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Rapture, Error

DEMOLISHING THE PREWRATH RAPTURE — Conference Slides and Notes

June 6, 2022
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This message on the errors of the prewrath rapture was originally presented as one of my messages at the Homeward Bound Conference in Colorado Springs in May 2022 sponsored by Prophecy Watchers. I have added two slides, made minor changes to several slides and the accompanying notes to clarify a few points, and added some material that will be helpful to those investigating the question of the timing of the rapture.

 

 

[SLIDE #1] — TITLE — DEMOLISHING THE PREWRATH RAPTURE

 

 

[SLIDE #2] — FAMILY AND FRIENDS WRESTLING WITH THE RAPTURE QUESTION

 

  1. VEXING QUESTIONS
    1. Should I believe pretrib or prewrath?
    2. Can we know for certain which view is right?
    3. Does it matter which view is right?
  2. PERHAPS SOME OF YOU ARE FACING THESE SAME QUESTIONS

 

 

[SLIDE #3] — SOME HAVE BEEN HAMMERED BY FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO BELIEVE THE PREWRATH RAPTURE

 

  1. ACCUSATIONS
    1. The pretribulation rapture is a hoax.!
    2. The rapture is a modern invention!
    3. The rapture teaching was started by Darby in 1830.
      1. The Darby lie claims that Darby got his rapture doctrine from Margaret MacDonald, who got it in a prophecy given to her by a lying spirit pretending to be the Holy Spirit. 
    4. If you believe the pretribulation rapture, you believe man, not the Bible.
  2. FACTS
    1. The real hoax is the fairytale that J. N. Darby got his rapture teaching from Margaret MacDonald. 
    2. J.N. Darby was convinced of the pretribulation rapture in 1827 by 2 Thess. 2:1-3 in the Greek (the argument will be given later).
    3. Margaret MacDonald’s rapture was pre-wrath, after 3.5 years trib. This can easily be verified with a couple hours of research IF someone is sincerely seeking facts
      1. See Margaret’s own written account of the 1830 rapture revelation that she was given as included in Robert Norton’s Memoirs of James & George Macdonald of Port Glasgow (1840), pp. 171-176.
      2. See Robert Baxter’s Narrative of Facts, James Nisbet, 1833. A modern English version, much easier to read than the original, is available with appendices covering the prophetic and doctrinal issues. Narrative of Facts
      3. c. Tragically, prejudice is willfully blind and ignorant.
  3. MORE FACTS — PRE-DARBY PRETRIB RAPTURE TEACHERS
    1. Not only were premillennial views relatively common in the 1600s and 1700s in both England and America, but there were a number of folks who were beginning to see that there was a distinction between the rapture of the church and the second coming. This is ably established by William Watson in his Dispensationalism Before Darby. For those that don’t mind deeper, information filled books, this volume is a gold mine. These worthies include laymen like Wiltshire schoolmaster John Hildrop who looked to Revelation 3:10 as a promise of deliverance from the Great Desolation to come and well-known clergymen like Increase Mather. See chapter 10. 
  4. MORE FACTS — EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
    1. While many names could be listed, and many lists have been published in books and online, we will mention two here which feature some very clear references. 
    2. Irenaeus (120-202), who was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John— “Enoch was translated, thus pointing out by anticipation the translation of the just and that those who were translated into Paradise, as a prelude to immortality will remain there until the completion of the age” (Against Heresies 5.5.1). “And therefore, when in the end the Church shall be suddenly caught up from here, there shall be, it is said, tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall be. For this is the last contest of the righteous, in which, when they
      overcome, they are crowned with incorruption.” (Against Heresies 5.29.1)
    3. Ephraim the Syrian (306-373), a prolific Syrian father. “For the elect shall be gathered prior to the tribulation, so they shall not see the confusion and the great tribulation coming upon the unrighteous world” (Sermon on Repentance and Judgment and the Separation of the Soul From the Body, 239). “Again, when we see the saints in glory flying off in light in the clouds of the air to meet Christ, the king of glory, but see ourselves in the great tribulation, who shall be able to bear that shame and terrible reproach?” (On the Fathers Who Have Completed Their Course, 14). The latter is colored with pretensions to humility that characterized many in the early church, particularly the monastics.

 

 

[SLIDE #4] — REMINDS ME OF A CONVERSATION NEARLY 6000 YEARS AGO

 

  1. CHALLENGES
    1.  “Hath God said?”
    2. Did God really say that?
    3. Did God really mean that?
    4. What if you’re wrong?
      1. What if the literal sense is wrong?
      2. What if you have to go through tribulation?
      3. Will you be prepared? Will you fall away?

 

 

[SLIDE #5] — FEAR IS A POWERFUL WEAPON FOR ERROR

 

  1. FEARS
    1. fear of being wrong, fear of missing out
      1. commerce, stock market, marketers exploit this
    2. fear of being in minority, fear of being in the majority
    3.  fear of the disapproval of peers
  2. FEARS MORE TO THE POINT
    1. fear that evangelicalism is wrong
    2.  fear that dispensationalism is wrong
    3. fear that God really meant the church in Matt. 24 even though he said Israel

 

 

[SLIDE #6] — FEAR VS FAITH

 

  1. DANGERS
    1. fear is why men die when lost in the woods
    2. fear is why some men needlessly die in combat, why many have gone bankrupt or lost millions in markets
    3. fear is why Christians make huge mistakes when lost in doctrinal issues
    4. when the fear fire burns in your heart, you will have smoke in your head
  2. DESIRES
    1. We want calm faith based on plain statements of Scripture
    2. We want to walk away from irrational doubts of clear statements fueled by irrational fears based on contorted or out of context prooftexts
  3. CARNIVORES
    1. Knowing you are all bunch of carnivores — Let’s get right to the meat.

 

 

[SLIDE #7] MAIN ARGUMENT — BACKBONE ARGUMENT

 

  1. FORM OF ARGUMENT
    1. major premise — the rapture and the arrival of the DOL concur  (truth we all agree on)
    2. minor premise — DOL heralded by the signs of the sixth seal, DOL begins with seventh seal
    3. conclusion — the rapture happens after the opening of the sixth seal and prior to the opening of the seventh seal
    4. further conclusion — tribulation, not wrath, through the sixth seal
  2. POWER OF THE  ARGUMENT
    1. The logic here is clear and forceful.
    2. Tens of thousands have been seduced by this argument.
  3. TERMINOLOGY
    1. In my original presentation the wording of the minor premise was “the DOL arrives at the opening of 6th seal.” I have altered this to “the DOL is heralded by the signs of the sixth seal, the DOL begins with the seventh seal.” I took this step because although some pre-wrath teachers talk or write about the arrival of wrath with the opening of the sixth seal, many others locate the technical arrival of wrath with the opening of the seventh seal. They regard the events of the sixth seal as more distant harbingers of wrath and not immediate harbingers of wrath.
    2. In my original presentation my conclusion said “the rapture happens at the opening of the sixth seal.” Due to misunderstanding, I have changed the wording to “the rapture happens after the opening of the sixth seal and prior to the opening of the seventh seal” to better reflect what I meant. My original wording was not intended to convey the idea that the rapture happens at the precise millisecond of the opening of the sixth seal, but to convey the idea that the rapture happens upon the opening of the sixth seal as opposed to upon the opening of the fifth seal or upon the opening of the seventh seal or upon the sounding of one of the trumpets.
    3. A little word of exhortation. Learn to judge arguments or positions by their essence or substance. Don’t bash or reject them over a minor detail. Good Bible teachers regularly trash the pronunciation of names and places, grammatical and theological terms, and Greek and Hebrew words. We don’t toss their teaching because it lacks academic polish. Likewise, we shouldn’t trash or toss solid ministry because a minor detail in terminology or explanation is lacking or less than ideal.
  4. BRIEF HISTORY
    1. The concept of a prewrath rapture is not new. It’s roots in modern times trace back into the post-Reformation hotbed of sola scriptura, personal investigation, and personal interpretation, the same hotbed that gave rise to modern pretribulationism, when men realized that the reigning views could not be true. Two names that could be mentioned are Cotton Mather (1663-1728) and Margaret MacDonald in 1830 (along with the entire Irvingite movement). 
    2. The prewrath rapture first received general attention in modern times when Thomas Nelson published Marvin Rosenthal’s The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church in 1990. The idea gained more traction with Crossway Books publication of Robert Van Kampen’s The Sign in 1992. The fledgling movement grew steadily over the next three decades. 
    3. In our day the biggest names advocating the prewrath rapture would include Alan Kurschner, Ryan Habbena, Charles Cooper, Alan Hultberg, Dave Bussard, H.L. Nigro, and Dalton Thomas. These men have wielded tremendous influence through their books, videos, websites, and conference ministries.

 

 

[SLIDE #8] — CHART OF THE SIXTH-SEAL LOCATION OF THE RAPTURE 

 

  1. POINTS
    1. The day of the Lord (the wrath of God) is heralded by the signs in the heavens at the sixth seal.
    2. The day of the Lord (the wrath of God) technically begins at the seventh seal.
    3. The rapture happens during the sixth seal and prior to the opening of the seventh seal.
    4. The great tribulation under the antichrist lasts until the rapture.
  2. NOTES
    1. Day of the Lord Location
      1.  Some employ language that seems to have the day of the Lord arriving under the sixth seal. Alan Hultberg, for instance, says, in “The Revelation Problem” section of the 7 Pretrib Problems video, “And then the sixth seal is opened, and the great day of God’s Wrath has arrived.”
      2. Others appear to have the day of the Lord arrive after the sixth seal but before the opening of the seventh seal. See, for instance, Charles Cooper’s timeline at prewrathrapture.com/prewrath-timeline. He has the rapture happening during the day of the Lord. He also appears to distinguish the day of the Lord from YHWHs wrath which he has arriving at the 7th seal. This distinction between the day of the Lord and YHWH’s wrath makes no sense and seems arbitrary.
      3. Others locate the actual arrival of the day of the Lord at the opening of the seventh seal and regard the events of the sixth seal as merely the signs that herald the coming day of the Lord. Alan Kurschner, for instance, says, “the sixth seal occurs toward the end of the great tribulation, signaling the impending day of the Lord; and the seventh seal occurs immediately after the great tribulation, pronouncing the day of the Lord’s wrath.” [Alan Kurschner,  Prewrath: A Very Short Introduction to the Great Tribulation, Rapture, and Day of the Lord,  Eschatos Publishing, Kindle Edition, p. 35.] 
      4. This is a minor distinction. No matter how they delineate the signs and the arrival of the day of the Lord, the rapture still comes after the sixth seal is opened, after the signs in the heavens appear, and before the seventh seal is opened.
    2. Seventh Trumpet Rapture
      1. Some have framed a similar argument that locates the rapture at the 7th trumpet, claiming that it’s the last trumpet of the rapture.
      2. Much of the material in this presentation also answers the 7th trumpet rapture theory

 

 

[SLIDE #9] — CHART OF THE SIXTH-SEAL GAP LOCATION OF THE RAPTURE 

 

  1. Alan Kurschner’s and Charles Cooper’s Rapture Location
    1. Notice the slight variation in the location of the rapture on this chart. 
    2. The rapture occurs in a gap between the sixth seal and seventh seal. 
    3. BUT, the rapture is still in the same rapture window between the opening of the sixth seal and the opening of the seventh seal. 
  2. Rapture Location
    1.  Some have the rapture happen during the sixth seal.  An indisputably clear example is found in Christopher Perdue’s The Prewrath Rapture: Answering the Critics on page 53. He writes, “In the context of the sixth seal, in Revelation 7, saints from all the earth washed by the Blood of the Lamb appear in heaven standing before Jesus — an apt description of the rapture.”
    2.  Some have the rapture happen after the sixth seal during a short gap or interlude between the sixth seal and the seventh seal. This is the position taken by Alan Kurschner in his book Prewrath: A Very Short Introduction to the Great Tribulation, Rapture, and Day of the Lord. He writes, for instance, on pages 68-69, “This interlude between the sixth and seventh seal depicts two groups of people being rescued: 144,000 Jews who are sealed on earth, protecting them from the impending wrath after the seventh seal is opened; and an innumerable crowd in heaven made up of believers from every nation, tribe, people, and language. For our purposes, our attention will be directed to the innumerable crowd in heaven. Please read Revelation 7:9–17.”
    3. Whether a prewrath rapture teacher locates the rapture during or after the sixth seal has no material affect on the location of the rapture. It still happens in the exact same timeframe—after the sixth seal is opened and prior to the opening of the seventh seal. This becomes obvious once you understand how and why the difference arose — the interpretation of Revelation 7. Prewrath rapture teachers regard the great multitude in chapter 7 as the raptured church. Those who regard chapter 7 as a continuation of the sixth seal (as I do) regard the the rapture as happening during the sixth seal.  Those who regard chapter 7 as an interlude between the sixth seal and the seventh seal locate the rapture during this interlude. The treatment of Revelation 7, then, doesn’t change anything material when it comes to the timing of the rapture. It leaves the rapture in the exact same spot and merely assigns different labels to the spot (sixth seal or gap). The difference between these approaches, then, is not chronological and critical. It is merely a matter of description and nomenclature. Both approaches could legitimately be called a sixth-seal rapture since they both follow the opening of the sixth seal and both precede the opening of the seven seal. But be apprised that some folks get punctilious about the rapture occurring post-sixth seal and regard the point as a critical matter.  
    4.  Marvin Rosenthal associated the rapture with the seven seal. “The rapture must occur at the opening of the seventh seal and immediately prior to the beginning of God’s wrath.” (The Prewrath Rapture of the Church, Thomas Neslon, 1990, p. 194.) But again, this makes no practical difference in the location of the rapture. Whether the rapture happens immediately before the opening of the seventh seal or immediately after the opening of the seventh seal is a difference of minutes, not weeks or months. For all practical purposes, this too can be represented under my generic handling of the prewrath rapture location. While his rapture happens technically after the opening of the seventh seal, for all practical purposes it is still before the seventh seal as it occurs before any of the wrath introduced by the seventh seal, namely the seven trumpets. Minor differences like this deserve footnotes not separate treatments.

 

 

[SLIDE #10] — MY RESPONSE TO THEIR “LOGICAL” ARGUMENT

 

  1. I will give six FATAL arguments to the prewrath rapture.
  2. I will expose two SERIOUS mistakes in their sixth-seal prewrath rapture theory

 

 

[SLIDE #11] — FATAL ARGUMENT #1 — NO TIME BETWEEN TRIBULATION AND SECOND COMING

 

  1. There is ZERO time between the end of the great tribulation and the 2nd coming.
  2. Matthew 24:29-30 — 29) Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30) then shall … they see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
  3. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days” = zero room to squeeze in one day much less months
  4. That the signs and the second coming happen minutes apart not days or week apart will be demonstrated in the next slide

 

 

[SLIDE #12] — THE SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS ARE ALWAYS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SECOND COMING

 

  1. Signs before DOL — (Acts 2:19-20)
  2. Signs at Armageddon — (Joel 3:9-16, Is. 13:9-10, Is. 34:2-4)
  3. Signs with descent of Army from Heaven — Joel 2:2-11, Joel 3:11-16, Is. 13:3-13
  4. Signs when fallen ones banished to Hell — Is. 24:21-23
  5. Signs on the day the Lord reigns on Mt. Zion — Is. 24:23, Joel 3:16
  6. LOGIC → signs immediately after tribulation and immediately associated with second coming

 

 

[SLIDE #13] — IF THE SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS ARE AT THE SECOND COMING, THEN …

 

  1. the great tribulation under the antichrist runs to the end of the seventieth week and the second coming
  2. a rapture AFTER the great tribulation under the antichrist and BEFORE a period of wrath (weeks or months long) is impossible
  3. there is ZERO ROOM to squeeze in one day between the end of the great tribulation and the second coming, much less weeks or months
  4. no matter where you start God’s wrath in the 70th week, it runs simultaneous with the great tribulation
  5. This is FATAL to the prewrath rapture
    1.  interestingly enough, this fatal information is in their own favorite rapture passage
    2. This is the blindness principle — the prooftexts for error often include fatal information in the immediate context, and the advocates of the error turn a blind eye to this information

 

 

[SLIDE #14] — FATAL ARGUMENT #2 — THE CHURCH IS IN HEAVEN IN REV 4-5 PRIOR TO THE OPENING OF THE FIRST SEAL

 

  1. NOTICE the twenty-four elders in these two chapters
  2. The 24 elders can only be the representatives of the glorified, resurrected, rewarded church
  3. The 24 elders are probably the heads of the twenty-four priestly courses (we are a royal priesthood)
    1. Rev. 5:10 — You have made us kings and priests for God: and we shall reign on the earth

 

 

[SLIDE #15] — IDENTIFICATION OF THE TWENTY FOUR ELDERS

 

  1. The 24 elders can’t be angels:
    1. Rev. 5:8-9 says, “they sang a new song … you have redeemed us to God by your blood”
    2. This is blood redemption! The angels are not redeemed.
  2. The 24 elders can’t be OT saints:
    1. The OT saints are raised at the second coming
    2. The 24 elders are in heaven prior to second coming
  3. The 24 elders can’t be the pre-resurrection Church:
    1. The 24 elders are seated on thrones and wearing the stephanos crowns of reward (Rev. 4:4, 4:10)
    2. Rev. 4:4 — “Round about the throne were four and twenty thrones: and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.”
      1. thronos = throne, not chair
      2. the crown here = stephanos, the reward laurel (think gold medal); victorious athletes and generals received laurels
    3. If the 24 elders are seated on thrones and wearing their reward crowns, then they were already resurrected and rewarded.
    4. When the Lord comes in the rapture, his reward is with him and given at that time, not earlier ( Rev. 22:12)
  4. Focusing on 6th seal in Rev. 6 and not noticing the church in heaven in Rev. 4-5 is turning a blind eye to contrary evidence in the context

 

 

[SLIDE #16] — FATAL ARGUMENT #3 — THE ECONOMY IS BACK TO MOSAIC LAW DURING THE SEVENTIETH WEEK

 

  1. every passage that features tribulation saints features law-keeping Jews not Christians
  2. their favorite rapture passage — Matthew 24 — is a classic example
    1. vs. 15 — the temple is the “holy place” (owned of God)
      1. Notice the language — “when you see abomination of desolation … stand in the holy place”
      2. “The Holy Place” = God owning temple once again as HIS TEMPLE, not Jewish pretension to it being the temple of God.
      3. The fact that the antichrist sitting in the temple is called the abomination of desolation demands that the temple be God’s temple. It would be sacrilegious if it was merely man’s temple, but not the abomination of desolation.
      4. God can’t have two owned temples on earth at same time, the physical temple in Jerusalem and the spiritual temple (the church). As he rent the vail in the temple before Pentecost (setting Judaism aside), so he will remove the church prior to the tribulation.
    2. vs. 16 — “let those in Judaea flee” (Jewish focus)
    3. iii. vs. 20 — “pray that your flight be not on the Sabbath” = (God owning and upholding the Sabbath)

 

 

[SLIDE #17] — MORE JEWISH TESTIMONY

 

  1. Rev. 11:1-2 — “measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those that worship in it.”  (This is God owning the temple)
  2. Rev. 15:3 — the tribulation martyrs in heaven “sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb” — (this fits Messianic tribulation saints, but it doesn’t fit the church)
  3. Rev. 12:1-6 — the woman who brought forth the male child who was to rule the nations fled to a hiding place in the wilderness for 1260 days — (the woman can only be Israel)

 

 

[SLIDE #18] — YET MORE JEWISH TESTIMONY — THE TWO WITNESSES

 

  1. Rev. 11: 5 “fire proceeds out of their mouths and devours their enemies”
  2. Rev. 11: 6 “power to shut heaven, that it rain not”
  3. Rev. 11:6 “power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with plagues”
  4.  THIS IS CONTRARY TO SPIRIT OF CHURCH AGE — Luke 9:55, “You don’t know what spirit you are”
    1.  The context is vv. 51-56. The Samaritans didn’t receive Jesus because he was purposed to go to Jerusalem. When the disciples wanted to call down fire on them, the Lord replied , “You don’t know what spirit you are”
    2.  He was not saying they weren’t saved, as if they were walking in the spirit of Satan rather than the Spirit of God
    3. This is saying you don’t know the character or spirit of the church age. You guys are still operating in the old economy. I am moving into the new economy.

 

 

[SLIDE #19] — FATAL ARGUMENT #4 — REVELATION 3:10 — “KEPT FROM THE HOUR”

 

  1. “Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”
  2. This is my favorite pretribulation rapture passage. The language is clear. The argument is invincible. Keep from the hour.
  3. This trial comes upon the entire planet to try the earth dwellers (the unsaved). 

 

 

[SLIDE #20] — PREWRATH RAPTURE CAMP WAVES THEIR MAGIC WAND AND CHANGES THE MEANING

 

  1. THREE-FOLD CLAIM
    1. The word peirasmos (trial) is never used of wrath or judgment
    2. peirasmos (trial) only refers to mere man-caused tribulation under antichrist
    3. keep from means protection in the hour not from the hour
  2. But this claim faces a triple whammy

 

 

[SLIDE #21] — PEIRASMOS IS USED OF WRATH AND JUDGMENT

 

  1.  2 Peter 2:9, “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of trials, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” (Trials here refers to the fire that fell on Sodom.)
  2.  Deut. 4:34, “Did God ever try to go take for himself a nation from the midst of another nation by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand?”  (Trials refers to the judgments that fell on Egypt.)
  3. In both passages the word trials = severe wrath/judgment

 

 

[SLIDE #22] — NOT MERE HUMAN-CAUSED TRIAL

 

  1. The antichrist is the heart of the trial that will try the whole world during the seventieth week
  2. God is behind this trial
    1. God unleashes the antichrist — He ceases his restraining effort, gives scroll to Christ who removes the first seal
    2. God uses him to sift the world — brings every man to answer question of trust God or reject Him
    3. God narrows man’s choices — the truth or the lie
  3. God will enhance this trial:
    1. with powerful miracles on both sides
      1. strong delusion = powerful miracles that will be the greatest validation of the wickedest lies ever
      2. Elijah and Moses’ ministry will be the greatest vindication of truth with signs and miracles except for Christ himself
    2. with heightened truth and boldface lies
      1. with the greatest revelation of truth and light to that point in history and the greatest depths of obvious darkness and lies
      2. with obvious righteousness and obvious unrighteousness
      3. with issues so clearly stated that no man will have a dust speck of excuse
      4. with testimony from Moses and Elijah, from the 144K, from saved Israel with Pentecostal power, from the gospel preaching angel
    3. with ever increasing judgments trying to get men to surrender
  4. eventually every man will have either the mark of the beast or the seal of God
  5. LOGIC is invincible
    1. Major Premise — We are promised deliverance from the hour of trial
    2. Minor Premise — The antichrist is the essence of the hour of trial
    3. Conclusion — The deliverance from the hour of trial will happen before the antichrist is revealed.
    4.                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
    5. Maj. Premise — The rapture happens before the antichrist is revealed
    6. Min. Premise — The antichrist is revealed at the opening of the first seal
    7. Conclusion — The rapture must happen before the opening of the first seal

 

 

[SLIDE #23] — “KEEP FROM” REALLY MEANS KEEP FROM

 

  1. The actual Koine Greek usage of “keep from” trumps the magic wand of the prewrath rapture advocates
  2. Koine Greek usage indicates that:
    1. tēreō ek = protecting from
    2. tēreō dia or diatēreō = protecting in
  3. Examples:
    1. tēreō ek example — Origen, Exposition in Proverbs, Migne 17.196, “He that keeps them [the commands of God], keeps his soul from death.” This is keeps him from dying, not protecting him while dead. 
    2. tēreō dia or diatēreō example — Ephraim, The Advent, The End of the Age, and the Antichrist, 4.114. “Many shall be found at that time … in the mountains and in the desert places … God … shall preserve them—they shall be hidden there.” (The reference here is to tribulation saints who were saved through the two witnesses after the rapture.) 
  4. See soothkeep.info for more information on the Koine usage of  tēreō ek usage and to examine the Ephraim work cited in an English translation.

 

 

[SLIDE #24] — PREWRATH RAPTURE ARGUMENT FROM JOHN 17:15

 

  1. prewrath rapture interprets Rev. 3:10 through lens of John 17:15, ” I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil one.”
  2.  Claim — tēreō ek in John 17:15 doesn’t remove the church from the world, why would tēreō ek in Rev. 3:10 remove the church from the world? 
    1. often point out the ignorance and gullibility of pretribbers when they present this comeback
  3. But this is comparing apples and oranges — verb phrase tēreō ek means exact same thing in both verses but context differs
    1. Rev. 3:10 keeps from the hour of trial which comes upon the entire planet
    2. John 17:15 keeps from the evil one while in the trial of Christ’s patience in the present evil world
    3. the former necessitates removal, the latter necessitates our presence down here
    4. We are kept from the hour of trial at the end of the age because we faithfully passed through the trial of Christ’s patience for the past 2000 years
    5.  The reward for faithfully keeping the message of Christ’s patience in the time of Christ’s patience, when God kept us from the evil one, is being removed from earth for the hour of trial at the end of the age when God shall try the entire planet
    6. keep from the evil one = the evil one touches them not — this does not say the enemy cannot tempt us, defile us in minor ways, harass us, make us miserable, but it does say that he cannot bring us to full-blown apostasy and spiritual fornication away from God. We are kept by the power of God for the day of redemption.

 

 

 [SLIDE #25] — FATAL ARGUMENT #5 — 2 THESS. 2:1-3 — GOING UP NOT THROUGH

 

  1.  “Now we beseech you, brethren, BY the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him, that you be not soon shaken … as that the day of the Lord is at hand. Let no once deceive you in any way. For that day will not come except the apostasy come first and the man of sin be revealed.”
  2. Paraphrase — “We plead with you, brethren, because of the rapture, not to worry about the day of the Lord.” 
  3. This clearly distinguishes the rapture and the day of the Lord. The church is going UP in rapture, not THROUGH the dawning of the day of the Lord
  4.  CONTEXT
    1.  The Thessalonians faced severe persecution (the first awful wave in Church history). They were young and not well grounded. They thought the severe persecution they were suffering implied that they were in the tribulation and that the day of the Lord threatened to fall on them.
    2.  Paul’s response
      1. Remember that I taught you about the rapture?
      2. you can’t be in THE tribulation that precedes the DOL because that tribulation is characterized by the antichrist and the apostasy associated with him.
      3. you can’t be in THE dawning of the DOL that precedes the sunrise of the DOL because the dawning of the DOL is characterized by the antichrist and the apostasy associated with him.
      4. Do you see a literal antichrist? Do you see the apostasy associated with him (men worshipping him instead of God)?
      5. No? Then you are not in THE tribulation that precedes the DOL.
      6. The church is going UP not THROUGH.
    3.  The use of “the day of the Lord” here throws some. I will cover that phrase in a few minutes and will clarify the angle that I used here

 

 

[SLIDE #26] — CONFUSION IN THE TRANSLATIONS

 

  1. The ESV renders this passage, “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken … to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you … that day will not come unless the rebellion come first and the man of lawlessness be revealed.”
  2.  translating the preposition huper with “concerning” or “regarding” blurs the meaning of the passage and implies that vss. 2-3 are commentary on the coming/gathering in vs. 1
    1. “coming/gathering” v.1 = “the day of the Lord” v. 2 = “that day” v.3
  3. paraphrase of this translation as understood by the prewrath rapture camp = let us tell you about the rapture, which is the day of the Lord; that day shall not come until after the apostasy and the antichrist
    1. this translation & logic leads the prewrath rapture advocates to claim that the rapture will occur after the church goes through the tribulation under the antichrist
  4. such translations and handling, unfortunately, dominate the scene today

 

 

[SLIDE #27] — GRAMMAR OF 2 THESS. 2:1-3

 

  1. translating the preposition huper (over—on behalf of, on account of) as if it were the preposition peri (around—regarding, concerning) is a mistake
  2.  There is nothing unusual in the grammar or expression of this passage that would require us to consider that this might be one of the RARE instances when huper requires a translation that overlaps into the semantic domain of peri.
  3.  This passage is a plain vanilla petition no different than hundreds of examples seen all over in Koine Greek.
  4. GREEK PETITIONS IN A NUTSHELL
    1. Greek petitions have three parts: the verb, the request, and the huper clause
      1. The verb — many different verbs were used for requests
      2. The request clause — gives the thing asked for. This can be manifested with a direct object [accusative case], a “that” clause [purpose clause], an infinitive [to do something], etc.)
      3.  The huper clause — the preposition huper with the genitive case is used to indicate one of three things: the party that benefits if the request is given, the purpose for the request, or the ground of the request.
    2.  three combinations of these parts are possible:
      1. VERB + REQUEST
      2. VERB + HUPER CLAUSE
      3. VERB + HUPER CLAUSE + REQUEST
      4. all three forms are common
  5.  2 Thess. 2:1-3 features a FULL PETITION STRUCTURE with all three parts:
    1. the verb = erōtaō (beseech)
    2.  the request = “that you be not soon shaken”
    3. the huper clause = “on account of the rapture” (the ground or reason for request)
  6. don’t be bamboozled by fast-talking prewrath rapture or anti-pretribulation rapture scholars
    1.  There is ZERO reason to translate huper in the huper clause as if it were the preposition peri (about, concerning, regarding). Instances where huper should be translated as if it were peri are rare, and I am extremely skeptical that anyone will ever dig up such an instance anywhere in Koine literature for huper in a huper clause in a petition.
    2. The Greek of 2 Thess. 2:1-3 convinced JN Darby of the rapture in 1827. It put the nail in the coffin of anti-pretribulationism for me in the fall of 1989. 
    3. J.N. Darby writes, “It is true that huper in certain cases signifies ‘as concerning’; that is, that it as almost the sense of peri. But it is unquestionable that that when it is employed with words of prayer or request, its regular meaning in Greek is ‘by,’ ‘for the sake of.’ No person who is at all familiar with the Greek tongue, or who is willing to take the trouble of using a good dictionary, would deny it…It is this passage which, twenty years ago, made me understand the rapture of the saints before — perhaps a considerable time before — the day of the Lord (that is, before the judgment of the living).” (The Collected Writings of J.N. Darby, Vol. 11, p. 67.)
    4. Paraphrase one more time — “We plead with you, brethren because of the rapture not to worry about the day of the Lord.” Or, “We plead with you, brethren on account of the rapture not to worry about the day of the Lord.”

 

 

[SLIDE #28] — FATAL ARGUMENT #6 — THE STRONG DELUSION IS JUDGMENT

 

  1. 2 Thess. 2:7-12 — “For the mystery of iniquity is already at work … 8) then shall the Wicked One be revealed … 9) whose coming is in the energizing of Satan with all lying miracles, signs, and wonders. 10) With all deceitfulness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11) For this reason God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie. 12) That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

 

 

[SLIDE #29] — OBSERVATIONS ON THE STRONG DELUSION

 

  1. The core of the test in Rev. 3:10 is the false messiah through whom God sifts and divides the world
    1.  This test involves God sending the strong delusion to those who reject the truth and want lies
  2.  The strong delusion helps men believe the lie → that they might be damned
    1. If they want lies, God will send them lies in face cards and spades
  3. How in the world is this not judgment?
    1. The antichrist is not just another bad man persecuting the people of God
    2. His revelation is a judgment. If world doesn’t want the true Messiah who shed His blood, God will give them the false messiah who will shed their blood for his own iniquitous, God-hating purposes
  4. What koolaid are the prewrath rapture folks drinking?
  5. Amazing degree of blindness to miss that the antichrist is judgment.
    1. Is this half-excusable ignorance? Do they not read the Bible and pay attention to what they read?
    2. Or is this inexcusable deceit? Willingness to twist the word of God to defend their errors?
  6. Well, we’ve finished the six fatal arguments against prewrath rapture. Now let’s examine what’s wrong with their apparently “logical” sixth-seal rapture theory.

 

 

[SLIDE #30] — WHERE THE SIXTH-SEAL PREWRATH RAPTURE THEORY WENT WRONG

 

  1.  THEIR THEORY IS BASED ON A FAULTY “TECHNICAL” LOCATION OF THE DOL
  2. THIS FAULTY LOCATION IS BASED ON TWO MISTAKES
    1. #1 — a static view of the DOL
    2. #2 — a zero-overlap chronology

 

 

[SLIDE #31] — CHART OF PREWRATH LOCATION OF THE RAPTURE

 

  1.  simple, logical system that harmonizes with itself
  2. Not elegant solution because it clashes with Bible data
    1.  Occam’s razor (the elegant solution) is not simplest solution, but the simplest solution that harmonizes all of the data
  3. DOL heralded at 6th seal, DOL arrives at 7th seal
  4. visitations (seals, trumpets, bowls) have zero overlap
  5. no material difference between 6th seal rapture and gap rapture — both happen AFTER the 6th seal is opened and BEFORE the 7th seal is opened

 

 

[SLIDE #32] — THE BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE DAY OF THE LORD

 

  1.  First Oops is a shallow understanding of the DOL — treating it as a more or less static phenomenon that arrives as full-on wrath being poured out on the world
  2. The prophetic day of the Lord, just like the normal day, features a morning star, a dawning of the day over time, and a sunrise
  3. The three senses delineated:
    1. The morning star of the day of the Lord = the crack of dawn of the day of the Lord. It is the first hint of the approaching day. (Rev. 2:28, Rev. 22:16, 2 Pet. 1:19). It is a warning shot fired over the bow of the world. Time to wake up. The day of the Lord is coming.
    2.  The dawning of the day of the Lord happens during the seventieth week, when the visitations and judgments slowly increase in degree even as the daylight of the approaching day slowly increases.
    3. The sunrise of the day of the Lord is the day of the Lord arriving in full wrath with zero mercy at the second coming of the Lord. (Mal. 4:1-3, James 1:9-11).
  4. all three senses of the DOL are legitimate and true
    1. no sense excludes the others, each sense implies the others, the three senses together make a composite whole
    2. there is no such thing as a sunrise without a morning star, and no morning star without sunrise
    3. there is no such thing as a sunrise without a dawning, and no dawning without a sunrise
    4. Israel and the second coming is the focus of most day of the Lord passages because the second coming is the primary focus of Bible prophecy
    5. A few passages focus on the morning star aspect, and some passages either mention or allude to the dawning of the day of the Lord during the seventieth week
  5. So, when does the DOL start?
    1. With the rapture or with the second coming? With the morning star or with sunrise?
      1.  That depends on whether we are talking about the start of the day of the Lord in common parlance or its legal sense
      2. That depends on if we are reckoning dawn or sunrise as the start of the day
      3. That depends on whether we are talking about the day in reference to the church or in reference to Israel
    2. The church gets her deliverance at the start of the day of the Lord in common parlance, which is the morning star. Israel gets her deliverance at the legal start of the day, which is sunrise at the second coming.
    3. We will develop the legal sense of the day in the next slide.

 

 

[SLIDE #33] — LEGAL SENSE OF “DAY” IN THE BIBLE

 

  1. Some common technical senses of when day starts — hunters day (half hour before sunrise), civil dawn (6⁰ below horizon), nautical dawn (12⁰ below horizon), and astronomical dawn (18⁰ below horizon)
  2.  legal start of day for general use in most of the modern world = midnight
  3. Though this might surprise some, many Hebrew and Jewish scholars note:
    1. the historic legal start of day in the Bible was sunrise — the day was marked sunrise to sunrise
    2. Sabbaths always and feasts generally started at sunset
    3. the practice of always starting the day at sunset arose with rabbinical traditionalism in the 2nd temple era
  4.  Scholars that hold this view include Franz Delitzsch, Jacob Migrom (JPS Torah Commentary on Genesis), and M.D. Cassuto.
  5. These men point out many passages in the OT which demand a sunrise start of the day and many others which are clarified with it.
    1.  I will give one example here. Gen. 1:3-5 — 3) And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. 4) And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. 5) And God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And it became evening. And it became morning. Day one.
    2. NOTICE — light, darkness, morning = day one complete
    3.  THE LAW OF FIRST REFERENCE suggests that this sense must and will hold consistent throughout the rest of the Bible

 

 

[SLIDE #34] — THE DOL PASSAGES EMPLOY THE OT LEGAL SENSE OF DAY

 

  1. The legal sense of the day, as shown earlier, is sunrise. The second coming was already shown to be typologically represented by the sunrise (Mal. 4:1-3). The Bible locates the DOL at the second coming. This means that God is employing the legal sense of the start of the day when he addresses the arrival or start of the day of the Lord. This sense does not forbid the sense of the dawning of the day of the Lord during the seventieth week. Nor does it forbid regarding the morning star as the first sign of the arrival of the day of the Lord. 
  2. The following arguments locate the DOL at the second coming:
    1.  The DOL at hand is yet at hand at Armageddon — (Joel 3:11-16, Zeph. 1:7-17, Rev. 16:12-16, Joel 2:2-11, Is. 13:3-13, Is. 34:2-4)
    2.  The DOL is a 24-hour day, even the day of the second coming— Zech. 14:6-7 “it shall be one day known to the Lord, not day, nor night … at evening it shall be light again”; Amos 8:9 “the sun shall go down at noon”; Psalm 46:5 “God shall help her at the turn of the morning.”
    3. The Lord alone is glorified in the DOL — (Isaiah 2:10-22) — this forbids regarding any part of the seventieth week as the legal sense of the day of the Lord. It can only be the day of the Lord dawning. 
  3.  If men want to get technical with the DOL, the only biblical technical sense is the legal sense of sunrise, which points to the 2nd coming.

 

 

[SLIDE #35] — CLARIFICATIONS ON THE DAY OF THE LORD

 

  1. When we take into consideration the following two facts:
    1. the typology of the DOL follows the normal use of “day” — morning star, dawning, sunrise
    2. sunrise is the legal start of the day in the Bible
    3. sunrise is the Bible’s official arrival of the day of the Lord
  2.  Then we are forced to conclude:
    1.  the pretribs are right that the 70th week is truly the DOL — it is the DOL dawning on the world
    2. pre-wrath is wrong to technically locate the arrival of the DOL during the 70th week, heralded by the sixth seal and officially beginning with the opening of the seventh seal. 
    3. the only legitimate technical sense of the arrival of the DOL is the legal sense sunrise, which is the second coming
    4. the only other legitimate sense of start of day in Bible is the morning star
  3. CLARIFICATION
    1. In my original slide I had said that the prewrath rapture advocates are wrong to locate the arrival of the day of the Lord during the seventieth week at the opening of the sixth seal. I have changed this to “prewrath rapture advocates are wrong to technically locate arrival of DOL during the seventieth week at the opening of the seventh seal. While some of them speak and write as if the wrath arrives with the sixth seal, many others see the sixth seal as merely presenting the harbingers of the arrival of the day of the Lord. They seem to think there could be a significant time span between the harbingers in the heavens and the actual arrival of the day of the Lord. 
    2. This distinction between the sixth seal harbingers of the day of the Lord and the seventh seal arrival of the day of the Lord made by many of the prewrath rapture advocates is really just a technical detail that makes no significant difference in the chronology of their rapture timetable. The rapture still happens after the sixth seal is opened and before the seventh seal is opened. This distinction is more a matter of nomenclature and nuance than an essential and salient factor in the controversy over the timing of the rapture. 
  4.  THIS BRINGS US TO THE 2ND PRE-WRATH OOPS — THEIR CHRONOLOGY ERROR
    1. The best way to demonstrate their error is to simply present what seems to me to be the common sense way to visualize the visitations: seals, trumpets, thunders, bowls.

 

 

[SLIDE #36] — MY SEVENTIETH WEEK CHART

 

  1. NOTICE that this order is both linear and stacking. The God of history works in a linear fashion, working for definite goals in a definite timetable. But his works are often magnificent constructions that build over time. The visitations pile up on top of each other like the rising waters of the flood.
  2. Each seal runs all the way to the end of the 70th week. Each of the sequentially introduced series of visitations (seals, trumpets, thunders, and bowls) runs all the way to the second coming.
  3. Four seals demand the “all the way to the second coming” understanding:
    1.  the first seal is the antichrist — he goes forth conquering and warring all the way until his extermination at the second coming. He is given authority over the saints and the world for the final 3.5 years (Rev. 13:5-7), and no none is able to make war against him (Rev. 3:4).
    2.  the fifth seal is the great tribulation — The antichrist wars against the saints for a full 3.5 years once this time starts (Rev. 13:5-7)
    3. the sixth seal — in chronological order the contents are: the four angels introduced, the sealing of the 144 K, the four angels unleashed, the arrival of the day of the Lord, the great multitude of believers that came out of the great tribulation. The events from 6:12 through 7:17 are all under the auspices of the sixth seal.
    4. the seventh seal introduces the seven trumpets (see 8:1-6) — The 7th trumpet is the arrival of the promised kingdom of God.
  4.  Three seals perfectly correspond to this all the way to the end understanding:
    1.  the second seal is war — this isn’t a temporary lull in peace. It is massive in its scope and degree. It takes peace from the entire world. And it brings a great sword. Once this time of worldwide hatred and war starts, it continues unabated until the end, ending in a mighty climax with the war of all wars, when the armies of the nations brazenly face off against the invading army from heaven led by the Messiah.
    2. the third seal is famine — Famine regularly follows on the heels of war, and this famine will piggy back on the worldwide wars, and it will haunt the world all the way to the end. The Lord is not going to allow the antichrist to solve any of the problems that he claims to have an answer for. This will be part of the world’s guilt. They should be able to see through his empty promises and plans.
    3. the fourth seal is the Lord’s “four sore judgments” — A quarter of the world’s population will perish from the sword, famine, death (pestilence), and the beasts of the earth. This will not be a short-lived furious storm that will be followed by reprieve. Once opened, it will grind the world down with horrors and sorrows until the return of the king.

 

 

[SLIDE #37] — RESULTS OF OVERLAPPING CHRONOLOGY

 

  1. Now the sixth seal is what it seems to be at first glance, the 2nd coming in wrath and glory.
    1. There is no need to claim that the aorist verb “has come” in “the great day of his wrath has come” means that the day of the Lord came years earlier. This past force is grammatically legitimate, but contextually flawed. This is not men waking up to the realization that they have been in the DOL for years. This is men seeing the Lord descend from heaven in glory and they are terrified. An hour earlier, they were filled with bombast. Now they are fleeing like scared rabbits.
    2. There is no need to hyperextend the ingressive (inceptive, inchoative) force of the aorist “has come,” claiming that the end doesn’t really come here—it is yet months or years in the future. The normal ingressive aorist announces the immediate arrival or present completion of something, or the moment of entering into a state. Men would be hard pressed to find examples of inceptive aorists in secular Greek that extend beyond the immediate future or the visible horizon. 
    3.  Bear in mind that the arrival of the day of the Lord here should be viewed from the legal sense of day (sunrise) in the Bible, which means that we are dealing with the second comimg. The common sense of morning star or first hint of dawn applies to the church, the heavenly people. The legal sense of sunrise applies to Israel, the earthly people of God. 
  2. Now the seventh trumpet is what it seems to be at first glance, the actual arrival of the kingdom.
    1. We don’t need to invoke a hyperextended ingressive aorist. We don’t need to fabricate a fanciful explanation of how and why the kingdom is said to arrive at this point, though in reality it doesn’t.
  3.  Now the signs in the heavens, the term “the day of the Lord”, and the “yet once more” great shaking of the entire planet all line up at the second coming as they do everywhere else in the Bible.
  4. Now the absolute terror of all men occurs at second coming as it does in other DOL passages. Men don’t show this kind of fear during the 70th week. For the whole seventieth week, men shake their fist at God and worship the antichrist. They refuse to repent. They make invasion resistance plans with bravado. But when the Lord appears on the scene, their bravado vanishes. 
  5.  Now the judgments pile up and deepen on earth like the flood waters in Noah’s day.
  6.  Now the prewrath rapture advocates must abandon their sixth-seal rapture or become true-blue post-tribbers.

 

 

[SLIDE #38] — CLARIFICATIONS ON THE SIXTH SEAL

 

  1.  The signs that herald the arrival of the DOL occur under the auspices of the 6th seal, not at the precise moment of the opening of the 6th seal.
  2. The sixth seal also includes the contents of Rev. 7: the 4 angels, the 144k, and the great multitude that comes out of the great tribulation. 
  3.  The contents of the sixth seal are arranged in a chiastic structure : final judgment, first judgment, first harvest, final harvest:
    1.  The final judgment under the 6th seal is the arrival of the day of the Lord.
    2.  The first judgment under the 6th seal is the four angels sent to hurt the earth — these four are the angels of the first four trumpets. The last three trumpets are the three woes.
    3.  The first harvest under the sixth seal is the firstfruits, even the 144 K.
    4.  The final harvest under the sixth seal is the great multitude which comes out of the great tribulation.
  4. This chiasmus gives us a moral ordering rather than a chronological ordering. 
  5. The seventh seal is not introduced until Revelation 8:1.
  6. The sixth trumpets is also complex. It starts 9:13 and ends 11:14. It includes the four angels bound at Euphrates, the introduction of the 7 thunders, and the minor earthquake at the resurrection of two witnesses.

 

 

[SLIDE #39] — CONCLUSION OF THE MATTER

 

  1.  The rapture is associated with the faint inbreaking of judgment at the morning star of the day of the Lord, not with the arrival of full-blown wrath at the sunrise of the day of the Lord
  2.  Locating the rapture during the 70th week between the opening of the 6th seal and the opening of the 7th seal tramples on revealed Bible truth. 
  3. Locating the arrival of the day of the Lord in the technical or legal sense during the 70th week at the opening of the seventh seal (or shortly before or shortly after) tramples on revealed Bible truth.
  4. Flawless logic is not proof of truth — GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out)
  5. The sixth-seal rapture theory is GIGO
  6. May the Lord bless your efforts to seek his mind in prophetic matters in the Scriptures.
  7. EYES WIDE OPEN, BRAIN ENGAGED, HEART ON FIRE! 

 

FOR FURTHER STUDY:

Revelation 3:10 — Tereo Ek “Keep From”

Revelation 3:10 — Peirasmos “Trial”

Margaret MacDonald: What She Really Taught

The Mark of the Beast: Satan’s Wrath or God’s Wrath?

Ephraim the Syrian — Ten Undiscovered Pretribulation-Rapture Passages

 

 

Further Study...

One Taken, One Left

May 12, 2019

Demolishing the Prewrath Rapture

June 7, 2022

Margaret MacDonald — What She Really Taught

February 11, 2023

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