{"id":9764,"date":"2022-11-30T15:56:53","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T06:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/old2024.onfire.jp\/?p=9764"},"modified":"2022-11-30T16:21:30","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T07:21:30","slug":"one-new-man-rapture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old2024.onfire.jp\/en\/blog\/one-new-man-rapture\/","title":{"rendered":"Why We Don\u2019t Believe in a Pretribulation Rapture\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
This article appears in the appendix of the book: \u201cOne New Man\u201d by Ariel Laurence Blumenthal - details are below.<\/pre>
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For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.<\/p>\r\n1 Thess. 4:16\u201317)<\/cite><\/blockquote>
These verses from 1 Thessalonians have caused much controversy over the last 150 years\u2014the same time period that we have been studying*. Many Bible-believing, Bible-loving Christians with a premillennial view of the restoration of the kingdom of God on Earth\u2014with its capital in Jerusalem\u2014have also been taught that there is another great Pauline mystery being taught here concerning the so-called \u201crapture of the church.\u201d Namely, that the true believers will not go through the final period of God\u2019s judgments (wrath) on the earth called \u201cthe great tribulation,\u201d but will instead be \u201craptured\u201d to heaven until the ultimate, physical return of Jesus to the earth. Most who subscribe to this view believe, based on prophecies in the books of Daniel and Revelation, that this will happen three-and-a-half years, or seven years, before Jesus returns. This teaching has become a major pillar in the dispensational worldview, as discussed in the last few chapters of this book*\u2014and a big part of popular Christian culture in the USA from books\/movies like Left Behind<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>
As one can hopefully infer from reading this book*, our perspective is quite different. We see the prophetic dynamics of the one new man (Ephesians) and the fullness formula (Rom. 9\u201311) leading right up to the second coming. This means that the church\u2014understood as Jew and Gentile, Israel, and the nations together in Messiah\u2014will have a great role to play during the last days on the earth. We believe that we will be here in the midst of the great tribulation, but that Yeshua has promised to equip and strengthen us, seeing us through to our ultimate victory together with Him at His return. What\u2019s more, it will also be a time of incredible harvest. This harvest will not happen just supernaturally; it will be the same dynamic as always\u2014God working through His people to preach the \u201cgospel of the kingdom\u201d to every nation (Matt. 24:14).<\/p>
Below are four major reasons why we strongly believe that the \u201cpretrib rapture\u201d theory\/doctrine is \u201cdead\u201d wrong, and why it has a dangerous influence on its adherents\u2014one which fails to prepare them for the reality of what will actually take place during the end times.<\/p>
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  1. Pretrib Rapture: A New Doctrine Not Seen in Church History before Modern Times\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong>
    The idea that the believing church will be raptured to heaven in a secret, \u201cpre-second coming,\u201d before the actual second coming, is a very serious doctrine with very serious consequences. Both Jesus and the Apostles taught many things about the end of days, the days before His return and the establishing of His kingdom on Earth. If part of His plan were that at the start of, or in the middle of, the great tribulation at the end of the age, the believers would be caught up to heaven while end-times events continue to unfold down here on Earth, we would expect to see this taught clearly in the Scriptures; and we would expect it to have become a major pillar of the doctrine of the earliest church. Instead, we see the opposite: It is not taught by Jesus or the Apostles, and it is impossible to find any trace of the teaching in the apostolic age or in the centuries following. (Note 1)
    Rather, the overwhelming testimony of both Scripture and the literature of the church fathers of the first two centuries is that apostolic eschatology a) was clearly premillennial; b) clearly believed in a literal second coming and literal kingdom on Earth; and c) clearly believed that the church would be here on Earth until the second coming.<\/li>\r\n
  2. The Eternal Separation of Israel and the Church?<\/strong>
    The doctrine of this mysterious \u201cpretrib rapture\u201d first came on the scene only about 150 years ago with the advent of Dispensationalism. The two great figures at the founding of this Dispensational \u201cschool\u201d of theology were C. I. Scofield and John Nelson Darby. As already noted in Chapter 18, there is much that we can find in agreement and be thankful for with respect to dispensationalism; however, its view of the eschatological (and eternal!) destinies of Israel and the church is not one of them. For both Darby and Scofield, an eternal distinction exists between two groups of God\u2019s people: the heavenly body of Christ\u2014the church; and the earthly Israel\u2014the Jewish people. As a result, classic dispensationalism came up with a clearly delineated, dualistic view of prophetic Scripture: Some prophecies apply to Israel and others apply to the so-called \u201cchurch\u201d; God\u2019s plan for Israel is earthly, and His plan for the church is heavenly and spiritual. In extreme cases, this dualism goes so far as to posit that the church is the bride of Christ, while Israel is the bride of Jehovah-Father God.

    A quick read of this book* should dispel any notions of such a dualistic, eternal separation between Israel and the church. (Note 2) As we have seen, the very mystery of the one new man and the fullness formula surrounds how God is bringing Jew and Gentile together as one body in Messiah in this age; or how the Gentiles become part of the commonwealth of Israel; or how the Gentiles are grafted into the essentially \u201cIsraeli\u201d olive tree; or how the Jews will be saved, i.e., becoming part of the ecclesia, or church.

    And what about the Jewish, first-century apostles? Were they part of Plan A or Plan B\u2014Israel or the church? What about the present day Messianic Jewish remnant? (Note 3) As we saw, God is not a God of Plan A and Plan B; He is not \u201cschizophrenic\u201d in relation to Jew and Gentile, or Israel and the church. He does not have two different peoples or two different brides. In Christ, He has promised to bring all \u201cthings in heaven and things on the earth\u201d together under one head (Eph. 1:10). Therefore, we must be careful of any of the theological conclusions that are based on this classic dispensational foundation\u2014such as the pretribulation rapture of the church, leaving Israel (the Jewish people in the land) alone to endure the greatest period of wrath\/tribulation in the history of the world. (Note 4)<\/li>\r\n
  3. Historical Background for the Rise of \u201cWe Are Not Destined for Wrath,\u201d Pretrib Rapture Doctrine<\/strong>
    Much pretrib rapture doctrine focuses on the (wrong!) interpretation of 1 Thessalonians 5:9: \u201cFor God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d In fact, dispensational theology seems almost obsessed with the issue of believers not having to endure the terrible great tribulation of the last days, the likes of which Yeshua said \u201chas not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will\u201d (Matt. 24:21).

    Dispensationalism arose at a time when it seemed like a great shaking, even \u201cfalling away,\u201d was taking place in the church (2 Thess. 2:3). Modernism, liberalism, and the \u201csocial gospel\u201d were overcoming many a church and denomination around the turn of the century (early 1900s), and it seemed like there was only a small remnant who still believed in the veracity of the Bible taken in a more or less literal way. This remnant felt more and more marginalized by mainstream denominations and by western society\u2014whose morals and standards were changing very quickly. (Note 5) Marginalized, yes; but persecuted, no.

    Dispensational theology arose in nations (US and England primarily) where many Christians felt a deep sense of \u201clight vs. dark\u201d conflict with the wider culture, but they were not in fact actually persecuted in any serious way by their increasingly free, liberal societies. Finally, dispensationalism grew during a time of the incredible flourishing of knowledge, science, and technology\u2014and this influenced how people interpreted the Bible. In particular, dispensationalists began to force many Scriptures\u2014especially prophecy\u2014into hyper- rational categories of (supposedly) literal, systematic understanding. In short, the rationalistic, scientific spirit of the age dictated that biblical prophecy should fit together as its own kind of \u201cscience,\u201d whereby timelines and detailed charts could be made in order to determine the exact times and seasons of prophetic fulfilment. (Note 6)

    So these four things came together to produce this new doctrine of the pretrib rapture:
    \u2022 the lack of serious persecution of Christians in Europe and America\u2014and so by experience the conclusion: \u201cWe, the faithful remnant, are not destined for tribulation and wrath, but salvation.\u201d(Note 7)
    \u2022 the Israel (earthly Plan A) vs. church (heavenly Plan B) dualism: \u201cWe, the church, have a heavenly destiny different from earthly Israel, especially at the end of the age.\u201d 
    \u2022 the increasing sense of \u201csons of light vs. sons of darkness\u201d dualism: \u201cWe are so different, so separate from \u2018the world,\u2019 that it only makes sense that we have no share in its destiny of judgment and tribulation.\u201d 
    \u2022 an overly rational, systematic understanding of prophecy premised on the Israel vs. church dualism: \u201cSince the church is not destined for wrath but obtaining salvation, it must be that the focus of fulfilment of the worst end-times prophecies of judgment and cataclysms pertain to earthly Israel, not the church.\u201d 

    Then where is the church? A-ha and voila\u2014behold, the doctrine of a secret coming of Christ to rapture His church before the great tribulation!<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>
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    1. Biblical Evidence against the Pretrib Rapture Doctrine<\/strong>
      The earliest church was premillennial; they believed in the imminent return of the Lord to rule and reign over the earth for one thousand years. There is much teaching in the NT about the Lord\u2019s second coming, but nowhere is it even hinted that there would be second comings, as in the dispensational scheme\u2014one a secret, heavenly coming to rapture the church to heaven; and then, after a significant amount of time, a final, full-blown return to the earth in glory. It is only when certain Scriptures are twisted out of context that one can begin to even imagine such a scheme.

      A look at the most detailed verses teaching the rapture in the context of 1 Thessalonians makes it perfectly clear. From verse 13 of chapter 4, Paul turns to a teaching on the end times, the resurrection, and the second coming\u2014with a focus on the very order of events, and a particular concern for those who have already died in Christ. He writes, \u201cwe who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep\u201d (v. 15). Could it be any clearer? \u201cWe who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord\u201d is in contrast to those who have already \u201cfallen asleep,\u201d i.e., died in Christ\u2014not in contrast to those who have already been raptured!

      Secondly, verses 15 and 16 teach that this rapture will by no means precede the resurrection of the dead in Christ. The resurrection of the dead will come first, and the resurrection takes place at the end, at His second coming, after the great tribulation. If the rapture \u201cby no means precedes\u201d the resurrection, then it must be after the tribulation as well. Only then will we be caught up in the air to meet the Lord (v. 17). In summary, Paul is clearly teaching the believers in Thessalonica that in the last generation before Jesus\u2019 coming, there will be a church\u2014made up of Jew and Gentile alike\u2014who will be alive, i.e., here on Earth, when He comes! And the fact that he writes \u201cwe who are alive\u201d means he includes himself in this End Times\u2019 church, and thus cannot be speaking about another group of people that will come to faith only during the last days of the great tribulation while Paul and the rest of the \u201csaints\u201d of his day have been raptured to heaven.

      There are six more NT passages that speak clearly about the timing of the second coming, the resurrection from the dead, and the rapture. Like 1 Thessalonians 4, they all teach of a rapture which occurs at the end of the Great Tribulation and that occurs more or less simultaneously with the second coming of Jesus in glory. (Note 8)
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      1. Matthew 24:29\u201331: \u201cBut immediately after the tribulation of those days. . . .\u201d In the Mount of Olives prophecy, Yeshua speaks clearly of His coming in glory, and of sending angels to gather His elect from the four winds\u2014i.e., from the whole earth. This \u201cingathering\u201d of His people is described as occurring after the tribulation. So whom is He gathering? (Note 9)<\/li>\r\n
      2. Matthew 24:38: \u201cuntil the day. . . .\u201d Yeshua compares His coming to the flood of Noah. People were eating and drinking until the very day that Noah entered the ark and all was destroyed. There was no gap between the day of His coming and the destruction of all things by water. The world became increasingly wicked right up to the time of the flood\u2014and Noah and his family were there until the very end. At Yeshua\u2019s coming, one in a field will be taken and another left; two women grinding, one taken and one left; the believers will be taken up to heaven to immediately receive our resurrection bodies.<\/li>\r\n
      3. Mark 13:24: \u201cafter that tribulation. . . .\u201d Mark repeats the teaching on the Mount of Olives with all the details in Matthew describing the tribulation, the second coming, and the rapture. He also repeats that the rapture is \u201cafter\u201d the tribulation.<\/em><\/li>\r\n
      4. Luke 17:27, 29: \u201cuntil the day. . . on the day. . . .\u201d Luke repeats Yeshua\u2019s teaching comparing His coming to Noah\u2019s flood, and adds the comparison to the destruction of Sodom. As with Noah, so with Lot\u2014total destruction came immediately. All people\u2014 both the \u201crighteous\u201d and \u201cunrighteous\u201d\u2014were there until the end; there was no time gap. On the same day, at the same time that Lot and family were \u201craptured\u201d away by the angels, the fiery judgment came upon Sodom and Gomorrah.<\/li>\r\n
      5. 1 Corinthians 15:52: \u201cat the last trumpet [shofar]. . . .\u201d At the last trumpet, the dead will be raised and we will be changed. Revelation describes seven trumpets during the tribulation period. (The seven trumpets are connected with the feast of Trumpets [Lev. 23:24], the last trumpet with the Day of Atonement [Lev. 25:9].) The rapture occurs at the last trumpet, after the seven trumpets, after the tribulation, immediately after the resurrection of the dead.\u00a0<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>
        Conclusion<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>
        \u201cWhat\u2019s all this splitting of hairs concerning end-times prophecies?\u201d some might protest. Or, \u201cLet\u2019s not worry about these future things\u2026\u00a0 I\u2019m a pan-millenialist\u2014<\/em>it will all pan-out <\/em>in the end!\u201d (Note 10) Why is it all so important?\u00a0<\/p>
        Think of it this way: What if you were training an army, which by its very definition is preparing for the eventuality of war, and in the middle of the training period you took the soldiers aside and said the following: \u201cI have just heard from our commander in chief, and he has promised that when the worst of the actual battles come, he\u2019s given our battalion special favor: We will dial a secret code, and super-secret-stealth helicopters will come and take us all up and out of harm\u2019s way. He will send another army to do the fighting\u2014we won\u2019t be on the battleground during the worst of the war!\u201d How do you think this would affect the spirit of the training from the following day forward? Would the men drill with the same focus and motivation? Would they be alert, looking to keenly obey every order of their superiors? Obviously not.<\/p>
        Or, what if you were training a sports team for the playoffs, and you similarly told them: \u201cWhen we get into the final rounds of play, someone else will take your place on the court; you won\u2019t have to play.\u201d Talk about a \u201cspirit-breaker\u201d!\u00a0<\/p>
        This is the problem with the doctrine of the pretribulation rapture: It makes for a church with a \u201cbunker\u201d mentality\u2014a church that will bury its head in the sand (or the clouds?) as we get further into the end-times events, wondering if the present tribulation is truly the last one, and looking for God to \u201cbeam them up\u201d and out of the tribulations. It leaves the church with entirely the wrong \u201cspirit\u201d concerning the end times, and totally unprepared for its actual role to stand with Israel\u2014 the central, earthly focus of the Antichrist\u2019s vitriol\u2014and not abandon her! Paul also taught that a great \u201capostasy\u201d or \u201cfalling away\u201d from the church would happen during these very last days before His coming. (2 Thess. 2:1-3) One wonders: could it be that a large number of these \u201capostasizing\u201d believers will be those who were taught that they would be raptured away when times of tribulation come? Imagine such a person\u2019s sense of confusion and disappointment with God and church when they find themselves totally unprepared to go through this most difficult time in human history!!\u00a0<\/p>
        When Yeshua speaks of these events, it is of a different spirit entirely: \u201cBut keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man\u201d (Luke 21:36). Or, \u201cpray that your flight will not take place in winter, or on a Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short\u201d (Matt. 24:20\u201322).\u00a0<\/p>
        First, Yeshua is clearly speaking to His disciples that they will be here on this earth, especially in Israel\/Jerusalem during the tribulation.\u00a0<\/p>
        Second, at least for the saints in the Jerusalem area at His return, there is <\/em>a flight to avoid the worst of the tribulation, but there is no suggestion that this is a secret rapture into the heavens. Thirdly, He wants us to be prayerful, awake, and alert; His promise is to deliver us from out of the tribulation<\/em>, just as He has delivered His people throughout history, by means of the miraculous intervention of God in the midst of our earthly circumstances! Of course, at the end of the great tribulation, this will be accomplished by nothing less than the second coming of Jesus in glory, along with a multitude of angels and resurrected saints in order to fight against the Antichrist and his armies. The last, great cry\/prayer of God\u2019s people (the spirit and the bride) on Earth before His return is, \u201cCome Lord Jesus. . . . Maranatha <\/em>. . . Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!\u201d (Rev. 22:17-20; 1 Cor. 16:22; Matt. 23:39), not, \u201cLord, rapture us up to heaven and out of this world so that we can avoid your wrath and the suffering that will come upon the earth!\u201d It is \u201cLord, come!\u201d not <\/em>\u201cLord, take us out of here!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>
        How does this all connect to the one new man? Yeshua\u2019s prophecy in Matthew 24:22 is tantalizing in this respect: He says that the days of this great tribulation will be cut short, for the \u201csake of the elect.\u201d How short? He doesn\u2019t say! I believe this points to two fundamental truths about the nature of God and biblical prophecy (especially apocalyptic\/ end-times prophecy) that we have studied in this book*.\u00a0<\/p>
        First, God takes no pleasure in judgment; His will is for \u201call men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth\u201d (1 Tim. 2:4). The God of the Bible is not a sadist! While the obvious purpose of God\u2019s wrath and judgment is to punish sin, it is always His deepest desire that men would repent and turn to Him as a result. As we can learn from the book of Jonah, this is the primary <\/em>reason that God issues specific prophecies of judgment\u2014to warn sinners to turn from their ways. If there is sincere repentance, as there was in Nineveh, God is happy to \u201cchange His mind\u201d and show mercy, even on those \u201cdirty,\u201d Gentile, pagan sinners (Jonah\u2019s perspective). Yes, in the end of days, there will be great tribulation, but Yeshua instructs us that God longs to cut short the days of the great tribulation on behalf of His beloved ones, His elect. But Yeshua didn\u2019t tell us how short, or why God might cut those days short.\u00a0<\/p>
        Could it be that much of the answer to this mystery depends on us? On how unified and reconciled is the body of Christ? How \u201cspotless\u201d will His bride be? In the body, will there be unity between Jew and Gentile, Japanese and Chinese\u2014loving, serving, and interceding for one another? Will we be standing in faith, interceding, crying out for the salvation of the world and the return of the Lord? (Note 11) Or, will we be like Jonah, with a \u201cGod, you take care of it yourself; don\u2019t involve me, I\u2019m getting out of here\u201d attitude? Will we be hiding in a theological bunker (or whale\u2019s belly!) expecting God to take us out of the world while the Jews in Israel suffer? In short, could it be that it depends on how much genuine, overcoming faith Jesus will find among us on the earth when he returns (Luke 18:8; James 1:12; Rev. 2:17, 26; 3:21)?\u00a0<\/p>
        I believe so! God is not a sadist, and we are not masochists. Nonetheless, we are willing to endure whatever suffering, even martyrdom, that will come our way because of His name, so we are not perversely looking forward to the great tribulation. He taught us to pray that it be cut short, that our escape from Jerusalem might not fall on the Sabbath, etc. How effective will those prayers be? That depends on us!\u00a0<\/p>
        \u00a0<\/div>
        NOTES:<\/strong><\/p>
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        1. The two possible references in early church literature are from the Shepherd of Hermes and Victorinus. But even hardline dispensationalists admit that the references therein to avoiding wrath and persecution at the end of days are vague, and it is hard to establish a clear doctrinal witness from them.<\/li>\r\n
        2. Not to mention that the strict use of the terminology \u201cIsrael and the church\u201d is not exactly biblical. That is, they are not taught as dualistic opposites nor a complementary pair; rather, the overwhelming use in the OT is \u201cIsrael and the nations;\u201d in the NT, \u201cJew and Gentile.\u201d<\/li>\r\n
        3. When dispensationalists talk about \u201cIsrael,\u201d they almost always mean \u201cunsaved Israel.\u201d For them, Israel\u2019s glory is always future; as such dispensational theology doesn\u2019t know what to do with the Messianic Jewish remnant, who are, in the most foundational way, both \u201cIsrael\u201d and the \u201cchurch.\u201d<\/li>\r\n
        4. Not surprisingly, classic dispensationalism grew most at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a time when the church was very much on the defensive from modernism, science and moral relativism. The \u201cpretrib rapture\u201d theory seems to reflect this defensive, \u201cbunker-mentality\u201d spirit of many believers during this time.<\/li>\r\n
        5. In many ways, the recent ruling by the US Supreme Court to legalized gay marriage is a final fruit in this long process of the \u201cde-Christianizing\u201d of Western, \u201cpost-Christian\u201d society.<\/li>\r\n
        6. This marked the beginning of the time of many false (obviously) calculations of the return of Christ; and gave birth to end-times cults like the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses.<\/li>\r\n
        7. Twenty years ago, I remember the incredulous looks on the faces of house-church Chinese Christians when I told them about this pretrib rapture theory that had captured the imaginations of so many western Christians. Their reaction: \u201cThe believers don\u2019t go through persecution\/tribulation? Then what have we been through the last twenty years!?\u201d<\/li>\r\n
        8. Much of the following section is based on Asher Intrater, \u201cTeaching: Rapture after Tribulation,\u201d Revive Israel Ministries, August 16, 2009, https:\/\/restorationfromzion.com\/rapture-after-tribulation\/<\/li>\r\n
        9. Once the dispensational view is embraced as \u201cgospel\u201d truth, then verses like this are interpreted to speak of a remnant which miraculously comes to faith during the tribulation, even though all the true Christians were raptured away and not there to preach or disciple! Further, in the parable of the wheat and tares, it is the tares who are first gathered for burning (judgment) at the great harvest of the Lord, and only then is the wheat gathered. So again, obviously, the wheat (the righteous, the saints, the church) is there until the very end (Matt. 13:24-30).<\/li>\r\n
        10. I think I first heard this from Cindy Jacobs, or Peter Wagner, quoting Cindy\u2019s father.<\/li>\r\n
        11. I believe that God will pour specific end-times revelation and instruction only insofar as the body is reconciled and unified and in proper alignment with Him and with one another.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>
          \u00a0<\/div>
          This article appears in the appendix 3-3 of the book: 
          One New Man – Reconciling Jew & Gentile in One Body of Christ<\/em><\/strong>
          Ariel Laurence Blumenthal
          Used by permission of the author. This book is available for purchase:
          https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/One-New-Man-Reconciling-Gentile-ebook\/dp\/B07XQCGGRG<\/a><\/p>
          \u00a0<\/p>