Thursday, June 1, 2023

Rapture just before the Wrath ( before 7th Seal ) = Pre-Wrath Theory

Most people have heard of the three common theories on when the Rapture 
( aka the return of Christ, when believers are transformed and united with Him ),
as

Pre-Trib ( before the Great Tribulation period begins )

Post-Trib ( at the end of the Great Tribulation )

Mid-Trib ( at the middle or the 3 1/2 year mark, assuming a 7 year Great Tribulation time frame ).

But have you heard of the Pre-Wrath Rapture?
It is a variation of "Mid-Trib".
Not necessarily at the "middle", but before the 7th Seal ( which contains the Wrath of God ),
and some think before or at the 6th Seal.
No mention of the "wrath of God" occurs with the first 5 Seals.


I can think of several scriptures that would seem to support this scenario.

I Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 9

For God did not appoint us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,


Revelation chapter 11 and verse 15 - 19
We see the LAST Trumpet:

You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. 
And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, 
 
Revelation chapters 15 and 16 ( basically the whole chapter ),
tells us who these plagues are poured out on.
"on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. "

AND in chapter 16 verse 14,
we see the ungodly coming to fight against God.

This makes a lot of sense
if Jesus had already come back to Jerusalem.
We ( the resurrected and "Raptured" believers ) would be with Him
( and thus fully protected from the Wrath being poured out on the rest of the earth ).

***
But I'm not "convinced" of a "pre-wrath rapture"
because the "gathering" and the "coming" of Jesus Christ
seems to include His Visible Return,
when every eye will see him.
And that is when He slays the wicked.

In Matthew 24:30,31 we read,
"And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, 
and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, 
and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky 
with power and great glory. 
And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet 
and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, 
from one end of the sky to the other.

AND the passage in Revelation 19:11-21

Noting Verse 11 =
And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.

Verse 15 =  
From His mouth comes a sharp sword, 
so that with it He may strike down the nations, 
and He will rule them with a rod of iron; 
and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, 
the Almighty.

Verse 21 = 
And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh

So many "theories" 
and so many books / preachers out there.

Don't be discouraged. 
Pray - Read - Pray some more.

God is more than able to show you the way.

--
Saved by Grace,
Andrew Cross

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, 
but exhorting one another, 
and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:23-25


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