The Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the church.
1. In Revelation 3:10, Jesus tells The Church "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation (The Tribulation), which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."
2. The absence of any mention of the church in the rest of Revelation indicates that it is not on earth during the Tribulation. There are sixteen references to the church in Revelation 1-3, whereas chapters 6-18, which cover the Tribulation, do not mention The Church once.
3. The extensive use of O.T. language and symbols in chapters 4-18 is an indication of Israel, not The Church. This is understandable since the church age is the time of the Gentiles, whereas the Tribulation is the time of Jacob’s trouble or the seventieth week of Daniel, determined by God for His dealings with Israel. Some of these O.T. symbols are the tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, the altar, elders, censers, cherubim, seals, trumpets and plagues.
4. There is much similarity between the events of Revelation 4:1-2 and other scriptural teaching on the rapture, such as 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. "After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet… which said, Come up hither, … And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne."
No single reason listed above is sufficient in itself to insist that Revelation 4:1-2 refers to The Rapture of The Church. When, however, all of them are considered together, I am inclined to believe that this inference can rightly be made.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
For some reason, an important ingredient is the trumpet. This is echoed in the following verses.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
That instantaneous translation is the blessed hope of The Bride.
Titus 2:13, "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;"
Some are expecting the Tribulation; some are anticipating Armageddon; some are looking for The Beast and the False Prophet. Had that been the anticipation of the Apostle Paul, he hardly could have written concerning the "blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ," for it gives no one joy to think of living through the conflagration of Armageddon, nor is it a blessing to anticipate life under the iron fist of the Beast.
But what about that trumpet that Paul spoke of? The phrase, "The Trump Of God" is significant, for in the Old Testament the trumpet was used for two things - to summon to battle and to summon to worship.
After the church age is covered in Revelation chapters 1-3, John writes (Revelation 4:1-2) "After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne."
See it? Trumpet then heaven. This is where the "catching away" or "rapture" of The Bride occurs in the Revelation timetable. It cannot happen during chapter six or seven because there is no trumpet mentioned there. Revelation 4:1 begins with “After this”. After what? After the church age discussed in chapters 1-3.
The next trumpet in the book is Revelation 9:14, "Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates." That's no rapture; it’s a battle cry.
Blessings in Christ Jesus.