The Pre-Tribulation Rapture (3) - a podcast by The Oxford Bible Church

Christ’s future Coming is in 2 Stages. (1) He comes in the Rapture for His Church, when we meet Him in the air, and then (2) He comes with His Church and sets His feet on the earth to judge the wicked and establish His Kingdom on the earth. These 2 Stages explain why the prophecies of His Coming contain 2 very different kinds of description. Some describe Him coming in power and glory, after a sequence of signs, but others say His Coming is like a thief in the night, suddenly, without warning signs, to take the valuables (believers) from the house (earth) - a perfect description of the Rapture. The fact there are 2 Stages to His Return should not seem strange in view of the fact that what the prophets originally saw as Messiah’s Coming turned out to have 2 Stages.

The Bible describes these 2 Stages or Manifestations of His Glory as (1) the MORNING STAR which will arise in our hearts (the Rapture) and (2) the SUNRISE, when His glory will fill the earth (2Peter 1:19). After the Morning Star appears, the world remains in darkness for a time before the sun rises in its glory. Likewise, Christ, our Morning Star appears first to those who are ready (believers only), then Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, will appear to bring in a new Day, when all shall see Him in His Glory.Some say that since the Rapture is at the Last Trump it must be the 7th Trumpet in the Book of Revelation or the Great Trumpet in Matthew 24:31, which Christ blows at the 2nd Coming. We explain in detail why the Rapture Trumpet is neither of these Trumpets. Then we explain the real reason, from the Rapture passages in 1Thessalonians 4:16-17 and 1Corinthians 15:51-52, why the Rapture Trumpet is the last Trumpet, for when Christ descends, He will sound His Trumpet twice. At the first Trumpet, the dead are raised, and then at the Last Trumpet, we who are still alive will be changed and raptured.

Other objections to the Pre-Trib Rapture are based on the false assumption that ‘the Day of the Lord’ is the same as the 2nd Coming, for example in 2Thess 2:2-3. In the Bible, the Day of the Lord speaks of a special time when God intervenes directly in judgment, or when God is directly ruling on earth. This means the whole Tribulation is part of the Day of the Lord. This is the clear teaching of 1Thess 5:2-3. Just like every normal day the DAY of the Lord consists of a period of DARKNESS followed by a period of LIGHT. First, is the 7+ years of darkness or night (the Tribulation, when Christ directly judges the world, followed by 1000 years of light (the Millennium, when Christ directly rules the world. This is confirmed by 2Peter 3:10, which says the Day of the Lord is initiated by the Thief in the night (the Rapture) and ends with the Destruction of the universe after the Millennium (Rev 20:11), which is also the time of the final Judgment of the lost at the Great White Throne (Rev 20:12-15). This is confirmed by 2Pet 3:7: “the heavens and earth ... are reserved for fire until the Day of Judgment and Perdition of ungodly men.”A common mistake is to confuse the Day of the Lord with the Great and Awesome Day of the Lord, literally: the Great and Manifest Day of the Lord, or the Day of the Lord's Manifestation in Glory (that is the Day of the 2nd Coming). Comparing Joel 2:31 and Matt 24:29 does NOT tell us the Day of the Lord is at the end of the Tribulation, only that the Great and Awesome Day of the Lord (the 2nd Coming) is at the end of the Tribulation. In fact, the whole Tribulation is the Day of the Lord, and it comes to its climax with the Great and Awesome (Manifest) Day of the Lord, when Jesus returns in Glory. So, the Day of the Lord is NOT the same as the Great and Awesome Day of the Lord.

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