Imminent: The Sequal

COMMENT FROM PREVIOUS POST:

Irv said...

PRETRIB RAPTURE – HIDDEN FACTS !

How can the “rapture” be “imminent”? Acts 3:21 says that Jesus “must” stay in heaven (He is now there with the Father) “until the times of restitution of all things” which includes, says Scofield, “the restoration of the theocracy under David’s Son” which obviously can’t begin before or during Antichrist’s reign. Since Jesus must personally participate in the rapture, and since He can’t even leave heaven before the tribulation ends, the rapture therefore cannot take place before the end of the trib! Paul explains the “times and the seasons” (I Thess. 5:1) of the catching up (I Thess. 4:17) as the “day of the Lord” (5:2) (which FOLLOWS the posttrib sun/moon darkening – Matt. 24:29; Acts 2:20) WHEN “sudden destruction” (5:3) of the wicked occurs! (If the wicked are destroyed before or during the trib, who would be left alive to serve the Antichrist?) Paul also ties the change-into-immortality “rapture” (I Cor. 15:52) to the posttrib end of “death” (15:54)! (Will death be ended before or during the trib?) If anyone wonders how long pretrib rapturism has been taught, he or she can Google “Pretrib Rapture Diehards.” Many are unaware that before 1830 all Christians had always viewed I Thess. 4’s “catching up” as an integral part of the final second coming to earth. In 1830 it was stretched forward and turned into a separate coming of Christ. To further strengthen their novel view, which the mass of evangelical scholars rejected throughout the 1800s, pretrib teachers in the early 1900s began to stretch forward the “day of the Lord” (what Darby and Scofield never dared to do) and hook it up with their already-stretched-forward “rapture.” Many leading evangelical scholars still weren’t convinced of pretrib, so pretrib teachers then began teaching that the “falling away” of II Thess. 2:3 is really a pretrib rapture (the same as saying that the “rapture” in 2:3 must happen before the “rapture” ["gathering"] in 2:1 can happen – the height of desperation!). Other Google articles throwing light on long-covered-up facts about the 178-year-old pretrib rapture view include “Famous Rapture Watchers,” “X-Raying Margaret,” “Revisers of Pretrib Rapture History,” “Thomas Ice (Bloopers),” “Wily Jeffrey,” “The Rapture Index (Mad Theology),” “America’s Pretrib Rapture Traffickers,” “Roots of (Warlike) Christian Zionism,” “Scholars Weigh My Research,” “Pretrib Hypocrisy,” “Pretrib Rapture Desperados” and “Deceiving and Being Deceived” – all by the author of the bestselling book “The Rapture Plot” which is available at Armageddon Books online. Just my two cents’ worth.

MY RESPONSE

Irv, thanks for commenting. I always appreciate feedback, as I am by no means an expert on the subject. I agree that one of the main weaknesses of the pretrib rapture is its relative newness. As Phil Johnson says, if its new then it probably isn’t true. There are several weaknesses with the doctrine of the pretrib rapture. Imminence, however, is not one of them. (Also please note that imminence is not nessisarily equivalent to pretrib).

Your arguments, while informed and logical, seem to be based on a specific ordering of eschatological events. The precise order, timing, and fulfillment of these events are based on interpretive assumptions. They are Biblically referenced and logical assumptions, but they are none the less uncertain. These issues are simply not clear-cut and precise. Therefore we must be diligently careful in our hermeneutic and interpretation. We must weigh these prophetic passages with the passages which speak of Christ’s return as being sudden and surprising.

It is also worthwhile to look at the intent of the end time prophecies. For example, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians so that they would not be shaken or alarmed if someone says the Lord has already returned. Paul was reassuring them that Christ hasn’t already returned, not that He can’t return. Similarly, the prophecies in Matt. 24 were given to ensure that Believers are not led astray by false teachers and false messiahs.

Nowhere in scripture are we instructed to be watchful for the tribulation, or the antichrist, or any of the other prophetic events. Instead we are commanded to be ready, watchful, and eager for Christ. The emphasis of the NT is on Christ and His return, not the preceding (and following) signs.

Nowhere in Scripture are we instructed to be indifferent and unprepared because Christ cannot yet return. On the contrary, the Bible warns believers to be ready, to be prepared, and to watch because Christ shall return suddenly, like a thief in the night. The judge is standing at the door. Therefore we are to be ready like the five wise virgins who were prepared for the arrival of the bridegroom. We are to be like the faithful servant, working diligently until the return of our master.

It is prideful to say that Christ is prohibited from returning until certain events and signs first take place. It is presumptuous to assume and insist that we have total understanding of this complex and unclear doctrine. The truth is there are lots of unkowns and lots of variables. The Jews missed Christ first coming because they were too caught up in their own theological systems. We should humbly and joyfully await the sudden, unexpected, surprising, unknown, unaware, and imminent return of Christ Jesus our Lord.