Thinking is one thing, backing it up with scripture is another. I would also like for someone to present scripture to me that supports a Pretrib rapture.
First of all you have to understand why the LORD called HIMSELF the BRIDEGROOM. The answer is in the FACT that the Bride of Christ is the ASSEMBLY that He has ALWAYS BEEN BUILDING. If you look at Young's Literal Translation, you will find out that the Word CHURCH, is not in the original GREEK. It really is ASSEMBLY, therefore the same promises of building His Assembly is an ongoing process that applies to both OT Saints and NT Saints.
Mark 2:19-20 (YLT)
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19 [/SUP] And Jesus said to them,
`Are the sons of the bride-chamber able, while the bridegroom is with them, to fast? so long time as they have the bridegroom with them they are not able to fast;
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20 [/SUP]
but days shall come when the bridegroom may be taken from them, and then they shall fast--in those days.
Matthew 16:18 (YLT)
[SUP]18 [/SUP] `And I also say to thee, that thou art a rock, and upon this rock I will build my assembly, and gates of Hades shall not prevail against it;
Jeremiah 2:2 (NIV)
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2 [/SUP] "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: "'I remember the devotion of your youth, how
as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown.
Isaiah 62:5 (YLT)
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5 [/SUP] For a young man doth marry a virgin, Thy Builders do marry thee,
With the joy of a bridegroom over a bride, Rejoice over thee doth thy God.
Matthew 25:1-13 (NASB)
[SUP]1 [/SUP] "Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
[SUP]2 [/SUP] "Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent.
[SUP]3 [/SUP] "For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,
[SUP]4 [/SUP] but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.
[SUP]5 [/SUP] "Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.
[SUP]6 [/SUP] "But at midnight there was a shout, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.'
[SUP]7 [/SUP] "Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
[SUP]8 [/SUP] "The foolish said to the prudent, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'
[SUP]9 [/SUP] "But the prudent answered, 'No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.'
[SUP]10 [/SUP] "And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.
[SUP]11 [/SUP] "Later the other virgins also came, saying, 'Lord, lord, open up for us.'
[SUP]12 [/SUP] "But he answered, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you.'
[SUP]13 [/SUP] "Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.
The only way that COMMAND to BE ON THE ALERT has any significance from when HE said it until NOW, is it means HE will come to carry HIS Bride to the New Dwelling place, that a Jewish Bridegroom always built in the His Father's house specifically for the WEDDING; before any of the events that are prophesied to happen after the first three chapters of Revelation.
Since I have posted numerous responses to others asking the same questions in the past, on three different websites, I will copy paste one of my responses from about three or four years ago.
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Is the Calling Out of the Bride (or Rapture) going to come first or is it the Second Coming?
The rapture (which is the Calling Out of the Bride the Church to go to the Wedding of the Lamb in the New Dwelling Place that HE has prepared for us), has to happen before the Second Coming. The Second Coming is when HE reclaims the earth, slaying all unbelievers with the sword of HIS mouth; and then sets up HIS Thousand Year Kingdom, ruling from the Throne of David. That event happens so slowly that the Armies of the World have time to move their troops to Valley of Megiddo, also know as Armagedon, before Christ actually sets foot on earth at the Mt. of Olives,
Zech 14:3-4,
Rev. 16:12-16, &
Rev. 19:1-21. While in comparison, the Calling Out of the Bride happens so fast that it is compared to lightning flashing from the east to the west, plus at that time Christ does not set foot on earth, He only APPEARS in the air in the clouds.
Matthew 24:27 (NASB)
[SUP]27 [/SUP]"For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Titus 2:13 (HCSB)
[SUP]13 [/SUP]while we wait for the blessed hope and
appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The main reason the Calling Out of the Bride has to come first is in this Verse:
Mark 13:32 (NKJV)
32 "But
of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
That cannot be talking about The Second Coming when HE comes as KING of Kings; but rather when HE appears in the clouds as Our Bridegroom to Call out HIS Bride to go to HIS and Her Wedding; because the Days of the Antichrist’s reign are numbered and he will reign for 3 and a half years peacefully, followed by 3 and a half years of being the most blood thirsty Dictator that has ever lived.
The understanding of why the Calling out of the Bride the Church has to happen first is found in understanding the Jewish Wedding Traditions at the time of Christ. Most of the info that I have on the Jewish Wedding Traditions, comes from the late Dr. Zola Levitt. I pray this will be helpful:
False teachers frequently try to pick the day of the Second Coming or even the Judgment Day, and some even say the Church must go the Tribulation. Therefore they either skip entirely the 7 year reign of Antichrist or falsely claim we go through it too; and some even deny the 1000 year Kingdom of Jesus Christ. I totally believe in both, and I believe the Lord literally meant it when he said:
1 Thess 5:9 (KJV)
9 For God
hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
I believe the Wrath He is referring to is:
Rev 6:15-17 (NKJV)
15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves 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 who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
17 For
the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"
I also believe HE literally meant it when HE said:
Rev 3:10 (NKJV)
10 Because you have kept My command to persevere,
I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
I also believe that because the "hour of trial" is coming upon the whole earth and those who dwell on the earth; then our "Ark" of safety is a place off this earth. I believe that place of safety off this earth is in Heaven in the New City Jerusalem that is described in Rev. Chapter 21. WHY is He taking us there?:
Rev 21:9 (NKJV)
. . . "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife."
NOTE: She is in her new dwelling place in heaven.
Rev 19:9 (NKJV)
9 Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!' " And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God."
Eph 5:23 (NKJV)
23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
The Marriage Supper is always at the very end of the 7 day Wedding Ceremony.
So what happens at the very beginning of the 7 day Wedding Ceremony?
Reference above: Matt 25:1-13
He is Our Bridegroom, and HE is coming for us, but we do not know the day or the hour which is exactly the same in the Jewish Wedding Traditions. The Jewish Wedding Traditions that apply to Christ coming for His Bride the Church are as follows:
1. The man seek a bride had to make a contract with the father, agreeing on the purchase price of the Bride, which was due the day after she accepted the Proposal. The price the Father demanded to Redeem us was a Holy Blood Sacrifice, and Christ paid the price purchasing the Church as His Bride.
1 Corinthians 6:20 (NKJV)
[SUP]20 [/SUP]For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
2. The wedding proposal was never verbal. The man seeking a Bride is invited to a family sit down supper, after making contract with the father. During the course of the meal the man would pour a cup of wine and passed it to his prospective Bride. If she drank from the cup she was accepting the proposal, and if she set it down without drinking, she was refusing the proposal. Jesus poured the cup and passed it to the Disciples the foundation of the Church. The Disciples drank from the betrothal cup accepting Jesus Christ as our Bridegroom. Just as in any Jewish Wedding Proposal, the Couple is known as Bride and Bridegroom throughout the Betrothal Period. ( Mat.
9:15 )
1 Corinthians 11:25 (NCV)
[SUP]25 [/SUP]In the same way, after they ate, Jesus took the cup. He said, “This cup is the new agreement that is sealed with the blood of my death. When you drink this, do it to remember me.“
3. The first thing that would take place after the Bride drank from the Cup, accepting the Marriage Proposal, is the Bridegroom would stand, look at his Bride, and say, “I go to prepare a place for you.” He would then leave the old dwelling place of the Bride, never to set foot in it again until after the Wedding Ceremony. According to the Jewish Wedding Traditions, he would go back home and begin to build a New Dwelling Place for his Bride either in or near his father’s home. Jesus said in:
John 12:2-3 (NASB)
2 In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
That comes straight out of a Jewish Wedding Proposal.
4. So did they set the Date for the Wedding like we do? NO, because only the father of the Bridegroom had the right to periodically inspect the New Dwelling Place and giving additional instructions to his son to add this and that, make this better, etc. Finally without any advanced warning, the father would say to his son, frequently near midnight, “It is finished, go get your Bride.”
Hence, it is a reality in any Jewish Wedding that ONLY the Father knows when the Wedding will start; because it is ONLY the Father that can decide when the New Dwelling Place is FINISHED, including the Wedding Decorations, because the Wedding ALWAYS took place in the New Dwelling Place. While the Son would go off to steal His Bride away like a Thief in the Night, the father would give orders to the servants to get ready to welcome the Wedding Guests. Where is our New Dwelling Place? The New City Jerusalem in Heaven and it is Decorated, adorned as you would a Bride, which eventually be lowered to the earth.
Revelation 21:2 (KJV)
[SUP]2 [/SUP]And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
5. While it is true that NO ONE knew the day or hour that Wedding would begin, because only the father of the Bridegroom made that decision at the last minute; is was possible to see signs that the Time for the Wedding was NEAR. If the new dwelling place was outside the father’s house, the building itself was a visible sign of times, and/or by the products the servants were buying for their Master. When you saw them buying decorations for a Wedding you knew the time was near. At that time the Bride would gather her wedding party in her old dwelling place. They each would have to have a lantern with oil in because they new that the Jewish Wedding Traditions of 2000 years ago, dictated that the Bridegroom could come to call out his Bride late at night. We in a real sense are gathering the Wedding Party in our old dwelling place, “earth”, as we lead each new believer to receive Jesus as LORD. Sure we do not know the day or hour, but the signs of the times indicate that it is soon. Therefore we keep watch, expecting our Bridegroom to APPEAR in the clouds to call us out. And JUST LIKE the parable of ten virgins, ONLY those with oil in their lamps ( the Holy Spirit is the living oil in us ), get to go with the Bridegroom to the Wedding.
Mark 13:35 (NIV)
[SUP]35 [/SUP]"
Therefore keep watch {very relevant in a Pre-Trib Rapture} because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back--whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.
6. When the father tells the son to go get his Bride, he still does NOT set foot in the old dwelling place of the Bride. He actually travels to the old dwelling place of the Bribe, but stops just outside of it and calls her out. The Bridegroom is not the one that calls out the Bride, but rather he chooses a member of his wedding party to SHOUT to wake her and her wedding guests, calling her out of the old dwelling place. And they join with the Bridegroom’s wedding party and together they travel to the new dwelling that the Bridegroom has personally built, for the Wedding Ceremony. Jesus has actually chosen the archangel already to SHOUT and call us out of our old dwelling place “earth”.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (NKJV)
[SUP]16 [/SUP]For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
[SUP]17 [/SUP]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.
[SUP]18 [/SUP]Therefore comfort one another with these words.
7. The wedding ceremony in the new dwelling place was not like our weddings of today. They actually lasted seven days. If the guests lived close by they would go home, but if the bridegroom lived far away from the old dwelling place of the Bride, then accommodations would be made in the father’s house for the wedding guests. Each morning the Wedding celebrations would continue, with the official Marriage Supper being saved for last. Then they would travel back to the old dwelling place of the Bride for a reception dinner at Her Family's house, and the Bridegroom we set foot again in the old dwelling place of the Bride for the first time since the Bride had accepted his proposal.
Revelation 19:9 (NKJV)
[SUP]9 [/SUP]Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed
are those who are called to the
marriage supper of the Lamb!' " And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God."
