50 Reasons For a Pretribulational Rapture By Dr. John F. Walvoord

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

presidente

Senior Member
May 29, 2013
9,164
1,794
113
This is because J. N. Darby is the father of pre-tribulation doctrine, whether you heard of him or not it is always the arguments he introduced into the church that are used.

Basically he fiddled around with one or two words in 2. 2. Thessalonians. He made the word apostastes to mean departure or removal whereas the true meaning is rebellion and the church has always interpreted it as rebellion and Antichrist the man of rebellion or the man of sin, the son of perdition. He is the perpetrator of the Great Tribulation or the great persecution which Jesus warned would come.
I'm not sure about that. I read where Thomas Ice retranslated the word in his words on the passage, but it seems like most pre-tribbers go with the standard translation 'apostacy.' Darby's translation says 'apostacy'.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2 Thessalonians 2&version=DARBY

This little quote form one of his books shows that he was anticipating an apostacy to come.
https://bibletruthpublishers.com/th...-13-5-point-type/john-nelson-darby-jnd/pd2081

Most pre-tribbers go at this without a 'solid proof text' to hang their hat on. It's loose arguments about not being appointed unto wrath, locating certain events are in heaven, arguing that 'I go to prepare a place to you' necessitates a 7 year trip to heaven awaiting the second coming and ignoring the idea that it could refer to the city that descends to the New Earth at the end of the book.
 

ResidentAlien

Well-known member
Apr 21, 2021
8,319
3,619
113
Have you played out a postrib rapture model?

You do realize the bible says "ALL TAKE THE MARK"

And that by the end of the gt ( in your own model) there is almost none...or none to rapture?
...with a destroyed earth and men praying to die???

The rapture verses are ALL peacetime. All normal life....ALL OF THEM.

But check this out....
ONLY THE 144 k are sealed from the flying scorpions.

Remember..they are born again Jews....But ONLY THEY ARE SEALED.

That means...under your template..christians are being stung to death.

Think about it. How poorly postrib rapture is thought out.

Tons of verses authenticate a pretrib rapture.
Okay.
 

TheDivineWatermark

Well-known member
Aug 3, 2018
10,887
2,113
113
I'm not sure about that. I read where Thomas Ice retranslated the word in his words on the passage, but it seems like most pre-tribbers go with the standard translation 'apostacy.'
Again, the FIRST SEVEN ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS (before the kjv existed) translated it as "a departing" or "departure".

That means, well before T. Ice existed, too. ;)



One example:

Geneva Bible of 1587
Let no man deceiue you by any meanes: for that day shall not come, except there come a departing first, and that that man of sinne be disclosed, euen the sonne of perdition,




Also, in the Latin Vulgate (400s), a Latin word was used that means "departure" / "a departing":

ne quis vos seducat ullo modo quoniam nisi venerit discessio primum et revelatus fuerit homo peccati filius perditionis
 

ResidentAlien

Well-known member
Apr 21, 2021
8,319
3,619
113
I have challenged postribs for years to lay out for us a postrib rapture from the bible.
So far no takers.


I thought maybe you did actually have a verse.

Pretrib rapture.....solid bible
I already figured out you're a debater not a student. I can't tell you anything you haven't already heard 1000 times. If you haven't been convinced by now, why should I waste my breath?
 

TheDivineWatermark

Well-known member
Aug 3, 2018
10,887
2,113
113
[I have no clue who "WordHippo" is, but this is their FIRST definition showing for "discessio" (how the word is translated in the Latin Vulgate, 400s)]

What does discessio mean in Latin? (wordhippo.com)

--"More meanings for discessio
departure noun"


TDW:
Also, in the Latin Vulgate (400s), a Latin word was used that means "departure" / "a departing":

ne quis vos seducat ullo modo quoniam nisi venerit discessio primum et revelatus fuerit homo peccati filius perditionis

So, yeah... way, way, way before T. Ice ever existed. ;)
 

TheDivineWatermark

Well-known member
Aug 3, 2018
10,887
2,113
113
Most pre-tribbers go at this without a 'solid proof text' to hang their hat on. It's loose arguments about not being appointed unto wrath, locating certain events are in heaven, arguing that 'I go to prepare a place to you' necessitates a 7 year trip to heaven awaiting the second coming and ignoring the [...]
I disagree that it's "loose arguments about" the things you've listed, which are merely "supporting" arguments to the main argument/arguments... and that, in part, has to do with the actual "definition" of the word in 2Th2:3, rather than "outside [of this text] ideas being brought in, and injected INTO this word," instead of grasping the actual definition of this word, which just means "departure," and then considering just *why* the definite article ('the') is used here when it is not otherwise required (and isn't used in Acts 21:21, with this word, there).
 

presidente

Senior Member
May 29, 2013
9,164
1,794
113
"""What do you refer to by 'business'? Be specific. A lot is going on in heaven in the book of Revelation. If you do not present evidence, you do not make a case""
Jesus makes the case.

Dialogue at the last supper

Says we will drink wine with him in heaven.

Rev 19 says the wife becomes the bride IN HEAVEN.
Pre-trib rests on reading ideas into passages. Again, quote the passages from Revelation 19 that talks about their being a marriage in heaven or the bride being in heaven. The announcement is likely made in heaven. Right after that is what many of us see as a second coming passage. I think that is an interpretation pre-trib and post-trib would have in common about the following passage.

What reason is there to interpret Revelation 19 as referring to a marriage performed in heaven, unless one is pretrib and just ASSUMES it occurs in heaven. Again, that is the problem with the pre-trib approach-- taking passages that do not teach pre-trib, reading pre-trib into them, and having no actual evidence from scripture for pre-trib in the first place. Pre-trib has a lot of verses it can fit into it's theory, but there is no scripture that teaches pre-trib. If there is, you haven't made a case for it. The problem with that whole thing is there are scriptures that do not fit pre-trib, that contradict it.

I understand the emotional ties you have to having a whole eschatological system and if the underpinnings of it are shown not to be solid, you want to defend it and prop it up. I can understand the emotional motivation behind wanting to believe that system works. But if you cannot show in scripture where there is actual evidence for the pre-trib rapture, why not just let it go? Don't you want to gain understanding? Holding on this this theory can keep you from gaining understanding.

Also, how do you explain Ii Thessalonians 1 with the church being here when Jesus returns to both execute vengence on them that know not God and to be glorified in the saints in a pre-trib scenario? It just doesn't fit?

MANSIONS.....IN HEAVEN.

innumerable number....in heaven.
At the end of the book, John sees the city descending out of heaven. Doesn't your version of eschatology have that in it? You've got too fulfillments if you do-- one with a bodily rapture to heaven and another with the New Jerusalem descending. Since a pre-trib rapture doesn't fit other scriptures, why not let that one go.

One glaring glarring mistake the "non heaven" doctrine brings is Jesus as the God man in heaven drawing his flock into THAT SAME DIMENSION.

The fact that you would say "what business in heaven" is telling.
I was referring to your vague terminology. A lot of stuff is going on in heaven in Revelation. You refer to entire chapters you think support your case. They don't. So I have to guess what is in your imagination. We are waiting to be clothed with that which is from heaven. Jesus extends the rule and reign of heaven onto the earth. For whatever reason, principalities and powers were given some degree of rule and reign over the earth. But Christ, the Son from heaven, is the heir of the nations, also, and is extending the rule of heaven hear as well.

To top it off ...it is bizarre to think Jesus comes with riderless horses to get us in the sky and do a silly uturn BACK TO EARTH.
Jesus also returns with angels, and the dead in Christ will rise first and we which are alive and remain will meet Him in the air.

You should not call Biblical concepts 'silly.' Look up how 'parousia' was used. It is translated 'coming' and sometimes referred to as Christ's 'Second Coming' in discussions of eschatology. But it was used for official visits. The dignitary would come to town. The people of the city would come out to meet him and return with him into the city as he arrived. So the scenario fits with the use of words.

You would have Christ make a U-turn coming from heaven and go back with us. How does that fit with the concept of the use of 'parousia.?'

The men the apostles saw in Acts 1 at the ascension said that Jesus would return as He ascended. When He ascended, we do not read that He went half way up, came back down, then went up again.

The real issue is not whether it is 'silly' for either Christ or us to make a U-turn, but what do the scriptures say. The scriptures do not teach us to expect multiple returns of Christ, a rapture before the tribulation, etc. You cannot show a rapture in a sequence of events laid out in any passage that occurs before the tribulation. Instead, you assume pre-trib and read it into different passages. You apply allegorical interpretations to other passages, and then there are the tenuous arguments that 'not appointed unto wrath' means that we Christians cannot be here when God pours out the wrath on the wicked-- but for the saints who live after the rapture that is somehow supposed to be okay.

The glorious future of Gods family erased...for what????
We should believe and hope in God's glorious future for His church as described in the Bible, not prophecy charts people come up with out of their imaginations, not assumptions about what verses mean, trying to fit verses into a preconceived theory that doesn't fit the whole of the New Testament.

Why don't you address the problem passages for your view that I have pointed out in this post and multiple other times?

And why the emotional connection to pre-trib. If you cannot show any actual evidence, and instead have to assume it into passages like you did in the post I am replying to, why be so invested in it? Why not have loyalty to Biblical truth rather than an eschatological system you have invested time and energy in?
 

presidente

Senior Member
May 29, 2013
9,164
1,794
113
Again, the FIRST SEVEN ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS (before the kjv existed) translated it as "a departing" or "departure".

That means, well before T. Ice existed, too. ;)



One example:

Geneva Bible of 1587
Let no man deceiue you by any meanes: for that day shall not come, except there come a departing first, and that that man of sinne be disclosed, euen the sonne of perdition,




Also, in the Latin Vulgate (400s), a Latin word was used that means "departure" / "a departing":

ne quis vos seducat ullo modo quoniam nisi venerit discessio primum et revelatus fuerit homo peccati filius perditionis
Paul wrote using that word elsewhere about many departing from the faith in the last days. Jesus wrote about the love of many waxing cold. It makes sense to interpret passgaes of scripture consistent with other scripture rather than invent multiple returns of Christ. Paul never uses the word from which we get 'apostacy' in scripture to refer to the rapture. It would make no sense to say that Jesus could not come back before the rapture if I Thessalonians 4 teaches the rapture occurs at Christ's return.
 
Mar 4, 2020
8,614
3,691
113
By comparing Scripture with Scripture, Matthew 24:29-31 corresponds with Isaiah 27:12-13 -

12 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off [/thresh] from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. 13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.


Neither passage is speaking of a "rapture" IN THE AIR.






see also Isaiah 11:11-12 -

11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Either you somehow missed this or you're rejecting the truth of the scripture: Jesus gathers His elect during the rapture. Rapture is what Matthew 24:29-31 is referring to.
 

TheDivineWatermark

Well-known member
Aug 3, 2018
10,887
2,113
113
Paul wrote using that word elsewhere about many departing from the faith in the last days.
And the reason he felt it necessary to add the words "from the faith," here, is because *that idea* is not inherent in the word itself: "depart [verb]"... It is necessary to *add words/phrase* to tell just what KIND of "depart [verb]" (or "departure [noun]") is meant, in any given context.



The word itself (in 2Th2:3) simply means: "departure [noun]."


It is up to the "context" to determine just "what KIND" of departure is meant.


[in 2Th2:3, it is used along with the definite article, 'the']
 

presidente

Senior Member
May 29, 2013
9,164
1,794
113
We both agree he comes in the second coming after the trib.

I need not make Jesus sitting on a cloud with a sickle the same dynamic as him sitting on a horse.

Worse than that is that you have to defend it.

Pssst...that is WHY the postrib workbook omits the rapture verses.
I am not familiar with a post-trib workbook, so I have no idea what you are talking about.

You also keep repeating the same approach to interpretation that I object to. You take an apocalyptic passage about a harvest and read 'pre-trib' into that. Honestly, it can be interpreted other ways-- equating harvest with death, looking at pictures like this in Revelation as vignettes as opposed to a series of events in sequential order.

This is apocalyptic literature and if you read interpretations, they abound in their variety. There are a lot of 'pre-trib verses' because you interpret parables, apocalyptic passages, etc. through a pre-trib rubric. Maybe you have heard those interpretations since you became a Christian and you do not realize there are other interpretations. When you insist that these are 'pre-trib' verses to those who do not read pre-trib into the same verses or are familiar with other interpretations, you come off as some kind of doctrinal robot who just repeats a script without thinking things through.

The problem with pre-trib is it does not fit with the straightforward passages, like Matthew 24 and Paul's letters to the Thessalonians and Corinthians. Paul's epistles refer to the 'parousia' of Christ-- His coming. This word was used of official visits of dignitaries. If an emperor or ambassador came to town, the people of the city would go out to meet him with much fanfare and return to escourt him in. Think about what the triumphal entry might have been like if the celebration started outside the gates and the people outside followed our Lord inside.

Your theory requires us to posit that some references to the 'parousia' refer to one even and others refer to another. That's way more than a stretch. It damages what is taught in these passages. It does not fit Paul's doctrine. I suppose someone could redefine 'parousia' to be a long time period, but that does not fit the meaning of the word, unless one things that Christ appears in the heavens and slowly takes seven years to come down-- which does not fit well with the scriptures either.

So, yes, you can get 'pre-trib' verses by assuming verses that are allegorical in nature (parables, apocalyptic literature) should be interpreted in a pre-trib way. But there is no reason for us to accept pre-trib in the first place, and it does not fit Paul's writings, so why should we assume that?



But Paul gave us some very straightforward teachings on this. Your
 

TheDivineWatermark

Well-known member
Aug 3, 2018
10,887
2,113
113
Either you somehow missed this or you're rejecting the truth of the scripture: Jesus gathers His elect during the rapture. Rapture is what Matthew 24:29-31 is referring to.
Are you suggesting that Matthew 24:29-31 does not state:

--"and He SHALL SEND HIS ANGELS with a great sound of a trumpet, and THEY SHALL GATHER together His elect from..."



I am merely pointing out that the reference to a "GREAT" trumpet connects to the passage in Isaiah 27:12-13, and that passage tells:

--WHO is gathered ('O ye children of Israel')

--IN WHAT MANNER they will be gathered ('gathered ONE by ONE' [not 'AS ONE,' as WE/His 'ONE BODY' will be!])

--that they are STILL-LIVING persons being gathered

--TO WHERE they are being gathered ('to worship the Lord in the holy mount, AT JERUSALEM')

--FROM WHERE they are gathered (from WHERE "SCATTERED"... like various passages inform us, regarding "Israel"... not re: "the Church"--see Lk21:24's "they shall be led away captive into all the nations" and the part about the "UNTIL" which correlates with many other "UNTIL/TILL" passages pertaining to "Israel" / "Israel's FUTURE"; Note: I'm not suggesting that they won't also be being gathered "FROM HEAVEN" [those who've died prior to that point in time], but this also agrees with what Daniel was told in Dan12:13, what Job knew in Job19:25-27, and what Martha also well-knew in John 11:25... "resurrection ['to stand again' (on the earth)]" was nothing new to OT saints, they understood it WELL--However, they were never promised "rapture [/caught-up/-away / SNATCH / harpazo ]," which pertains SOLELY TO "the Church WHICH IS HIS BODY"--ALL those saved "in this present age [singular]")
 

presidente

Senior Member
May 29, 2013
9,164
1,794
113
And the reason he felt it necessary to add the words "from the faith," here, is because *that idea* is not inherent in the word itself: "depart [verb]"... It is necessary to *add words/phrase* to tell just what KIND of "depart [verb]" (or "departure [noun]") is meant, in any given context.



The word itself (in 2Th2:3) simply means: "departure [noun]."


It is up to the "context" to determine just "what KIND" of departure is meant.


[in 2Th2:3, it is used along with the definite article, 'the']
There was also a stock body of doctrine Paul had taught them. No doubt he would have told them about the future departing from the faith, so he could refer to it as the apostacy simply without elaboration.

There is just no justification for interpreting the passage through a pre-trib rubric because there is no passage that teaches pre-trib. There is no rapture mentioned before the tribulation in Matthew 24 and similar passages. It does not show up in Revelation before the rapture occurs. Pre-tribbers just assume the doctrine and reinterpret passages through the grid. But it does not make sense.

In II Thessalonians 1, the church receives rest when Jesus returns to execute judgment on them that believe not and to be glorified in the saints. There is no talk of multiple comings there. Jesus comes back. That's it. From the first epistle, they knew that at Jesus' coming, the dead in Christ and remaining saints would meet the Lord in the air. I Thessalonians 1 refers to 'that day.' So when we read about the day of Christ in chapter 2, we should interpret that to refer to the events of chapter 1. Pre-tribbers introduce this whole scenario that has no Biblical justification. The justification for pre-trib is all the verses that are reinterpreted as pre-trib with no justification at all.
 

TheDivineWatermark

Well-known member
Aug 3, 2018
10,887
2,113
113
It makes sense to interpret passgaes of scripture consistent with other scripture rather than invent multiple returns of Christ.
Again, biblically speaking, the word "RETURN" is ONLY used of His Second Coming to the earth at the Rev19 point in time:

--Luke 12:36 (and context through verse 48; parallel to Matt24:36-51): "when he will RETURN FROM the wedding"... THEN the meal [G347--see its various occurrences, the ones relating to this point in time: His Second Coming to the earth, FOR the promised and prophesied earthly Millennial Kingdom age)

--Luke 19:12,15,17,19 (parallel to Matt25:14-30; same time-slot as the above) - "RETURN"... when He will deal out responsibilities having to do with "have thou authority over 10 cities"... and "likewise be thou over 5 cities" (those "cities" are on the earth)



Both pre-tribbers and post-tribbers AGREE He only "RETURNS" to the earth ONCE. That is not under question.
 

TheDivineWatermark

Well-known member
Aug 3, 2018
10,887
2,113
113
In II Thessalonians 1, the church receives rest when Jesus returns to execute judgment on them that believe not and to be glorified in the saints. There is no talk of multiple comings there. Jesus comes back. That's it.
That idea is not what is being conveyed in 2Th1. I showed this in the Post I'd linked, which addresses this.

Instead, the text states "ye who are troubled rest/repose with us IN THE REVELATION OF the Lord Jesus from heaven with His mighty angels INFLICTING VENGEANCE ON...

... and *that* ^ is DURING A SPANS-OF-TIME, rather than at a singular point-in-time.

That "spans-of-time" (INFLICTING VENGEANCE ON...) *includes* 2Th2:10-12's "GOD SHALL SEND TO THEM great delusion, THAT they should believe the LIE / the FALSE / the PSEUDEI"... DURING that "spans-of-time," not merely AT "a singular point-in-time".





[and 2Th2:10-12's "GOD SHALL SEND TO THEM great delusion, THAT they should believe the LIE / the FALSE/ the PSEUDEI" takes place FOLLOWING "our Rapture" / "THE Departure [*FIRST*]"]
 

TheDivineWatermark

Well-known member
Aug 3, 2018
10,887
2,113
113
I Thessalonians 1 refers to 'that day.' So when we read about the day of Christ in chapter 2, we should interpret that to refer to the events of chapter 1. Pre-tribbers introduce
That is the point I am always making!

I've stated: that every place in Scripture where "THAT DAY" is used in close proximity [same contexts] as the phrase "the day of the Lord," they are referring to the SAME [earthly-located] TIME-PERIOD (i.e. SAME "SPANS-OF-TIME"... located on the earth).

Paul uses BOTH phrases within this SAME "wider context" (both chapters). They should be "understood" in this same way (meaning, in the same way that the OT references do, when using these two phrases within the same context).


[2Th2:2 "[purporting] that the day of the Lord IS HERE / IS PRESENT [PERFECT indicative]"... 2Th1:10b "IN THAT DAY" (not in this PRESENT one!)... The phrases in bold both refer to that FUTURE earthly "time-period" that precedes leads up to His "RETURN" to the earth Rev19]
 

TheDivineWatermark

Well-known member
Aug 3, 2018
10,887
2,113
113
I've stated: that every place in Scripture where "THAT DAY" is used in close proximity [same contexts] as the phrase "the day of the Lord," they are referring to the SAME [earthly-located] TIME-PERIOD (i.e. SAME "SPANS-OF-TIME"... located on the earth).
EDIT (ran out of "EDIT" time!):

I've stated: that every place in Scripture where "IN THAT DAY" is used in close proximity [same contexts] as the phrase "the day of the Lord," they are referring to the SAME [earthly-located] TIME-PERIOD (i.e. SAME "SPANS-OF-TIME"... located on the earth).
 
Jan 31, 2021
8,658
1,064
113
By comparing Scripture with Scripture, Matthew 24:29-31 corresponds with Isaiah 27:12-13 -

12 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off [/thresh] from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. 13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

Neither passage is speaking of a "rapture" IN THE AIR.
OK, explain what Jesus meant in Matt 24-
30“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earthwill mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.
31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

First, explain the red words, if they DON'T refer to the Second Coming.
Then, explain the blue words about being gathered from "one end of the heavens to the other". Who is being gathered, and what is the scope of this gathering?

see also Isaiah 11:11-12 -

11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
It seems clear that these OT passages are ALSO describing the Second Coming.

How can you miss that?

But, to the point, could you point me to the verse that says raptured believers will go to heaven?

Thanks.
 

TheDivineWatermark

Well-known member
Aug 3, 2018
10,887
2,113
113
First, explain the red words, if they DON'T refer to the Second Coming.
I said they do.

Are you suggesting or thinking I said they do not?? I didn't.





[Matt24's context IS Jesus covering the Subject of (the things surrounding) His Second Coming to the earth Rev19]


If you're going to "debate" [good kind of "debate"] with someone, at least get "what they've said" correct. I've only said it about a billion times. :D Now, a billion and one-th!