13 Reasons to Reject the Pretribulation Rapture (part 1)
I subscribe to the pre-tribulation rapture, so I am also open to listening to arguments against it. I appreciate that this guy opens up and admits that with every theory he has he feels there are still Bible verses that do not seem to fit, hence he doesn't have a settled grasp on this topic. He says "13 reasons to doubt the pretribulation rapture" yet they change that to thirteen reasons to reject (click bait, get more views this way).
1. Matthew 24 Jesus compares His coming back to Noah's flood, those who were "left behind" perished in the judgement and those who were saved were in the boat.
He flips everything on its head saying the one "taken" is the one that perishes in the flood and the one "Left behind" is the one who is saved.
This is very poor exegesis. The word for taken is παραλαμβάνω paralambánō, par-al-am-ban'-o; from
G3844 and
G2983; to receive near, i.e. associate with oneself (in any familiar or intimate act or relation); by analogy, to assume an office; figuratively, to learn:—receive, take (unto, with).
They are "taken" as a close, intimate friend of Jesus.
The word for left is
ἀφίημι aphíēmi, af-ee'-ay-mee; from G575 and ἵημι híēmi (to send; an intensive form of εἶμι eîmi, to go); to send forth, in various applications (as follow):—cry, forgive, forsake, lay aside, leave, let (alone, be, go, have), omit, put (send) away, remit, suffer, yield up.
This word is used to refer to a husband divorcing his wife and leaving her.
The two who were in the field were Christians, the two grinding at the mill were Christians. Jesus takes one as a close intimate friend and leaves the other behind.
2. Matthew 24, or Luke 21 or Mark 13 never talks about Christians being taken prior to the tribulation.
Stunning! He just read about Noah entering the ark 7 days before the flood, a perfect analogy to Christians being taken away 7 years before Armageddon. He just mangled the verses about one being taken and the other left (those in the field and those grinding at the mill).
In Luke 21 the conclusion is:
36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
The rapture is the escape. These first two points are horrible exegesis. Embarrassing.
3. 1Thessalonians 4:14-17
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 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.
16 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:
17 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.
περιλείπω: present passive participle περιλειπόμενος (cf. περί, III. 2); to leave over; passive, to remain over, to survive
The word translated "remain" means to survive. Yes, this is talking about what is known as the "mid tribulation rapture", the rapture of those who survive the tribulation.
1Thessalonians 5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
He seems to be interpreting the "day of the Lord" as a 24 hour period, the conclusion of the tribulation, and so the fact that "the day should overtake you as a thief" would indicate Christians are on the earth at the end of the 7 year tribulation.
This interpretation is incredibly bad, unbelievably bad. Antichrist has a 42 month reign, the temple gets rebuilt, his statue is put into the temple. You will have the mark of the Beast and if you refuse to take the mark you will be beheaded. How could anyone still be in darkness at this time that this is the day of the Lord? At this point I haven't concluded yet if he is an idiot or if this is intentional misdirection to lead believers astray. If this is what people who deny the pre tribulation rapture have as a Biblical basis it should confirm to everyone that there is a pre tribulation rapture.