Eschatology

The Two Raptures

Doctrine, Eschatology / By / March 7, 2024

There are plenteous arguments to support various positions concerning when the Church will be raptured to heaven. Will it be a pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, post-tribulation, pre-wrath or something else? There are a number of common misconceptions that contribute to the confusions that have propagated.

A common error is the failure to recognize the unique place the New Testament Church has in God’s program. Jesus came not only to redeem all mankind, but also to offer the kingdom to Israel. After Israel rejected His offer of kingdom after His resurrection, God called out the Apostle Paul to set forth doctrine for the Church, which presently is said to be the pillar and ground of the truth. But the Church will leave earth in a Rapture and God will go back to dealing with Israel as promised through the Old Testament promises and prophecies.

The idea of a rapture was not new. It is prophesied in the Old Testament and by Jesus Christ in His earthly teachings. But Paul claims that the rapture of the Church was a mystery; that is, it was not known until God revealed it through him. Thus, the prophecies of a rapture before the Pauline Epistles must be speaking of a different rapture.

There is strong evidence that that rapture will be near the end of Daniel’s seventieth week. Jesus says there will be strong tribulation in the last half of that week. The second rapture will occur during that time, so it will be a tribulation rapture. And it will surely include a resurrection of Old Testament saints.

It is not my purpose to go through arguments for the various Rapture positions. There is extensive documentation on the internet, magazine articles, and even books for that. But I have seen hardly any consideration for the possibility for two raptures. So in these slides, The Two Raptures, it is my purpose set forth the Scriptural evidence for the two raptures, why there must be two, when they will be, and what will be the nature of each one.

This should help sort out the arguments concerning the time of the Church rapture. But what does need further study, is the nature and times of the various resurrections.

One Day is with the Lord as a Thousand Years

Eschatology / By / November 14, 2022

Peter told believers in 2 Peter 3: “…be not ignorant of this one thing…” That one thing sounds like something we should take very seriously. What one thing is it?  Verse 8 reads: “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” I have been taught that one day is with the Lord as a very long time—at least hundreds of years, maybe even thousands of years—and a very long time—at least hundreds of years, maybe even thousands of years—is as one day. But that is not what the Scripture says.

I have found that when I believe what the Scripture says instead of what I think it should say, God reveals truth that He otherwise keeps hidden. If God gave us words to believe, and He surely did, then He surely said what He meant to say and means what He did say. If He said something other than what He meant, how would we know what He meant? To assign meaning to God’s words that undermines what He said is a form of unbelief. So we will assign one thousand years for man is as one day with the Lord.

The Kingdom Age according to Revelation 20 will be one thousand years. In the Old Testament that time is also called one day and the time when both Israel and the whole earth will be at rest. So that means the Kingdom Age will match the seventh day promises to Israel. Since the Kingdom Age is the last one thousand years before this earth will be burned up to make way for a new earth, it all fits together to strongly suggest that God has planned a seven-thousand-year timeline for this present earth. Further Scriptural evidence presented in these slides, Seven Thousand Years, establish that such a timeline is more than a suggestion.  The slides will also consider some of the objections to this view.