False Premises Of The Pre-Wrath Rapture
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The Pre-Wrath Rapture prophetic model concludes that the Church will
endure the Tribulation on earth, but be raptured prior to the Day of the Lord,
a period that is believed to come after the Tribulation but before the Second
Coming. This model believes the pre-wrath rapture is described in Matthew 24:31,36-42,
and that it occurs after the Abomination of Desolation.
The Pre-Wrath model is based on a number of False Premises that will be addressed below:
1. Matthew 24:29 is the sixth seal of Revelation, and both occur before the Day of the Lord
2. Matthew 24:30 is not the Second Coming and it does not show the national repentance of Israel
3. Matthew 24:31 is a pre-wrath Rapture
4. Matthew 24:36-42 is a further description of Matthew 24:31
1. Matthew 24:29 is the same as the Sixth Seal of
Revelation, and both occur before the Day of the Lord.
-This is a false premise.
| Matthew 24:29 | The Sixth Seal, Revelation 6:12-14 |
| 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 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; 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. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. |
These two events do have obvious similarities, however that does not mean they are the same. The single obvious difference is the fact that Matthew here describes a completely darkened moon, whereas Revelation describes a moon that has turned the color of blood. Red and black are two very different colors.
The book of Revelation describes one occurrence of a red moon before the Day of the Lord (6:12), with one occurrence of a partially darkened moon (8:12) and one occurrence of a complete darkness (16:10), both within the Day of the Lord.
The Old Testament describes one occurrence of a red moon before the Day of the Lord (Joel 2:31), and there are three references to a darkened moon, all of them occurring within the Day of the Lord (Joel 2:10, 3:15, Isaiah 13:10).
Both Revelation and the Old Testament show the red moon occurring before the Day of the Lord, and the darkened moons occurring within the Day of the Lord. Furthermore, both are able to easily distinguish between a moon that is darkened and a moon that turns to the color of blood. In fact Joel predicted each.
For this Pre-Wrath premise to stand it must be imagined that Jesus is unable to distinguish between a dark moon and one that turns the color of blood, and that the dark moon of Matthew 24:29 is actually the same as the red moon of the Sixth Seal. The Pre-Wrath model would make the dark moon of Matthew 24:29 the only occurrence of a dark moon before the Day of the Lord which is not reinforced by any other Scripture whatsoever. Only the red moon comes before the Day of the Lord. In Scripture, every instance of a darkened moon comes within the Day of the Lord, and Matthew 24:29 is not an exception. A point of fact is that the first sentence of Matthew 24:29 indicates that this event occurs near the end of the Day of the Lord, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days..." Previously Jesus had described this time of tribulation as the worst to ever be experienced. Certainly the Day of the Lord does not come after this point as the Pre-Wrath model maintains.
A more logical interpretation is that the signs of Matthew 24:29 occur near the very end of the Day of the Lord and compare with the darkness as shown in Isaiah 13:9-13 and with the final events of Revelation as described by the Fifth and Seventh Bowl judgements.
| Matthew 24:29 | Isaiah 13:9-13 | Revelation 16:10,17-21 |
| 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: | 9. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel
both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall
destroy the sinners thereof out of it. 10. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 11. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. 13. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. |
10. And the fifth angel
poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast;
and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed
their tongues for pain... 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. 18. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great... 20. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great. |
An objection may be raised in referring to the hailstones of Revelation as "falling stars." However, falling stars are simply meteorites, space debris which enters the earth's atmosphere. Revelation tells us that with the Seventh Bowl judgement these meteorites, these falling stars, do not burn up entirely in the atmosphere, but continue on and strike the earth's surface.
Even if Matthew 24:29 is the same event as the Sixth Seal (and it is not), the
Rapture must still come first.
The Sixth Seal contains within it five events:
1. Earthquake
2. Sun is darkened
3. Moon turns red like blood
4. Falling stars
5. A polar shift. The earth is moved and the sky appears to move overhead.
The darkening of the sun and the moon turning the color of blood are both events prophesied by Joel to come before the Day of the Lord, "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come." (Joel 2:31).
The darkened sun and the moon turning to blood precedes the Day of the Lord, but the final event of the Sixth Seal, the polar shift, can be proven to be a Day of the Lord event. Indeed, it represents the beginning of God's terrible global judgements and the starting point of the Day of the Lord. Compare the following passages,
| The Sixth Seal, Revelation 6:12-14 | Isaiah 2:12-21 |
| 12. 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? |
12. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be
upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted
up; and he shall be brought low... 19. ...And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 20. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; 21. To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. |
This great shaking of the earth, as described in Revelation as well as by the prophet Isaiah, is clearly an event that is a part of the Day of the Lord. This is proven within the context of Isaiah 2, as well as by the cries heard by the people of the earth in Revelation 6:16-17. A major foundation of the Pre-Wrath Rapture model is that the Church is raptured prior to the beginning of the Day of the Lord. If Matthew 24:29 is the Sixth Seal judgement (and it is not), then the rapture must still occur prior to Matthew 24:29 because the Sixth Seal contains within it the beginning of the Day of the Lord. This is but one reason why Matthew 24:31 cannot be a Pre-Wrath Rapture.
Matthew 24:29 is clearly an event which occurs near the very end of the Day of the Lord, and this fact is hammered home by the very next verse in Matthew which graphically describes the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
2. Matthew 24:30 is not the Second Coming and it does
not show the national repentance of Israel.
-This is a false premise
It is very important to understand that the national repentance of Israel must occur prior to the Second Coming. This national repentance will fulfill Romans 11:25-27, "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins."
The Day of the Lord judgements are much more than simply God's wrath poured out on a wicked world. The wicked will all be destroyed anyway, prior to the Millenial Kingdom (Matthew 25:31-46). The main purpose of the Day of the Lord is to bring Israel to repentance. Zechariah 13:8-9 tells us that during the Day of the Lord two-thirds of the nation of Israel will perish, but the final third will come through it and be saved, "And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God."
The point when all of Israel finally repents is depicted in Zechariah 12:10, and it will be the result of an action taken by the Holy Spirit to break through their blindness, "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."
For a more in-depth study on the basis of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the national sin of Israel, and their need to repent of that sin, please read this study by Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum. It is brief, but contains many important insights.
The manner of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ was related to His disciples when He went away the first time in Acts 1:9-11, "And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Jesus will return in the clouds of heaven, just as he left us going up into the clouds of heaven.
The Second Coming is described in Revelation 1:7, "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." The Second Coming will be accompanied by a period of global mourning, or wailing. Israel will mourn in repentance and sorrow, as shown in Zechariah 12:10, while other saved individuals will be crying for joy, and the wicked will be crying out in anger, fear and hatred. The reasons for mourning may be different, but nonetheless all will mourn.
The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is also described in Matthew 24:30, "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." The sign of the Son of Man is interpreted by many to be the brilliant Shekinah Glory of Jesus Christ that first pierces through the darkness that engulfs the world in the previous verse and as shown in Revelation beginning with the Fifth Bowl judgement. First the sign, and then Jesus Himself is seen "coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." This is an undeniable picture of the Second Coming. Compare the texts below,
| Zechariah 12:10 | Revelation 1:7 | Matthew 24:30 |
| And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. | 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. | 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. |
Matthew 24:30 clearly describes the Second Coming as well as the national repentance of Israel. Both of these, even according to the Pre-Wrath model, must come after the Rapture of the Church, therefore Matthew 24:31 could not be a description of the Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church.
3. Matthew 24:31 is a Pre-Wrath Rapture.
-This is a false premise.
"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."
If the two previous premises are false, then this one is as well. There can be no pre-wrath rapture after the wrath has already begun, and there can be no pre-wrath rapture after the Second Coming has already occurred. The obvious question is, if this is not the Rapture then what is it?
The gathering of Matthew 24:31 is simply a gathering of the elect of Israel,
including those alive at the end of the Day of the Lord, and those who had died
previously and gone to heaven. These are resurrected to begin the Messianic
Kingdom. The gathering of the living elect of Israel is described
in Isaiah 27:9,12-13, and tells us that it occurs after the national repentence
of Israel, "By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged;
and this is all the fruit to take away his sin... And it shall come to pass
in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto
the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown,
and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the
outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount
at Jerusalem."
The final regathering of Israel is a major focus of Old Testament prophets.
It culminates Israel's years of rebellion against God and sets the stage for
her millenial blessings. The Olivet Discourse is primarily focused on Israel,
and this is why Jesus refers to Israel as the elect in Matthew 24:31. In describing
the last days of Israel leading up to the millenium it would be unthinkable
to not mention their final gathering to the Promised Land.
There are many Old Testament texts describing this final gathering: Isaiah 11:11-12:6, 27:12-13, 43:5-7, Jeremiah 16:14-15, 23:3-4,7-8, 31:7-10, Ezekiel 11:14-18, 36:24, Amos 9:14-15, Zephaniah 3:18-20 and Zechariah 10:8-12. The prophet Daniel implies that the Old Testament saints of Israel will not be resurrected until after the Day of the Lord and prior to the millenium in 12:1-2,6-7,13. In any case there will be believing Jews who will be killed during the Day of the Lord and they will take part in the post-trib gathering/resurrection of Matthew 24:31, this resurrection also being shown in Revelation 20:4.
Compare the following descriptions of Israel's final gathering to the Promised Land,
| Isaiah 11:12 | Isaiah 27:12-13 | Matthew 24:31 |
| And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. | And it shall come to pass in that day, that the
Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt,
and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown,
and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and
the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy
mount at Jerusalem. |
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. |
4. Matthew 24:36-42 is a further description of Matthew
24:31
-This is a false premise.
Here is the sequence of events as given in the Olivet Discourse,
Matthew 24:4-31
| 4-6 | And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. | Many false christs and scattered conflicts. Not indicative of the end times. |
| 7-8 | For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. | World war, famine, pestilence and earthquakes. The birthpangs of the end times. |
| 9-14 | Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. | Persecution of believers, false prophets, and the triumph of the gospel. First half of the Seventieth Week of Daniel. |
| 15-28 | When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation,
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth,
let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then 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. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. |
The abomination of desolation, the flight of the Jewish remnant, and powerful deceivers. This time is the most intense of the end times. |
| 29 | 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: | The Day of the Lord draws to a close with the blackout and final cosmic disturbance. |
| 30 | 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. | The Second Coming. |
| 31 | 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. | The final gathering of Israel to the Promised Land. |
After Jesus relates this chronology in His sermon, He then turns his attention
to another event,
"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven,
but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of
the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered
into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so
shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field;
the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the
mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know
not what hour your Lord doth come." Matthew 24:36-42
The Pre-Wrath model maintains that the above text is simply a parallel description
of what they consider to be the pre-wrath rapture of 24:31. They actually imagine
the following sequence,
The Pre-Wrath Chronology
1. Worst time of tribulation ever.
2. Blackout and cosmic disturbance.
3. The sign of the Son of Man seen in the sky.
4. The world mourns.
5. Jesus appears in the sky with power and great glory.
6. The people of the earth go back to eating and drinking, marrying
and giving in marriage, and even "buying, selling, planting and building"
(Luke 17:28) as if nothing has happened, just like the clueless heathens
immediately prior to the flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
7. The Pre-Wrath rapture occurs: "one shall be taken and the other
left..." and "they shall gather together his elect from the
four winds..."
8. The Day of the Lord begins, (according to the pre-wrath view this terrible
time is mentioned by Jesus in His Olivet Discourse only through comparing it
to the flood and Sodom and Gomorrah).
9. The Second Coming occurs, (unmentioned by Jesus, according to the pre-wrath
view).
10. The final gathering of Israel to the Promised Land in fulfillment of a multitude
of Old Testament prophecies, (unmentioned by Jesus, according to the pre-wrath
view).
Something is obviously wrong with the above chronology. The only logical explanation is that the event Jesus describes in Matthew 24:36-42 does not occur after Jesus is seen in the sky, but rather prior to, at the very least, the cosmic disturbance of verse 29. Yes, Jesus does not specifically tell us where this event belongs within the order of His chronology, but He does offer a major clue by telling us it will occur at a time when the people of the earth are going about their business as usual, just as the heathens were doing prior to both the flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. For this reason it is obvious that Matthew 24:31 and Matthew 24:36-42 are descriptions of two completely separate events, and the chronology given in the table above is the far more accurate interpretation of Jesus' sermon.