So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead. Ephesians 4:14 Amplified (in reference to the current condition of the body of Christ at large)
Pre-Trib:The church is not mentioned in the Revelation of Jesus Christ after the message to the seven churches (Revelation 2 and 3). Therefore, the church must be gone beginning with Revelation 4.
Post-Trib:The entire Revelation of Jesus Christ was written for the church. It was included in the New Testament canon of scripture (not the Torah) as the Spirit intended, with specific revelations for the church during the entire tribulation (not just the final seven years).
"I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches ...(for whom?)...I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star."Revelation 22:16 NASB (insert is the author's)
Pre-Trib: The Lord promised the church of Philadelphia that they would be kept from the hour of trial coming upon the whole world. Because the church of Philadelphia no longer exists, this promise is now a promise to the church universal.
Post-Trib: The promise was made to a specific church because of their faithfulness in a time of extreme persecution. The promise may extend to those who qualify as a "type" of the Philadelphian church, but even pre-tribbers confess that the Sardis and Laodicean "types" of the church are predominant today, not the Philadelphian church. Likewise, a correct exegetical examination of the promise reveals that there is no promise of removal, only of protection, even for those who qualify to inherit the promise. And few there are that qualify.
Pre-Trib: The church is not appointed for the retributive wrath of God. Therefore, the church cannot be present during the tribulation.
Post-Trib: The first six seals of Revelation are tribulation. This is the Greek word transliterated as thilipsis (Strong's #2347). It means trouble, as in being squeezed in a tight place. In John 16:33, the Lord said that we would have thilipsis in this world. Wrath is the Greek word transliterated as thymos (Strong's #2372), and God's wrath against the unbelieving world does not begin until the opening of the seventh seal at the very end of the tribulation.
Nor does protection from God's wrath require removal. The 144,000 are "sealed" for protection against being harmed by the wrath of God, and the "woman" (the remnant of national Israel) is protected by Michael in the wilderness against Satan's wrath and against being harmed by the wrath of God. The promise for the Philadelphian type of church (and believer) is a similar promise of protection from being harmed by the wrath of God, not a promise of removal.
Pre-Trib: The pre-trib "rapture" of the church is a secret mystery event in which the church (including those members of the church who have passed away, but not OT saints) will join Christ in heaven for seven years while the world undergoes tribulation and wrath.
Post-Trib: There is no direct scriptural passage for this interpretation, only presumption based on other presumptions. The passages most often used are 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-53. But both of these passages relate to the only resurrection-"rapture" of saints (Old and New Testament) on "the last day."
Dispensationalists define being "in Christ" as applying only to the church, but Paul makes it clear that the definition applies to all saints of all time, not just the church.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming... 1 Corinthians 15:22,23 NASB (emphasis is the author's)
"All" means all, from Adam all the way through the end of the tribulation to the last day.
John 6:39-44 makes four specific references to a resurrection of all who are "in Christ," living and dead, being raised on "the last day." Is it possible that John did not know about the "secret mystery event" Paul supposedly described? Is it possible that John, the apostle who was given the revelation of Jesus Christ after Paul's letters were written and circulated among the churches, still did not know about this supposed "mystery event" when he wrote down word for word what the Holy Spirit told him to write?
Is it also possible that the Lord misled Peter, John, James, and Andrew when He answered their question about His return, and told them that the church must perservere all the way through the tribulation?
But he who stands firm...(through tribulation)... to the end will be saved. Matthew 24:13 NIV(insert and emphasis is the author's)
Ah, but...(the pre-tribber responds)... this message was not intended for the church. It was intended for the Jews who will find the Christian Bibles in all the empty homes around the world after the "rapture," right?
Pre-Trib: The Antichrist cannot be revealed until "he that restraineth" is taken out of the way. The "he that restraineth" is the Holy Spirit, and He is taken out of the way when the church is raptured.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 2 Thessalonians 2:7 NASB
Post-Trib: The "he that restraineth" (non-capitalized pronoun) is Michael the archangel. It is not God in the form of the Holy Spirit that is taken out of the way, but God takes Michael out of the way, allowing the Antichrist to be revealed as he declares himself to be "god" in the temple. Nor is national Israel abandoned by Michael. Michael continues to be the protector of those who flee the wilderness.
Pre-Trib: Daniel's prophecy of the seventy weeks (Daniel 9:24-27) indicates that the church is a parenthetic, and the church, therefore, will not be present during the final week, which has not occurred, yet. Therefore, the church will be removed before the final week begins.
Post-Trib: The specific time of the church's commission (Matthew 28:18,19) is to the end of the age. Pre-tribbers claim that the "rapture" is the end of the age, but does the world suddenly revert back to the law and the prophets for the final seven years apart from the revelation of Christ crucified? In Revelation 7:9-14 we see an uncountable number of martyred tribulation saints, saved by the blood of the Lamb, from every nation, tribe, and tongue. Who evangelized these Christian believers? The two witnesses preach the gospel message in the streets of Jerusalem, but it is the church, and only the church, that has been given this commission to preach the gospel to the utmost ends of the world until the end of the age.
Daniel's prophecy for ("your people") Israel, which includes the final seven years of the age, does not mean that the church is not present in the world. We were present when numerous Old Testament prophesies were fulfilled concerning the return of national Israel weren't we? (And we will be around when Ezekiel 38 and 39 are fulfilled, too.)
The church age is a time of harvest of both Jews and Gentiles, but the initiation of the final week of years with the Antichrist confirming a covenant with many, including national Israel's right to inhabit the entirety of the lands promised under the Abrahamic covenant (lands that fall into Israel's hands after the Gog-Magog war of Ezekiel 38 and 39) does not require that the church be absent.
Examine what the seventy weeks (including the final week) are about:
1) to finish the transgression (of Israel's rejection of Jesus as Messiah);
2) to make an end of sin (for the "Israel of God" - those who are the seed of Abraham in Christ - but not for those born of the seed of Adam during the Millennium);
3) to make atonement for iniquity (as the Lamb of God);
4) to bring in everlasting righteousness (to all those "in Christ" who have received Him by faith);
5) to seal up vision and prophecy (concerning the life, death, resurrection, and reign of Christ);
6) to anoint the most holy place (the millennial temple).
Now, what is included in the purpose of the seventy weeks that would exclude the "Israel of God" (the church according to Paul in Galations 6:16) from being present during the final seven years of the age?
This brief, At-A-Glance comparison of the dispensational distinctive of a pre-tribulation resurrection-"rapture" of church only saints with the "last day" post-tribulation resurrection-"rapture" of all those whose name has been written in the Lamb's Book of Life, is intended only to stir up those believers who have not, yet, examined the scriptures like the Bereans, whom Paul said were "noble" because they examined the scriptures to see if what Paul was telling them was true or not.
What the entire END TIMES conflict is about is DECEPTION vs. TRUTH, and deception will prevail in the world systems and in much of the church right up to the split between the apostate "foolish virgins" and the repentant "wise virgins."
The shocking apostasy of the "foolish virgins" (Matthew 25:1-13) is a result of this deception, and the popularity and widespread acceptance of the dispensational distinctive of a pre-tribulation resurrection-"rapture" of church only saints is not proof of its correctness.
As an illustration, was the Roman Catholic Church's practice of granting salvation to those who paid money for it, along with many other doctrines and practices, such as the Pope being the supreme authority of the church on earth, proof of their correctness when Martin Luther pinned his thesis on the archbishop's door?
One man received, believed, and acted on the truth of God in spite of the fact that he would eventually be excommunicated by the deceived Roman Catholic Church for his obedient faith response to the Lord. And that one man was one of the few on earth at the time that was not in bondage to deception.
A wake up call is coming, and each of us needs to ask this question: "Will I be found among the 'foolish virgins' captivated by deception, or among the repentant 'wise virgins' who hear and follow His voice only?"
