A MAJOR mistake that many make is this notion that the Great Tribulation is the Wrath of God and that it is Global. This mistake is made by pre-tribbers and most post-tribbers alike. I understand that most of this confusion comes from the below passage in Rev 13. The term "the earth" is assumed to mean the whole planet, but does it?
[SUP]12 [/SUP]And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
[SUP]13 [/SUP]And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
[SUP]14 [/SUP]And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
[SUP]15 [/SUP]And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
The above was written in the first century AD some time between 62 and 96 AD. The "Beast" in power at the time was of course ROME. Rome was the most terrible of all the beasts. Rome lasted the longest and had control over the largest land mass in history. Did Rome ever occupy North or South America? How about Australia or China? Did Rome occupy Mid or South Africa, Antarctica, the North Pole or Russia? Did Rome occupy and conquer India?
Here is a map of the Roman Empire at its height and as known to John:
Now let's see how Daniel describes Rome in Dan 7:
[SUP]23 [/SUP]Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
Did Rome devour the entire planet? Look at the map above. Did Daniel lie or was Daniel talking about the known earth to him? If the latter, then why do we assign the entire globe to John when we don't to Daniel? It would be over 1,300 more years from John until Columbus set sail.
The Bible was completed nearly 2,000 years ago and 1,300 years before Columbus set sail and before the "new world" as it was called, was discovered. Therefore let's not assign to John knowledge of the whole planet that he did not have since we can't assign the same knowledge to Daniel. Therefore "the earth" as known to John is the same "earth" as known to Daniel.
I can't stress enough the importance of understanding this. Once this is understood, then it becomes clear that the events of Revelation are happening on a regional level and not a global level. We can then see as we study the regional location of the Beast that it has become Muslim and is killing or chasing Christianity away from its sphere of influence. When we get that, then we can understand that when the Wrath is poured out on the Kingdom of the Beast that it too is poured out regionally on a region where the Church has been erased. Therefore there is no need for a Pre-Trib Rapture to protect the Church from the Wrath of God because the Church is no longer there.
[SUP]12 [/SUP]And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
[SUP]13 [/SUP]And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
[SUP]14 [/SUP]And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
[SUP]15 [/SUP]And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
The above was written in the first century AD some time between 62 and 96 AD. The "Beast" in power at the time was of course ROME. Rome was the most terrible of all the beasts. Rome lasted the longest and had control over the largest land mass in history. Did Rome ever occupy North or South America? How about Australia or China? Did Rome occupy Mid or South Africa, Antarctica, the North Pole or Russia? Did Rome occupy and conquer India?
Here is a map of the Roman Empire at its height and as known to John:
Now let's see how Daniel describes Rome in Dan 7:
[SUP]23 [/SUP]Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
Did Rome devour the entire planet? Look at the map above. Did Daniel lie or was Daniel talking about the known earth to him? If the latter, then why do we assign the entire globe to John when we don't to Daniel? It would be over 1,300 more years from John until Columbus set sail.
The Bible was completed nearly 2,000 years ago and 1,300 years before Columbus set sail and before the "new world" as it was called, was discovered. Therefore let's not assign to John knowledge of the whole planet that he did not have since we can't assign the same knowledge to Daniel. Therefore "the earth" as known to John is the same "earth" as known to Daniel.
I can't stress enough the importance of understanding this. Once this is understood, then it becomes clear that the events of Revelation are happening on a regional level and not a global level. We can then see as we study the regional location of the Beast that it has become Muslim and is killing or chasing Christianity away from its sphere of influence. When we get that, then we can understand that when the Wrath is poured out on the Kingdom of the Beast that it too is poured out regionally on a region where the Church has been erased. Therefore there is no need for a Pre-Trib Rapture to protect the Church from the Wrath of God because the Church is no longer there.
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