More Tribulation and Wrath

Q

You failed to use Matt. 24:31 in your article which is common among pre-trib believers. You will stand in front of God and answer for why you did not teach the full gospel of the tribulation and that the rapture happens just after the tribulation of those days. You also fail to realize 1 Thes. 5:9 does not mean the rapture because God has the power to protect Christians from his wrath on the earth just as he protected the Jews from Egypt. Nowhere in the Word can you point out that the Word specifically states that the rapture is before the tribulation.

A

In Matt. 24 the topic is Israel in the end times. Jesus never mentioned either the Church or the rapture there. In fact you can’t find a clear teaching on the rapture anywhere in the Gospels. Paul was the first to introduce the doctrine of the rapture, 20 years after the cross. And notice Matt. 24:31 says Jesus will send the angels to gather His elect from one end of Heaven to the other. Whoever He’s gathering is already there. By the way, the word “elect” in Matt. 24:22 and 31 can refer to the church. But it can also refer to Israel, as it does in Isaiah 42:1, 45:4, 65:9, 65:22. And in 1 Tim. 5:21 it even refers to angels. Based on the context of Matt. 24 we can’t assume it refers to the Church.

Yes, God could protect the Church through the time of God’s wrath, but that’s not what scripture says. In 1 Thes. 1:10 Paul said Jesus would rescue us from the coming wrath. The Greek word translated “from” means a separation of both time and distance. In other words we won’t be here when it begins.

In Acts 15:13-18 James said Jesus would take a people from (out of) the gentiles before He turns again to Israel. The Greek word for take means “to take for oneself, to carry away”. It means the Church will be “carried away” before Daniel’s 70th Week begins.

In Rev 3:10 Jesus said He would keep us from the hour of trial that’s coming upon the whole world. It doesn’t say keep us through the hour of trial, and the Greek word translated “from” means “out of the time, place, or cause”. Jesus promised the Church won’t be here when the end times judgments begin.