Pre-tribulation Rapture Eschatology?
Years
ago I was in a Bible Study discussing the Book of Revelation. Our teacher was a
hardcore Pretrib rapturist. His eschatology, along with every other Pretrib
rapturist I have met, believe that there are two foundational reasons for their
Pretrib belief:
1.
The
“He” in 2 Thessalonians 2:7¹ is the Holy Spirit and when He is taken out of the
way (removed from the earth) that He takes the whole Church along with Him. The
Church and the Holy Spirit are no longer on the earth. Therefore sin and evil
run rampant due to the void left on the earth when both the Church and the Holy
Spirit are no longer on the earth.
¹For the mystery of lawlessness is already at
work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
2 Thessalonians 2:7
2.
The
Church (God’s people) are not appointed to wrath² and therefore are not present
when the wrath of God is revealed in the Book of Revelation during the
Tribulation.
²For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to
obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ… 1 Thessalonians 5:9
There
is a problem.
Pretrib
rapturists also believe that during the Tribulation many people will come to
Christ. They believe that the unsaved, after witnessing the rapture, will be
convinced about the truth of Jesus. This will lead to a great ingathering. They
conclude these people are the martyrs who are under the alter asking:
“How
long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who
dwell on the earth?”
Verse 11 continues: Then a white robe was
given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little
while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their
brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. Revelation 6:10-11
Furthermore,
they believe that during the Tribulation all Israel will be saved—the rapture
of the church also leads to Israel’s salvation. Romans 11:25-26 states that all
of Israel will be saved after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
The
problem continues:
To
reiterate 1 above: Pretribulation rapturists believe that the Holy Spirit
removes the Church when He Himself is “taken out of the way,” leaving a void
for the most pronounced evil to run rampant upon the earth. If the Holy Spirit
is removed “taken out of the way” from the earth, how will people get saved? It
takes the Holy Spirit for someone to become born-again. Jesus is the threshold,
but the Holy Spirit is the means to rebirth—one receives Jesus and the Holy
Spirit comes into them, regenerates them making them a new creation in Christ.
So
again I ask: If the Holy Spirit is gone, how will anyone become a Christian?
Furthermore, if someone did become a Christian, the church would again be on
the earth. The church is anywhere a Christian is, therefore if someone receives
Christ the church again exists on the earth.
Food
for thought.
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