The Rapture - When Will It Be? (Prophecy Outline)
http://www3.sympatico.ca/jrm/prophecy08.htm

Evidence that the Rapture is Before the Tribulation

1. The Distinction Between Israel and the Church

• To suggest that the church remains on the earth for Daniel's 70th week confuses God's dealings with Israel and His dealings with the church
• The church resides in the parenthesis between Daniel's 69th and 70th weeks
• God stopped Israel's clock to introduce the church and He won't start Israel's clock until the church is removed

• Eph 2:11-22; Gal 3:28; etc. make it clear that in the church there is neither Jew nor Gentile
• Yet in the Tribulation this distinction reappears (Rev 7, 11; Jer 30:7)

• The church is key to the Acts through Jude
• The church is key to Rev 1-5 and Rev 19-22
• But the church mysteriously disappears for Rev 6-18 - the Tribulation

5. The Absence of Teaching About the Tribulation in Church-related Bible Passages

• When Israel was central in the Old Testament, the church was a mystery
• When Israel was central in the gospels, the church is virtually unmentioned
• When the church is central in Acts through Jude, Israel is unmentioned (except to talk of God's future purposes for them and to say that there is neither Jew nor Gentile in the church)
• When the church is central in Revelation 1-5, Israel is unmentioned
• When Israel is central in Rev 6-18, the church is unmentioned
• Only when God's purposes for the two are fulfilled does He speak of them together (Rev 19-22)

Rapture	Second Coming
relates to the church	relates to Israel
relates to God's heavenly people	relates to God's earthly people
Christ comes to the heavens (1 Th 4:17)	Christ comes to the earth (Zec 14; etc.)
Christ comes for His people (2 Th 2:1; Jn 14:3)	Christ comes with His people (Rev 19; Zec 14)
opens the way for the man of sin	dooms the man of sin
starts the Tribulation (2 Th 2:6f; Rev 4-5)	ends the Tribulation (Rev 19)
imminent	marked by signs, days, etc.
Enoch (saved from the flood)	Noah (saved through the flood)
Judgment Seat of Christ	Judgment of the Sheep and the Goats (Mt 25)
mercy	wrath
a mystery (1 Cor 15:51)	in-depth Old Testament teaching
Christ is the Morning Star (2 Pe 1:19; Rev 22:16) the hope of His people at the end of the N.T. the Morning Star precedes the sunrise	Christ is the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2) the hope of His people at the end of the O.T.

7. The Restrainer (2 Th 2)

• v.3 - the man of lawlessness must be revealed before the Tribulation begins
• vv.6f - the man of lawlessness can't be revealed until the Restrainer is removed
• The Restrainer is the Holy Spirit - He will be "removed" at the rapture of the church

• The Bible makes it clear that the rapture could happen at any moment (Jn 14:1; 1 Th 4:18; Jas 5:8) not after a seven-year period of tribulation

• The Tribulation is the time of God's wrath (Rev 6:17)
• But God promises the church won't endure His wrath (Rev 6:17; 1 Th 1:10; 5:9; Rom 5:9; Rev 3:10)
• God doesn't judge the righteous with the wicked (Gen 18:25, Enoch, Lot, Philadelphia)

• If the Rapture happens at the same time as the Second Coming, who will populate the Millennium?
• We know that at the Rapture all believers are taken to be with Christ and reign over the earth
• We know that at the Second Coming all unbelievers are cast into the eternal fire (Mt 25:41)
• If all believers are taken to be with Christ and all unbelievers are sent to the fire, who will enter the kingdom?

• "No verse in NT says Christ's Second Coming would be in two phases"
  • "No verse in OT says there will be two comings!"
• "The same words are used of the rapture and the Second Coming - e.g. 1 Th 4:15 speaks of the Rapture as 'the coming of the Lord'"
  • This is a logical error - similarity does not mean identity
  • "Mark has hair. Kangaroos have hair. Therefore Mark is a kangaroo."
  • "Christ is described as a lion. The devil is described as a lion."
  • People who make this error have noticed comparisons but ignored contrasts

• We learn important lessons in Bible interpretation
• We properly distinguish between Israel and the church
• Imminency
  • Encouragement (1 Th 4:18)
  • Holy living (Mt 24:42-51)
• The blessed hope (Tit 2:13)
  • If we believe in a post-tribulation rapture, really believe it, we live in fear for ourselves & those we love
  • If we believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, really believe it, we look for Christ (1 Th 1:10)
  • Let's "wait for His Son from heaven" (1 Th 1:10) and thank Him that He "delivers us from the wrath to come"