Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
Why Pre-Trib Rapture: Logical Reasons
Before I get into why I believe the Pre-Tribulation is the correct stance, I want to clarify that the one thing I am absolutely certain of, is that the Post-Tribulation rapture is impossible according to scripture. If you have not read my article on this, please do so...
"The Rapture Cannot Happen at the Second Coming".
If you have read the article, there are a couple important facts I will reiterate here. 1) It is impossible to prove any particular rapture stance by giving scriptures that support it. Every verse you can give me to support one stance, I can interpret the same verse to support another. As long as a verse can be interpreted to fit multiple stances, it cannot be used as proof of just one. 2) The one stance that the Bible seems to support on the surface is the Pre-Wrath stance. There are multiple scriptures that tell us the rapture will be before the Wrath of God.
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1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 (NASB)
9 For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.
Romans 5:9 (NASB)
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
Revelation 3:10 (NASB)
10 Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
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Some will try to argue that the meaning of the word "keep" means to protect. Not to remove from. So they argue we will be here through the Tribulation and God will just protect us through it. That's not exactly true. If you look up the meaning of the word in Strongs, it begins with the understanding that it means to guard or protect, as they say. However, if you keep reading, you find it also means to "withhold". To withhold would fit the idea of rapturing us and withholding us from even going through it. They are only giving one side of the definition in order to make the pre-tribulation stance seem wrong.
The simple fact is, the rest of scripture does not imply even the slightest that God will protect us through it.
Revelation 13:7 NASB
7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority was given to him over every tribe, people, language, and nation.
Every Christian who knows much about the end times already knows that the antichrist will persecute the Christians heavily in what Jesus calls the Great Tribulation. He says it will be the worst ever or ever will be. This means it will be worse than the Holocaust. Clearly God will not be protecting the Christians during these times. Yet scripture plainly says He will save us from it. He will keep us from it. He will rescue us from it. There is only one logical way these scriptures fit together. That is if He raptures us first (saves the Christians from Gods wrath.) and then many see the rapture as proof the Bible was real after all and turn to Christ after the rapture. And they are the ones who are persecuted in the Great Tribulation.
Now, I did say that the Bible supports the Pre-Wrath view "One the surface". There is no doubt that the rapture will be before the Wrath of God begins. The problem with the Pre-Wrath stance, and the reason I will not identify as one, is they tend to have the entire day of Wrath wrong.
They tend to either, place the entire wrath on the last day with the second coming, or over the last few months of the Tribulation. The problem with this is that the Bible states very plainly that the day of Their wrath begins in the 6th Seal. Since the 7th Seal is literally the handing over of the seven trumpets to the seven angels, none of the Trumpets can possibly be sounded before all of the Seals are broken. This also means that at least 6 of the Trumpets and all of the Bowls must happen after the Wrath begins and before the Second Coming. Just in case you dont realize it, the 5th Seal must last at least 5 months before Jesus returns to keep it from being rendered as false prophecy.
When you go through the Trumpets and Bowls, I believe there is just too much that needs to happen for the 6th Seal to even begin in the second half of the Tribulation. When you realize that the first 4 Seals are the Antichrist going out to conquer nations and starting world war 3, then realize that the 6th Seal where Gods wrath begins is where world war 3 escalates into a nuclear war, you see that the first 6 seals all happen early. Then when you consider it is the antichrist who begins the Tribulation by confirming a covenant with many and that will likely happen between the 4th Seal and the 6th Seal? You have the wrath of God and the Tribulation beginning very close to the same time.
However, I only run through the basic understanding of all that and do not give details for one reason. There is too much speculation involved to make it worth going through so much detail. That will be for another article I think. For now, I have a couple other logical reasons why I see the rapture happening Pre-Tribulation. Reasons that are more solid in their understanding and logic.
The purpose of the Rapture!
It is one question the post-tribbers could never answer. What is the purpose of the rapture?
In Daniel chapter 9 we learn that the Jews were in persecution for 70 years when Daniel realized their time of punishment was suppoed to be drawing to an end and he prays to God about it. An angels is sent to Daniel and he is told that there are certain things the Jews must do before their Messiah would come to bring their time of troubles to an end.
The prophecy says that after the first 69 weeks (483 years) in total, the Messiah would be cut off. If they would have accepted Jesus as their Messiah, then the 70th week (last 7 years) would have begun immediately. But they didnt do what they needed to do. They didnt accept Jesus. Instead they rejected Him and killed Him.
Because they rejected and killed Him, God put a pause to this prophecy and placed a partial hardening on the hearts of the Jews.
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Romans 11:26 NASB
25 For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written: The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.
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This partial hardening is to last until the fullness of the gentiles comes in. That fullness will be when every person who will be saved through faith alone is saved. At that point, the partial hardening will be lifted and the 70th week will commence.
Preterists try to argue that 70 AD was the Great Tribulation, but there are too many flaws with that understanding. In 70 AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, that was not the Great Tribulation. That was a punishment for what they did to their Messiah. The Tribulation, Daniel's 70th week, will begin once every gentile who will be saved through faith alone is finally saved.
According to verse 26, all of Israel will be saved. They must be saved the same way everyone else is saved. By accepting Jesus as their Savior. So in the end times, all of Israel will finally accept Jesus as their Messiah. But that leads to some clear questions...
1) What changes their minds about Jesus?
There is not much that will cause someone to be more stubborn than when it comes to holding onto their religious beliefs. Even after proving the rapture has to happen before the Second Coming, most all post-tribbers are still holding onto their stance as true. I cannot tell you how many times I have laid out clearly stated scripture that proved what someone believed was wrong, and they refused to change what they believed. Look at Catholicism. Protestants have shown them over and over that the Bible clearly states that Jesus is the 'only' mediator between man and God. Yet they insist it is okay to pray to Mary to intercede for them. So what would possibly cause the Jews to throw away what they have stubbornly held onto for 2,000 years and accept the brutal reality that they actually killed their own Messiah? Logically it must be something major to change those beliefs. Remember, we are not just saying to them that they were wrong in what they believed. They have to accept the fact that they literally killed their Messiah. Its going to be something very big to convince them of that.
2) Why is the Hardening lifted after the fulness of the gentiles comes in?
God doesn't do things for no reason. The fact His word clearly states the partial hardening is lifted when the fullness of the gentiles comes in, there must be a reason for it. What is the connection?
There is really only one answer that fits logically. That is the rapture happens. When everyone who will be saved through faith alone is finally saved, Jesus will come and rapture His bride, the saints, and take them home to Heaven where He has prepared a place for us in His Father's house. And just as He promised, He will return to take us there. This will fill a very important purpose for the rapture. It will be the one event that will begin to open the eyes of the Jews.
When millions of Christians all suddenly disappear, anyone who knows the scriptures will know without a doubt it was indeed the rapture. Do not kid yourself. The Jews know very well we believe that Jesus will come to rapture us. They just dont believe it. When it happens, it will be absolute proof to many Jews that the New Testament was indeed the truth. That will cause many Jews to realize that Jesus really was the Son of God and their true Messiah.
The rapture will remove the church and put the focus back on the Jews for the final week of the 70 weeks prophecy. It will be the one event that will open their eyes enough to make many of them realize the New Testament was true and Jesus was their true Messiah all along. It will be the event that prepares them to recognize other prophecies coming true, like the antichrist being revealed and the two witnesses. It is the reason the partial hardening is lifted from the Jews when the fulness of the gentiles comes in.
This does not fit any other stance. It clearly says that "all Israel will be saved". This is not something that will happen all at one time. It will not happen inside a couple months. It will take time. There will be many Jews who will refuse to believe the rapture was what happened at first. Many will believe, but many will hold stubbornly to their beliefs. The revealing of the antichrist and the two witnesses coming on the scene will convince many more. The antichrist entering the temple at the midpoint of the tribulation and claiming to be God will convince many more.
All of Israel will indeed be saved, but it will take time to convince them all. Not just a day or a few months. But it will be the rapture that begins it.
Some will say they dont believe the rapture is what lifts the hardening from the Jews. I would have to ask you then. What is it? Can you give me a more logical fit for what causes them to change their beliefs?
The War in Heaven
In Revelation chapter 12, we have a war in heaven where the devil is cast down to earth and banned from heaven. Most Christians believe that this happened when the devil first rebelled, but that is not even possible if you really look at this scripture.
In verse 10 it says that the devil is in heaven day and night accusing our brothers and sisters before God. We know for certain these are brothers and sisters in Christ because verse 11 clearly says they overcome him by the blood of the Lamb. However, when the devil rebelled, there were no brothers and sisters in Christ to accuse of anything. In fact, there were no Christians until 'after' the crucifixion. So we know this war in heaven mentioned in Revelation must happen 'after' the crucifixion.
Now think on this for a bit. Here you have the devil in heaven day and night accusing Christians before God. For 2,000 years he has been accusing us before God. Suddenly God has heard enough and the devil is cast out of heaven and barred from returning. Why? Why does God have the devil cast out then? What changes that God would listen to our accuser for so long and then suddenly have him thrown out of heaven?
Once again, there really is only one logical thing that is ever mentioned in scripture. The rapture! For 2,000 years the devil goes to heaven every day and every night to make his accusations against the Christians. Then one day Jesus appears with His bride. The saints. Suddenly the devil has nothing left to say. There is nobody left he can accuse of anything. That is why God chooses to have him cast down at that moment.
The Trigger
This one rehashes, or maybe is an extension of, the war in heaven. IF you look at the first four seals you have the following....
Seal 1 - As commonly believed, this is the antichrist. What many do not realize is this is another connection to what Paul teaches in 2 Thessalonians 2. It is connected to the revealing of the man of lawlessness. Also not realized by many yet, is that this event is actually described in Daniel chapter 7. When you study Daniel 7, this is what you learn....
The 4th Beast is a kingdom that will devour the world. (v.23)
It has ten horns (v.7)
Which are ten kings. (v.24)
Then a "little horn" will rise up among them, but is not one of them. (v.8)
He will remove three of the ten horns (kings). (v. 8 & 24)
The other seven horns (kings) will give him all of their authority in exchange for their lives. (v.12)
If I describe the revealing of the man of lawlessness in todays world, this is what happens.... The Beast will begin as a coalition of ten nations that unite their military power to form one massive army. It will be ruled by a committee of ten leaders. The a lower level leader (little horn) will rise up and kill three of the ten leaders in such a way that the other seven will be stricken with fear and will give him all of their power in exchange for their own lives.
These scriptures do not say that the coalition will be one that unites their armies to make one massive army. However it only takes a little logic to put it together here. 1) Today, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, has been trying for years to put a coalition that merges its militaries in order to police the European Nations and keep peace without needing to depend on the United States so much. 2) If he was to kill three of the leaders with an ordinary coalition like the United Nations, the others would simply dis-ban the coalition and leave him with no power. There needs to be something real that he takes control of from them. 3) The first seal says the antichrist will go out conquering. To do that he will need a very powerful army.
So in Daniel the antichrist is revealed by being part of a ten nation coalition in which he kills three of the leaders and the other seven give him full power over it all. The First Seal says he is given a crown, which would be where the seven give him full authority. Then he goes out conquering. When this happens, every Christian will be able to point directly to Daniel 7 to show that this man is absolutely the man of lawlessness. The antichrist. There will be no more guessing. The Christians will know who it is.
Seal 2 - The rider is given a great sword. The sword is a very common symbol of war. It being a great sword would say it will be a great war. He is also given to take peace away from the earth. This will be World War 3.
Seal 3 & Seal 4 - These are Famine and Death. They are two consequences of every war and they will be much worse with a World War in todays world.
I had just talked about the War in heaven where the devil is cast down to earth. The Bible says when this happens, woe is to the people on the earth for the devil will be furious for he knows his time is short. He will be desperate at this point. In his fury the very first thing he does will be to possess a man in a coalition that has merged the armies of ten different nations to create the most powerful army this world has ever seen.
At one point,(I believe) the antichrist will offer many smaller nations a simple choice. They can join him and give him control, or they can be destroyed. They will give him control. This is the covenant with many that the antichrist will make to begin the 7 year Tribulation.
If you read the 6th Seal, which happens to be where Gods wrath begins, you will find it is not a meteor storm like many claim. It is World War 3 escalating into a nuclear war.
John was a man living in the first century who was given plain visions of things that will happen 2,000 years into the future. Things he simply could not understand, so he simply described them the best he could. He saw a dark skyline and in the distance were many nuclear warheads descending to the earth. He only sees their flames and trails from a distance and to him they looked like stars falling. He sees a nuclear blast and calls it a great wind. He sees a mushroom cloud and describes it as the sky rolling up into a scroll. He sees people hiding in bomb shelters and says they are people hiding in caves. Those people are clearly filled with fear and dread of what is coming.
The first 4 seals and the 6th Seal are all simply the antichrist being revealed, going out to conquer other nations, causing world war 3 and that eventually escalating into a nuclear war. You will not find a more logical interpretation of the Seals that fits the world today than this. And as I mentioned in the War in Heaven section of this article. The rapture is what triggers it.
Revelation has three series of seven judgments. There are seven Seals, seven Trumpets and then seven Bowls. Each Seal, each Trumpet and each Bowl has an event connected to it. It is only logical that Jesus breaks the seals with an event of His own. The rapture. Because He raptures us, we show up in heaven. That causes the devil to be cast down to earth and he possesses a man and takes over the most powerful army in the world. He goes out conquering nations and causes world war 3 to break out which ends up turning into a nuclear war.
I have never heard of another plain explanation of how it all fits together that even rivals this one. The pre-Trib is by far the most logical understanding of them all.
The Conclusion
The thing about the Pre-Trib rapture that has me the most convinced is simple. When I put the entire end times together with each event, it works perfectly with all of scripture as well as logically. The Post-Trib stance is proven impossible. The Pre-Wrath has the wrath of God happening really late in the Tribulation and that means they need to fit the Trumpets and Bowls all inside a few months. None of the other stances fit the whole partial hardening and all of Israel will be saved teaching. An entire nation is not going to just accept that their religion they held onto for thousands of years is wrong, and that they actually killed their own Messiah inside a few short months. It will take time. It will take proof. They dont get that with other Rapture Stances.
Again, I do not claim this article proves the Pre-Trib rapture is correct. I believe it is impossible to prove any rapture stance correct. I just say this article shows some logical understandings that other rapture stances cannot match. The Pre-Trib stance is the one that fits all of scripture the best. It is the most logical and its not even close. It is the only stance that answers all the questions.
Return to Pre-Trib Rapture Articles
"The Rapture Cannot Happen at the Second Coming".
If you have read the article, there are a couple important facts I will reiterate here. 1) It is impossible to prove any particular rapture stance by giving scriptures that support it. Every verse you can give me to support one stance, I can interpret the same verse to support another. As long as a verse can be interpreted to fit multiple stances, it cannot be used as proof of just one. 2) The one stance that the Bible seems to support on the surface is the Pre-Wrath stance. There are multiple scriptures that tell us the rapture will be before the Wrath of God.
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1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 (NASB)
9 For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.
Romans 5:9 (NASB)
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
Revelation 3:10 (NASB)
10 Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
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Some will try to argue that the meaning of the word "keep" means to protect. Not to remove from. So they argue we will be here through the Tribulation and God will just protect us through it. That's not exactly true. If you look up the meaning of the word in Strongs, it begins with the understanding that it means to guard or protect, as they say. However, if you keep reading, you find it also means to "withhold". To withhold would fit the idea of rapturing us and withholding us from even going through it. They are only giving one side of the definition in order to make the pre-tribulation stance seem wrong.
The simple fact is, the rest of scripture does not imply even the slightest that God will protect us through it.
Revelation 13:7 NASB
7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority was given to him over every tribe, people, language, and nation.
Every Christian who knows much about the end times already knows that the antichrist will persecute the Christians heavily in what Jesus calls the Great Tribulation. He says it will be the worst ever or ever will be. This means it will be worse than the Holocaust. Clearly God will not be protecting the Christians during these times. Yet scripture plainly says He will save us from it. He will keep us from it. He will rescue us from it. There is only one logical way these scriptures fit together. That is if He raptures us first (saves the Christians from Gods wrath.) and then many see the rapture as proof the Bible was real after all and turn to Christ after the rapture. And they are the ones who are persecuted in the Great Tribulation.
Now, I did say that the Bible supports the Pre-Wrath view "One the surface". There is no doubt that the rapture will be before the Wrath of God begins. The problem with the Pre-Wrath stance, and the reason I will not identify as one, is they tend to have the entire day of Wrath wrong.
They tend to either, place the entire wrath on the last day with the second coming, or over the last few months of the Tribulation. The problem with this is that the Bible states very plainly that the day of Their wrath begins in the 6th Seal. Since the 7th Seal is literally the handing over of the seven trumpets to the seven angels, none of the Trumpets can possibly be sounded before all of the Seals are broken. This also means that at least 6 of the Trumpets and all of the Bowls must happen after the Wrath begins and before the Second Coming. Just in case you dont realize it, the 5th Seal must last at least 5 months before Jesus returns to keep it from being rendered as false prophecy.
When you go through the Trumpets and Bowls, I believe there is just too much that needs to happen for the 6th Seal to even begin in the second half of the Tribulation. When you realize that the first 4 Seals are the Antichrist going out to conquer nations and starting world war 3, then realize that the 6th Seal where Gods wrath begins is where world war 3 escalates into a nuclear war, you see that the first 6 seals all happen early. Then when you consider it is the antichrist who begins the Tribulation by confirming a covenant with many and that will likely happen between the 4th Seal and the 6th Seal? You have the wrath of God and the Tribulation beginning very close to the same time.
However, I only run through the basic understanding of all that and do not give details for one reason. There is too much speculation involved to make it worth going through so much detail. That will be for another article I think. For now, I have a couple other logical reasons why I see the rapture happening Pre-Tribulation. Reasons that are more solid in their understanding and logic.
The purpose of the Rapture!
It is one question the post-tribbers could never answer. What is the purpose of the rapture?
In Daniel chapter 9 we learn that the Jews were in persecution for 70 years when Daniel realized their time of punishment was suppoed to be drawing to an end and he prays to God about it. An angels is sent to Daniel and he is told that there are certain things the Jews must do before their Messiah would come to bring their time of troubles to an end.
The prophecy says that after the first 69 weeks (483 years) in total, the Messiah would be cut off. If they would have accepted Jesus as their Messiah, then the 70th week (last 7 years) would have begun immediately. But they didnt do what they needed to do. They didnt accept Jesus. Instead they rejected Him and killed Him.
Because they rejected and killed Him, God put a pause to this prophecy and placed a partial hardening on the hearts of the Jews.
-------
Romans 11:26 NASB
25 For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written: The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.
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This partial hardening is to last until the fullness of the gentiles comes in. That fullness will be when every person who will be saved through faith alone is saved. At that point, the partial hardening will be lifted and the 70th week will commence.
Preterists try to argue that 70 AD was the Great Tribulation, but there are too many flaws with that understanding. In 70 AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, that was not the Great Tribulation. That was a punishment for what they did to their Messiah. The Tribulation, Daniel's 70th week, will begin once every gentile who will be saved through faith alone is finally saved.
According to verse 26, all of Israel will be saved. They must be saved the same way everyone else is saved. By accepting Jesus as their Savior. So in the end times, all of Israel will finally accept Jesus as their Messiah. But that leads to some clear questions...
1) What changes their minds about Jesus?
There is not much that will cause someone to be more stubborn than when it comes to holding onto their religious beliefs. Even after proving the rapture has to happen before the Second Coming, most all post-tribbers are still holding onto their stance as true. I cannot tell you how many times I have laid out clearly stated scripture that proved what someone believed was wrong, and they refused to change what they believed. Look at Catholicism. Protestants have shown them over and over that the Bible clearly states that Jesus is the 'only' mediator between man and God. Yet they insist it is okay to pray to Mary to intercede for them. So what would possibly cause the Jews to throw away what they have stubbornly held onto for 2,000 years and accept the brutal reality that they actually killed their own Messiah? Logically it must be something major to change those beliefs. Remember, we are not just saying to them that they were wrong in what they believed. They have to accept the fact that they literally killed their Messiah. Its going to be something very big to convince them of that.
2) Why is the Hardening lifted after the fulness of the gentiles comes in?
God doesn't do things for no reason. The fact His word clearly states the partial hardening is lifted when the fullness of the gentiles comes in, there must be a reason for it. What is the connection?
There is really only one answer that fits logically. That is the rapture happens. When everyone who will be saved through faith alone is finally saved, Jesus will come and rapture His bride, the saints, and take them home to Heaven where He has prepared a place for us in His Father's house. And just as He promised, He will return to take us there. This will fill a very important purpose for the rapture. It will be the one event that will begin to open the eyes of the Jews.
When millions of Christians all suddenly disappear, anyone who knows the scriptures will know without a doubt it was indeed the rapture. Do not kid yourself. The Jews know very well we believe that Jesus will come to rapture us. They just dont believe it. When it happens, it will be absolute proof to many Jews that the New Testament was indeed the truth. That will cause many Jews to realize that Jesus really was the Son of God and their true Messiah.
The rapture will remove the church and put the focus back on the Jews for the final week of the 70 weeks prophecy. It will be the one event that will open their eyes enough to make many of them realize the New Testament was true and Jesus was their true Messiah all along. It will be the event that prepares them to recognize other prophecies coming true, like the antichrist being revealed and the two witnesses. It is the reason the partial hardening is lifted from the Jews when the fulness of the gentiles comes in.
This does not fit any other stance. It clearly says that "all Israel will be saved". This is not something that will happen all at one time. It will not happen inside a couple months. It will take time. There will be many Jews who will refuse to believe the rapture was what happened at first. Many will believe, but many will hold stubbornly to their beliefs. The revealing of the antichrist and the two witnesses coming on the scene will convince many more. The antichrist entering the temple at the midpoint of the tribulation and claiming to be God will convince many more.
All of Israel will indeed be saved, but it will take time to convince them all. Not just a day or a few months. But it will be the rapture that begins it.
Some will say they dont believe the rapture is what lifts the hardening from the Jews. I would have to ask you then. What is it? Can you give me a more logical fit for what causes them to change their beliefs?
The War in Heaven
In Revelation chapter 12, we have a war in heaven where the devil is cast down to earth and banned from heaven. Most Christians believe that this happened when the devil first rebelled, but that is not even possible if you really look at this scripture.
In verse 10 it says that the devil is in heaven day and night accusing our brothers and sisters before God. We know for certain these are brothers and sisters in Christ because verse 11 clearly says they overcome him by the blood of the Lamb. However, when the devil rebelled, there were no brothers and sisters in Christ to accuse of anything. In fact, there were no Christians until 'after' the crucifixion. So we know this war in heaven mentioned in Revelation must happen 'after' the crucifixion.
Now think on this for a bit. Here you have the devil in heaven day and night accusing Christians before God. For 2,000 years he has been accusing us before God. Suddenly God has heard enough and the devil is cast out of heaven and barred from returning. Why? Why does God have the devil cast out then? What changes that God would listen to our accuser for so long and then suddenly have him thrown out of heaven?
Once again, there really is only one logical thing that is ever mentioned in scripture. The rapture! For 2,000 years the devil goes to heaven every day and every night to make his accusations against the Christians. Then one day Jesus appears with His bride. The saints. Suddenly the devil has nothing left to say. There is nobody left he can accuse of anything. That is why God chooses to have him cast down at that moment.
The Trigger
This one rehashes, or maybe is an extension of, the war in heaven. IF you look at the first four seals you have the following....
Seal 1 - As commonly believed, this is the antichrist. What many do not realize is this is another connection to what Paul teaches in 2 Thessalonians 2. It is connected to the revealing of the man of lawlessness. Also not realized by many yet, is that this event is actually described in Daniel chapter 7. When you study Daniel 7, this is what you learn....
The 4th Beast is a kingdom that will devour the world. (v.23)
It has ten horns (v.7)
Which are ten kings. (v.24)
Then a "little horn" will rise up among them, but is not one of them. (v.8)
He will remove three of the ten horns (kings). (v. 8 & 24)
The other seven horns (kings) will give him all of their authority in exchange for their lives. (v.12)
If I describe the revealing of the man of lawlessness in todays world, this is what happens.... The Beast will begin as a coalition of ten nations that unite their military power to form one massive army. It will be ruled by a committee of ten leaders. The a lower level leader (little horn) will rise up and kill three of the ten leaders in such a way that the other seven will be stricken with fear and will give him all of their power in exchange for their own lives.
These scriptures do not say that the coalition will be one that unites their armies to make one massive army. However it only takes a little logic to put it together here. 1) Today, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, has been trying for years to put a coalition that merges its militaries in order to police the European Nations and keep peace without needing to depend on the United States so much. 2) If he was to kill three of the leaders with an ordinary coalition like the United Nations, the others would simply dis-ban the coalition and leave him with no power. There needs to be something real that he takes control of from them. 3) The first seal says the antichrist will go out conquering. To do that he will need a very powerful army.
So in Daniel the antichrist is revealed by being part of a ten nation coalition in which he kills three of the leaders and the other seven give him full power over it all. The First Seal says he is given a crown, which would be where the seven give him full authority. Then he goes out conquering. When this happens, every Christian will be able to point directly to Daniel 7 to show that this man is absolutely the man of lawlessness. The antichrist. There will be no more guessing. The Christians will know who it is.
Seal 2 - The rider is given a great sword. The sword is a very common symbol of war. It being a great sword would say it will be a great war. He is also given to take peace away from the earth. This will be World War 3.
Seal 3 & Seal 4 - These are Famine and Death. They are two consequences of every war and they will be much worse with a World War in todays world.
I had just talked about the War in heaven where the devil is cast down to earth. The Bible says when this happens, woe is to the people on the earth for the devil will be furious for he knows his time is short. He will be desperate at this point. In his fury the very first thing he does will be to possess a man in a coalition that has merged the armies of ten different nations to create the most powerful army this world has ever seen.
At one point,(I believe) the antichrist will offer many smaller nations a simple choice. They can join him and give him control, or they can be destroyed. They will give him control. This is the covenant with many that the antichrist will make to begin the 7 year Tribulation.
If you read the 6th Seal, which happens to be where Gods wrath begins, you will find it is not a meteor storm like many claim. It is World War 3 escalating into a nuclear war.
John was a man living in the first century who was given plain visions of things that will happen 2,000 years into the future. Things he simply could not understand, so he simply described them the best he could. He saw a dark skyline and in the distance were many nuclear warheads descending to the earth. He only sees their flames and trails from a distance and to him they looked like stars falling. He sees a nuclear blast and calls it a great wind. He sees a mushroom cloud and describes it as the sky rolling up into a scroll. He sees people hiding in bomb shelters and says they are people hiding in caves. Those people are clearly filled with fear and dread of what is coming.
The first 4 seals and the 6th Seal are all simply the antichrist being revealed, going out to conquer other nations, causing world war 3 and that eventually escalating into a nuclear war. You will not find a more logical interpretation of the Seals that fits the world today than this. And as I mentioned in the War in Heaven section of this article. The rapture is what triggers it.
Revelation has three series of seven judgments. There are seven Seals, seven Trumpets and then seven Bowls. Each Seal, each Trumpet and each Bowl has an event connected to it. It is only logical that Jesus breaks the seals with an event of His own. The rapture. Because He raptures us, we show up in heaven. That causes the devil to be cast down to earth and he possesses a man and takes over the most powerful army in the world. He goes out conquering nations and causes world war 3 to break out which ends up turning into a nuclear war.
I have never heard of another plain explanation of how it all fits together that even rivals this one. The pre-Trib is by far the most logical understanding of them all.
The Conclusion
The thing about the Pre-Trib rapture that has me the most convinced is simple. When I put the entire end times together with each event, it works perfectly with all of scripture as well as logically. The Post-Trib stance is proven impossible. The Pre-Wrath has the wrath of God happening really late in the Tribulation and that means they need to fit the Trumpets and Bowls all inside a few months. None of the other stances fit the whole partial hardening and all of Israel will be saved teaching. An entire nation is not going to just accept that their religion they held onto for thousands of years is wrong, and that they actually killed their own Messiah inside a few short months. It will take time. It will take proof. They dont get that with other Rapture Stances.
Again, I do not claim this article proves the Pre-Trib rapture is correct. I believe it is impossible to prove any rapture stance correct. I just say this article shows some logical understandings that other rapture stances cannot match. The Pre-Trib stance is the one that fits all of scripture the best. It is the most logical and its not even close. It is the only stance that answers all the questions.
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