THE RAPTURE – PART 7
January 7, 2009
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
UNVEILING THE MYSTERY OF THE PRE-MILLENNIAL RAPTURE
The 1st Resurrection, Catching Out of the Saved, or the Rapture – Part 7
Please read my previous BLOGs (THE RAPTURE – PARTS 1 TO 6) prior to reading the following BLOG.
A Brief Consolidation of Parts 1 through 6
Groundwork for the Many Rapture Positions
When was the Groundwork Laid
for them?
When I worked as a meteorologist in England for three years in the late fifties and sixties,
I discovered it to be the land of many ancient writings. The Commentary by Theodore Beza, in the 1599 Geneva Study Bible, said the three “he’s” in Daniel 9:27 were the Messiah, Jesus Christ, rather than antichrist, which reflects the view of the preachers from the first books ever published, and this belief was the majority opinion up to 1900.
The basic groundwork for the many different rapture positions was spaded up by the attacks of the Protestant Reformers on doctrines of the massive Catholic Church.
They were so disgusted with most of its teachings, that many proclaimed the Catholic Church itself to be the antichrist prophesied by Daniel and John the Apostle to come in the latter days. Many believed they were living in the latter days. When the Catholic Church met at the Council of Trent in the fifteen hundreds, the bulk of the discussions focused around how to restore credibility to its tarnished authority among the masses by losing its accused position of being the antichrist.
One of the w ays it lost its undesir
able title was through the publication of a commentary on the book of Revelation in 1690 by a Jesuit priest named Francisco.
He is the father of what came to be known as the “futurism” approach to prophetic interpretation. He introduced the idea that the prophecies in the book of Daniel, and the book of Revelation, did not apply to the church, but were only focused on the final seven years of this age.
He did not believe in a rapture at the beginning of the seven years, nor did he divide it into two periods
of three and one half years. He said the Bible’s warning about the antichrist could not possibly apply to the Catholic Church, but only predicted the appearance of a very evil man who would govern during earth’s final years. John Darby is often identified as the first to teach the rapture doctrine, but Morgan Edwards was teaching it in 1742, some 58 years before John Darby was born into the world. But John Darby, who was an Irish lawyer and Anglican preacher, did develop the method of Biblical teaching in which he included the futuristic views of Ribera. He was perhaps the first to fully describe a rapture seven years before the Second Advent of Christ, in which Christ came in the air, viewed only by the saved he came to take out, and left the lost behind to be ruled by an evil antichrist for a period of seven years. John Darby is also the man who created many of the first diagrams now commonly associated with the seven-year pre-tribulation rapture position. But Morgan Edwards taught only 1260 days of tribulation remained, and that the rapture occurred when it began, 1260 days before Armageddon.
So, in reality, Edwards wasn’t a genuine “first of the weeker,” but what one would call a “mid-tribber” today. Clarence Larkin, a skilled master diagram artist of the World War I era, created the most elaborate series of diagrams and charts on the pre-tribulation rapture up to that time, and most of today’s branch off from his in one way or another.
As far as the first person to ever venture away from a rapture prior to the seven vials of wrath or the absolute end of the tribulation period, I have found no published printed material before Morgan Edwards in 1742 during my research, such that the context allowed me to be sure of it.
You will find more historical information on the rapture, and the view I hold, in Parts 1 to 6 in our Archive Blogs.
The 19th Century Revision of the Time of God’s Wrath
In the early part of the 1800’s, or perhaps even as early as 1742, the tribulation period began to be divided into two sections, each one 1260 days in length, for a total tribulation period of 2520 days. The first half was a time of peace, and the second half a time of trouble, so it was only natural that the last 1260 days came to be known as the “great tribulation.” This interpretation was justified using Matthew 24:21,22.
Matthew 24:21,22 – For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. [22] And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
I certainly agree there will be tribulation during the last 1260 days of the tribulation period, but the intensity time of it being “great” has been shortened, and it will not last for the full 1260 days, but will be confined to the pouring out of the vials of God’s wrath during the latter portion of it, perhaps during a period of some 45 days. I do not believe the archangel Michael stands up for Israel until the antichrist is setting on the temple mount in his palace (appeden – command post) claiming to be God just prior to Armageddon, and that is when the “great” part of the tribulation begins, after which Israel is delivered, every one found written in the book.
Daniel 11:45 to 12:1 – And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none
shall help him.
[1] And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
So when does the “great” tribulation come on the earth in the tribulation period
? In Revelation 6:12-17 God gives John a preview, an overview, of what will happen from the opening of the sixth seal to the pouring out of the contents of the seventh vial of his wrath. However, the true wrath of God does not begin until the pouring out of the first vial of wrath in Revelation 16:1.
THE PREVIEW OF HIS COMING WRATH!
Revelation 6:12-17 – And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; [13] And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
[14] And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
[15] And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; [16] And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: [17] For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Verses 12 to 14 are the judgments of God upon the earth from the six seal through the seven trumpets.
Verses 15 to 17 are the wrath of God poured out on the lost following the sounding of the seventh trumpet.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS COMING WRATH!
Revelation 11:15,18 – And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. [18] And the nations were angry, AND THY WRATH IS COME, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
THE ARRIVAL OF HIS WRATH UPON THE LOST!
I Thessalonians 5:9 – For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Revelation 15:1,7 – And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. [7] And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Revelation 16:1,2,16,17 – And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. [2] And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image. [16] And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. [17] And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.