From the ministry archive
Perseverance and Scripture
After being involved in a couple of online discussions about 'the rapture' this week, I felt compelled to do another post on the topic. First of all, there simply is no rapture. It doesn't exist and will not happen, no matter how long those who believe in it wait for it. So allow me to show plainly from the scriptures just exactly why I say this. "For then [at the end of this age] shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the ELECT'S sake those days shall be shortened. THEN if any man shall say unto YOU, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told YOU before. Wherefore if they shall say unto YOU, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also THE coming of the Son of man be" (Mat. 24:21-27). Okay, it's really all right there in that passage, though we will continue with more scripture shortly. But let's look at what is there for a moment. Jesus says that the time known as 'the great tribulation' will have to be shortened for the sake of God's elect. So who is God's elect? They are those who are faithful to God in the keeping of his commandments. Here is another passage that gives us a little more insight on that: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters... saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" (Rev. 14:6,7,9-12).
In the above quoted passage we see also that God's faithful who keep the faith of Jesus, will be present in the earth during the time that the Beast and False prophet are reigning supreme, who will as Jesus said above, "show great signs and wonders;" as the book of Revelation also affirms (Rev. 13:13-15; Rev. 16:13,14). That is why it says, "here is the patience.[endurance] of the saints" in this passage from Rev. 14. But back to Mat. 24, and we should duly note that the 'you' that Jesus was addressing was clearly all who truly believe on him. He clearly states that during the time of great tribulation, that his people need to be very vigilant to not accept or believe anyone about any 'secret' coming on his part. That is what is there. You can read it again if necessary, but it's there. He makes it crystal clear that his second coming to this world, which he calls "THE coming of the Son of man," will be visible to all on earth when he literally comes from heaven. The whole point he is making in our text passage is that there will be ONLY ONE second coming of him to this world, and that it will be highly visible to all on the earth. "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen" (Rev. 1:7). Jesus will in no way, shape, or form, come anywhere near back to the earth before he comes that one time from heaven when all will see him. In fact he goes on in his sermon in Mat. 24 to describe that coming, and what will take place then: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Mat. 24:29-31). That is the coming of which he spoke in verse 27, and that is the coming spoken of in Rev. 1:7 where it also says he will be visible to all, and that "all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him." Not only so but Mat. 24:29-31 clearly says that this coming will be when he "gathers his elect" unto himself. That is the 'first resurrection' of the dead, also known as the 'resurrection of the just' (Rev. 20:4,6; Lk. 14:14; Acts 24:15).
You may also note that the Lord's second coming is accompanied by a great heavenly trumpet sound, which is synonymous with other mentions in the scriptures of this same event and the resurrection of the righteous (I Cor. 15:51,52; I Thess. 4:16,17). 1 Cor. 15:52 says clearly that the second coming of Jesus and the resurrection of the righteous dead will be "at the last trump." Well, I can assure you that there are not two or three 'last trumps.' I can also assure you that there are no saints resurrected before 'the FIRST resurrection.' What would that be, the zero resurrection? Zero is all that comes before one, or first, so it's safe to assume that there is no zero resurrection. Neither is there anything mentioned in the Bible about a 'next to last trump' when 'some' of the saints are resurrected. Do you see how confusing the whole thing gets when you forsake simplicity? Those who are "caught up... to meet the Lord in the air," both dead and living, will meet him on his way here and will therefore be with him as he comes; as we see in 1 Thess. 4. 'The rapture' ideology says that there is a 'secret' coming of Jesus to 'catch away' his people either before or during the time of great tribulation. Yet Mat. 24:29 plainly says that he will come "AFTER the tribulation of those days." Some who believe the rapture try to separate the 'appearing' of Jesus from the 'coming of Jesus, saying that his appearing will be sometime before his coming, and that will be the time of the rapture. But there is only one appearing of Jesus, and that is when he comes and "every eye shall SEE him." Obviously he will appear when he comes, and there is no mention of more than one 'appearing' of Jesus either. Everything we have seen consistently from the scriptures shows very plainly that the rapture is a false teaching. Period. Those who hold to the rapture teaching are simply hoping for a way out of suffering persecution for the sake of Jesus, and a way out of the things that are coming on the earth. I'm certainly glad that Jesus didn't take a way out of suffering for our sake. Or maybe we're just more deserving than him, and the saints we read about in the Bible, many of whom were imprisoned and put to death for the Gospel's sake. I can tell you by personal experience that the love of God and of his righteousness, coupled with the hatred of iniquity, give a person a strong motivation to press ahead and DEFY the threat of death or any other trouble that may come for the sake of Jesus, who died for us all, so that we could have his righteousness in us! The erroneous rapture ideology is nothing more than a way out for the fearful, but it is not a way out at all in fact.
There will be great persecution against the elect of God before the end comes, and the only way out of it will be to die before it comes. That is why the following was said: "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them" (Rev. 14:13). You may note that this verse immediately follows the one quoted above about "the patience of the saints" during the time of the Beast and False Prophet. Those who love Jesus with all their hearts do not fear death, and in fact they look forward to it because, "to depart, and to be with Christ [is] far better [than staying here]" (Philip. 2:23). I know that by personal experience as well. The scripture plainly says that the love of God in a person removes worldly fear from their heart (I Jn. 4:18). The same Bible also tells us that those who are fearful will end up in the lake of fire with everyone else who dies in their sins (Rev. 21:8). I know by long personal observation that those who adhere to the rapture doctrine are just looking for an easy way out. And they usually are not looking for a way to understand what the scriptures consistently have to say about these things. A book could be written and maybe that's what I need to do, but for a facebook post I believe we have more than enough scriptural affirmation that there is no coming or appearing of any kind by Jesus to this world until his visible second coming, and that there in no 'catching away' of any of his people until he comes and brings forth 'the first resurrection.' One last note on the topic, and that is that when he comes again is when he will destroy many of the wicked, and he will set up his kingdom on earth where he and his faithful will reign for a thousand years (II Thess. 1:6-9; Rev. 19:11,19-21; Rev. 20:1-5). That coming destruction is why "all the tribes of the earth mourn" when they see him coming, as our text passage states. Those who are hoping for 'the rapture' to save them from the coming events and persecution of the time known as 'great tribulation, will be waiting a long, long time for something that is not going to take place. Not only so, but they will leave themselves open for the very deception that Jesus warned of in our text passage, about some 'secret' coming or appearing on his part. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Rev. 22:20). Amen.
