now you can see clearly that this is symbolic language referring to the judgment upon Jerusalem. Lets move on to the next section.
32“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch
has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33“So
you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the
doors! 34“Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means
pass away till all these things take place. 35“Heaven and
earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
These verses make it very clear
that verses 4-35 are talking about the destruction of Jerusalem and not some
future rapture theory. Notice that it says that it near. Even better than that
Jesus tells them that their generation will not pass away before these things
take place. The only way this could be a future event is if that generation is
still alive today. But, we know that that generation has been dead for a long
time. You have to come to the conclusion that these verses are talking about
the destruction of Jerusalem.
What will be the sign of your coming and the end
of the world?
Before we begin, I want to point
out that in verses 4-35 I underlined “these things” and “those days”. The
reason for this is to show that everything in those verses were always referred
to as “these things” and “those days”.
Please also note that during these verses there was great tribulation
and death. People were starving and war was on the rise. This is very important
because starting in verse 36 Jesus starts answering the second and third
question. You will notice a definite change in what will be happening before
the second and final coming of Christ.
36“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the
angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37“But as the days of Noah
were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38“For as in the
days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in
marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39“and did not
know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of
the Son of Man be.
Do you see the sharp contrast here? First of all, notice that we have switched from “those days” and “these things” to “that day”. We are now talking about the final judgment day.
I also want you to notice that we are talking about a time
of peace instead of a time of war and starvation. He says that it’s going to be
like the time of Noah. People are going to be eating, drinking, marrying, and
just having a good ole time. This is completely the opposite of what we read in
verses 4-35. I would also like to point
out that no one knows when the second coming will occur only the father knows.
This means, that there isn’t some type of sign that we can look for. It just
going to happen when we least expect it. Please read verse 39 again. This
differs from what we read in 4- 35, because they knew that the destruction of
Jerusalem would happen soon and within their generation. So, the answer to the
second and third questions is that there won’t be a sign.
40“Then
two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41“Two
women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42“Watch
therefore, for you do not know what
hour your Lord is coming. 43“But know this, that if the master of
the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and
not allowed his house to be broken into. 44“Therefore you also be
ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Here is another favorite passage that the rapture people
like to use. They say, “See, it says one will be taken and one will be left
behind. So this means that there will be rapture.” We know from all the scriptures that I have presented on the
second coming, that all will be judged at the same time. So, this section of
scripture can’t be referring to a person being raptured and one being left
behind on the earth wondering where the other person went. No, instead I think
that it is saying that when Christ comes, the righteous will meet him in the
sky and the unrighteous will be left behind to face their judgment of eternal
punishment. Lets read the following verses that support this.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 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. 17Then 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.
John 5:28“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming
in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29“and come
forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those
who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
I can’t say it
enough, if you come across a difficult section of scripture you have to weigh
the evidence of what the rest of the bible says about that particular topic.
Again, Jesus reiterates that when he comes no one will know when he is coming.
I believe that he trying to make it crystal clear that there won’t be any type
of signs before his coming.
45“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master
made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 46“Blessed
is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. 47“Assuredly,
I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 48“But
if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ 49“and
begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50“the
master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at
an hour that he is not aware of, 51“and will cut him in two and
appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
This last section basically is
telling us that we need to be living faithfully until death. We have to be
ready everyday. If the lord comes when we have turned our back on him by
deliberately living in sin then we will not enter into heaven. I hope you can
clearly see that Matthew 24 DOES NOT teach
the rapture theory.
Answer: NO. Revelation is a very interesting book, full of apocalyptic and symbolic language. There are probably more books written on Revelation than any other book in the bible. One of the first things we have to determine is when Revelation was written. The two most popular views is that it was written around 68AD or 96AD. If Revelation was written in 68AD, you will hold the view that the book is written about the destruction of Jerusalem. On the other hand if you think it was written in 96AD, you would hold the view that the book was written about the fall of the Roman Empire. In either case, almost everything in Revelation has already taken place. Revelation can be a very deep study. We are just going to scratch the surface in this study. I intend to show two things: 1. Revelation is written to the Christians warning them about the destruction of Jerusalem. 2. I will show that Rev. 20,which is a popular chapter used to try and prove the rapture theory, doesn’t teach the rapture theory at all.
It is very important when you study Revelation that you use
the rest of the bible to interpret it. People love to take parts of the
symbolic language used in Revelation and make it literal and then in the same
paragraph turn around and make symbolic again. They do this to so they can try
a make their theory work. I believe that the Christians back then didn’t have
any problems understanding the symbolic language found in Rev. The most
important thing you should know about Rev. is that Christ will be victorious in
the end.
Revelation is written to the Christians warning them about the destruction of Jerusalem.
Rev.1:1The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place.
Rev.22:6Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.
You will notice in the very first verse and in the last chapter it states that all the things that John is fixing to talk about is going to take place shortly. Surely we can safely say that shortly means that the things written in Rev. would happen very soon.
Rev1:3Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
Here
is another timed statement. The verse tells us that the time is near. Now
compare this verse with what we read in Matt 24:
33“So you also, when
you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! 34“Assuredly,
I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these
things take place.
We know from this verse that near was at least limited to a generation. This is one reason that I believe the book was written in 68AD. In order for Rev. to be referring to the fall of the Roman Empire, it would require “shortly” and “near” to mean almost 400 years.
Rev1:9I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ
Notice
that he was in tribulation, just like Matt 24:9 states. 9“Then they will
deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all
nations for My name’s sake. Just as a side
note did you also see that John says the he is in the kingdom. This is another
good verse to show that the kingdom was already established.
Rev6:9When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. 10And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
Here we have these saints that have been killed and they want to know how long it will be before Jesus will avenge their spilled blood. Now notice they are told to rest a little while longer. This tells me that it won’t be much longer before he does avenge their deaths. The rest of this study will mainly be showing who killed these servants. I intend to show that Jerusalem is the one responsible for these deaths. Lets examine the following verses.
Matthew 23:29“Woe to you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets
and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30“and say, ‘If we had
lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in
the blood of the prophets.’ 31“Therefore you are witnesses
against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32“Fill
up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33“Serpents, brood of
vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34“Therefore,
indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will
kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and
persecute from city to city, 35“that on you may come all the
righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the
blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and
the altar. 36“Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will
come upon this generation.
37“O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!
How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her
chicks under her wings, but you were
not willing! 38“See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39“for
I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes
in the name of the Lord!’ ”
You should probably read all of Matt. 23. In this chapter Jesus is really coming down hard on the Pharisees and scribes. I think this section of scripture plainly states that not only did their fathers kill the righteous, but they to were going to kill the righteous. Jesus tells them that they are going to pay for all the righteous blood they have shed from Able to Zechariah. We have another time frame mentioned in verse 36. Jesus is going to avenge all those righteous people within their generation. Verse 37 tells us that Jerusalem is the one who kills the profits and the Christians that are sent to her. I believe that this establishes that Jerusalem is the city that is responsible for the death of saints.
Luke
13:33“Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow,
and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside
of Jerusalem.
Here Jesus tells once again that the prophets are killed in
Jerusalem and not outside of Jerusalem.
Rev.16:4Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the
rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5And I heard the
angel of the waters saying:
“You are righteous, O Lord,
The One who is and who was and who is to be,
Because You have judged these things.
6 For
they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
And You have given them blood to drink.
For it is their just due.”
7And I heard another from the altar saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”
In this chapter, the angles are pouring out the bowls of the wrath of God. Verse 6 tells us who these bowls of wrath are being poured on. We see that it is Jerusalem, because we have already established that they shed the blood of the saints and prophets.
Rev.18:20“Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy
apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her!”
21Then
a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the
sea, saying, “Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down,
and shall not be found anymore. 22“The sound of harpists,
musicians, flutists, and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore. No
craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore, and the sound of a
millstone shall not be heard in you anymore. 23“The light of a lamp
shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not
be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth,
for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived. 24“And in her
was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the
earth.”
Here Jerusalem is being called the great city Babylon. We know this because of verse 24. It says that blood of the prophets and saints were found in this great city Babylon. We know that this has to be talking about Jerusalem. In verse 21 it states that this city, when it is destroyed wont be found again. This is so true, because we still don’t know for sure where Jerusalem was located for sure. The Roman Empire did a very good job of wiping their cities existence from the face of the earth.
Rev.11:1Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod.
And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar,
and those who worship there. 2“But leave out the court which is
outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the
Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. 3“And
I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two
hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4These are the two
olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. 5And
if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their
enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. 6These
have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy;
and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth
with all plagues, as often as they desire.
7When
they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit
will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. 8And
their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is
called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
The first part of this verse is talking about measuring the
temple of God, which is referring to the temple in Jerusalem. The Gentiles were
not allowed to enter the temple inner courtyard. They had to worship on the
outside of the temple. This is one reason why I know this is passage is talking
about the temple in Jerusalem. I want you to pay close attention to verse 8. It
states that these two witnesses dead bodies would lie in the street of the
great city spiritually called Sodom and Egypt. We know that this is talking
about Jerusalem by reading the last words of the verse. It says, that Jesus was
crucified there and we all know that Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem. This is
one of the main reasons I think that the book of Rev. is written about the
destruction of Jerusalem and not the fall of the Roman Empire. You see the
Roman Empire did not fall until around 476AD. We know that the Roman Empire
destroyed Jerusalem in 70AD. We have to conclude that this great city that was
spiritually called Sodom and Egypt has to be Jerusalem, because that’s where
Jesus was crucified. It would be very difficult for these two witnesses to be
laying in the street of Jerusalem when there wasn’t much left after 70AD. The
Romans were represented by Pilate in Jerusalem. The Jews brought Jesus to be
tried by him, but he wouldn’t have anything to do with it. The Jews were the
ones who wanted Jesus to be crucified and they even went as far as to say they
would be responsible for his blood being shed. Read the following passage.
Matthew
27:22Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called
Christ?” They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!” 23Then
the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the
more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!” 24When Pilate saw
that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took
water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the
blood of this just Person. You see to it.” 25And all the people
answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”
The Romans allowed it to happen, but when you get right down to it, it was the Jews that crucified Jesus.
We just barley scratched the surface of Rev., but I hope
that you have been able to see that Rev. was written as warning of things that
were going to be happening to them back then and not some future event. I
believe that I presented strong evidence that Rev is written about the
destruction of Jerusalem and not the fall of the Roman Empire. We have one last
thing that we are going to briefly look at.
Here another popular chapter that the rapture teaching people like to use.
Rev. 20:1Then I saw an angel
coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain
in his hand. 2He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is
the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3and he
cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so
that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were
finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
4And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was
committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for
their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast
or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their
hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5But
the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.
The rapture teacher would have you believe that this
teaches the 1000-year reign of Christ on the earth. I want you to notice who it
says will reign with Christ for a 1000 years. It says the beheaded will reign
with him. That leaves out the righteouses that are living on the earth right now.
The only way they can justify this is to say that the beheaded symbolically
represent all the righteous and in the same sentence make the 1000 years
literal. This is another great example of how you can make Rev. teach just
about anything if make one part of a verse literal and another part symbolic.
You will not find Jerusalem mentioned anywhere in chapter 20. The whole idea
for this 1000 year reign is centered on Jesus reigning in Jerusalem. You won’t
find the second coming mentioned in the chapter either. Nor will you find Jesus
being on the earth. Rev. 20 simply doesn’t teach the rapture theory.
This concludes the study and I hope that you enjoyed it. I
also hope that this will encourage you to study your bible more. Thank you for
your time.