The Rapture Generation

Can A Believer Be Left Behind?

"...LOOKING FOR the blessed hope
and glorious appearing
of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ..."
Titus 2:13

In the late 60's and early 70's there was a great world-wide revival wherein multitudes came to the Lord. In the 70's and for quite a while later there was a lot of excitement about the coming of the Lord for his church, the event called "the Rapture." Books were being written about it, sermons were teaching on it, and there was a general hopeful expectation in the air.

But as time went on, the fervor cooled down and this subject got less and less attention. Apparently, many who heard it years ago got tired of it, lost interest in it, to the extent that today VERY FEW pastors even mention it anymore.

So will believers who are no longer interested, no longer eagerly watching, still be taken when the Rapture does take place?

I don't know. There is one Scripture that suggests that NOT ALL will be taken. The Scripture says the Lord will appear the second time "to those who eagerly wait for him." What about those who are no longer "eagerly waiting for him?"

"And as it is appointed for men to die once,
but after this the judgment,
so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.
TO THOSE WHO EAGERLY WAIT FOR HIM
he will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation."
Hebrews 9:28

Have you lost your eager anticipation of the coming of the Bridegroom? Does the passage of time mean the Lord has forgotten about it? Or - rather - is he separating out those who truly are eagerly waiting for him?

Will those who don't even believe in the pre-trib Rapture go with him when he comes? Perhaps. I hope so, for their sake. But there are many who are "preparing" for the Tribulation and many of those in that camp actually mock those who are eagerly waiting for the Bridegroom. One passage speaks specifically to that:

"...knowing this first:
that SCOFFERS will come in the last days,
walking according to their own lusts, and saying,
“Where is the promise of His coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were
from the beginning of creation."
2 Peter 3:3-4

It's amazing that what is so absolutely clear - is something many just cannot see. The obvious question is whether the scoffers will be penalized for not having the revelation. Well ...Jesus had harsh words for the religious leaders and scoffers of the time for not knowing the signs of the times.

"He answered and said to them,
'When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather,
for the sky is red;’
and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today,
for the sky is red and threatening.’
Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky,
but you cannot discern the signs of the times.'"
Matthew 16:2-3

For those of you who have once longed for the Lord but have lost "the blessed hope," I suggest you go back to your first love. Don't take a chance on missing it.

Margaret MacDonald Was Actually POST-Trib

· MacDonald’s vision was in 1830, 3 years after Darby’s conclusions about the Rapture

· MacDonald was a member of the charismatic movement of 1830. John Darby went to investigate and dismissed her “vision” as "demonic." If Darby thought MacDonald to be under an "evil spell," why on earth would he use her writings to form some new doctrine?

· MacDonald’s statements show her to hold a POST-trib position. She said of the Tribulation:
"…being the fiery trial which is to try us …for the purging and purifying of the real members of the body of Jesus." She looked for the Church being purged by the Antichrist. This is not pre-trib belief. Pre-trib doctrine shows the Church being removed BEFORE THE COMING of the Antichrist.

· Margaret MacDonald’s Prophecy

Margaret MacDonald Was NOT Darby's Source

The Lie, from the Nazi era

If you tell a lie big enough and often enough people will start believing it’s true.

David MacPherson

· David MacPherson began the whole controversy with his claims which have so little supporting evidence that one wonders how he could write his book with a straight face. Pretribulationalists should be indebted to MacPherson for exposing the facts, namely, that there is no proof that MacDonald or Irving originated the pretribulation Rapture teaching.

· Max S. Weremchuk wrote a major biography on Darby entitled, “John Nelson Darby: A Biography. “ In it he says, "Having read MacPherson's book I find it impossible to make a just comparison between what Miss MacDonald 'prophesied' and what Darby taught. It appears that the wish was the father of the idea.”

John Nelson Darby, wrote of the Pre-trib Rapture in January of 1827

· His denomination was the Plymouth Brethren

· Darby had already written out his pretribulation Rapture views in January 1827, 3 years prior to the 1830 MacDonald prophecy.

· Darby’s belief came from Scripture, not from a girl’s prophecy.
He did not get his eschatological views from men, but rather from the doctrine of the church as the body of Christ. His views were gradually formed and theologically and Biblically based rather than derived from any Pentecostal group or MacDonald prophecy.

· Darby went to the meetings being held where MacDonald gave her word, and he concluded that what was going on there was “demonic.” He would not have borrowed an idea from a source that he clearly thought was demonic.“

· Darby's understanding of the pre-trib Rapture was the product of the development of his personal interactive thought with the text of Scripture as he, his friends, and dispensationalists have long contended.

· Darby's earliest published essay on Biblical prophecy was in 1829. In his earliest of essays, he expounds upon the Rapture as the Church's hope, not the Church’s purification during the Tribulation.

· Darby’s conclusion concerning the pre-trib Rapture came when he saw clearly the distinction between Israel and the Church, two separate dispensations.

Margaret MacDonald was post-trib link to the text of her message

· MacDonald’s vision was in 1830, 3 years after Darby’s conclusions about the Rapture

John Bray

Bray was an anti-Rapture believer, but he said that Margaret MacDonald was teaching a single coming of our Lord Jesus. This contradicts the Rapture doctrine which teaches a two-staged event: first, Christ comres for His Church and second, seven years later his return to earth. So Margaret MacDonald was post-trib, NOT pre-trib.

Roy A. Huebner, Brethren writer

Huebner wrote that Darby first began to believe in the pre-trib Rapture and develop his dispensational thinking while convalescing from a riding accident during December 1826 and January 1827. Huebner wrote of Darby's pre-trib and dispensational thoughts:

· He saw from Isaiah 32 that there was a different dispensation coming …that Israel and the Church were distinct.

· During his convalescence, Darby learned that he ”ought daily to expect his Lord's return."

· He also saw a gap of time between the Rapture and the second coming

· Darby himself said in 1857 that he first started understanding things relating to the pre-trib Rapture "thirty years ago," so that would be January 1827.

· Darby had already understood those truths upon which the pre-tribulation Rapture hinges. He claimed that the doctrine virtually jumped out of the pages of Scripture once he accepted and consistently maintained the distinction between Israel and the church.

· Huebner considers MacPherson's charges as "using slander that J. N. Darby took the pretribulation Rapture from those very opposing, demon-inspired utterances.”

Margaret MacDonald's Prophecy

A Prophecy by 15-year-old Margaret MacDonald in Port Glasgow, Scotland, about 1830.

Margaret MacDonald has been cited for "inventing" the teaching known as the "pre-tribulation Rapture of the church." Not true! Margaret's views were POST-tribulational. There is nothing in her message that suggests that the church will be Raptured before The Great Tribulation. She did not preach the pre-trib Rapture, so John Darby did not get it from her.

Her Prophecy:

It was first the awful state of the land that was pressed upon me. I saw the blindness and infatuation of the people to be very great. I felt the cry of Liberty just to be the hiss of the serpent, to drown them in perdition. It was just ‘no God.’

I repeated the words, Now there is distress of nations, with perplexity, the seas and the waves roaring, men’s hearts failing them for fear. Now look out for the sign of the Son of Man. Here I was made to stop and cry out, "Oh, it is not known what the sign of the Son of Man is; the people of God think they are waiting, but they know not what it is."

I felt this [sign] needed to be revealed, as there was great darkness and error concerning it. But suddenly what it was burst upon me with a glorious light. I saw it was just the Lord himself descending from Heaven with a shout —just the glorified man, even Jesus; but that all must, as Stephen was, be filled with the Holy Ghost, that [we] might look up, and see the brightness of the Father’s glory.

I saw the error to be that men think that it will be something seen by the natural eye; but ‘tis spiritual discernment that is needed—the eye of God in his people. Many passages were revealed in a light in which I had not seen them before. I repeated, ‘Now is the kingdom of Heaven like unto ten virgins, who went forth to meet the Bridegroom, five wise and five foolish; they that were foolish took their lamps, but took no oil with them; but they that were wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.’

Don’t be unwise, but understand what the Lord’s will is; and 'don’t be drunk with wine which is excessive, but be filled with the Spirit.’ This was the oil the wise virgins took in their vessels -this is the light to be kept burning -the light of God -that we may discern that which does not come with observation to the natural eye.

Only those who have the light of God within them will see the sign of his appearance. No need to follow those who say, "...see here, or see there...," for his day shall be as the lightning to those in whom is the living Christ. ‘Tis Christ in us that will lift us up — he is the light — ‘tis only those that are alive in him that will be caught up to meet him in the air.

I saw that we must be in the Spirit, that we might see spiritual things. John was in the Spirit when he saw a throne set in Heaven. But I saw that the glory of the ministration of the Spirit had not been known. I repeated frequently, but the spiritual temple must and shall be raised up, and the fullness of Christ be poured into his body, and then we will be caught up to meet him. Oh none will be counted worthy of this calling except his body, which is the church, and which must be a candlestick all of gold.

I often said, "Oh, the glorious in-breaking of God which is now about to burst on this earth; Oh, the glorious temple which is now about to be reared, the bride adorned for her husband; and Oh what a holy, holy bride she must be, to be prepared for such a glorious bridegroom."

I said, "Now shall the people of God have to do with realities—now shall the glorious mystery of God in our nature be known—now shall it be known what it is for man to be glorified." I felt that the revelation of Jesus Christ had yet to be opened up—it is not knowledge about God that it contains, but it is an entering into God—I saw that there was a glorious breaking in of God yet to be.

I felt as Elijah, surrounded with chariots of fire. I saw as it were, the spiritual temple reared, and the Head Stone brought forth with shoutings of "Grace, Grace, unto it." It was a glorious light greater than the brightness of the sun that shone round about me. I felt that those who were filled with the Spirit could see spiritual things, and feel [him] walking in the midst of them, while those who did not have the Spirit could see nothing—so that two shall be in one bed, the one taken and the other left, because the one has the light of God within while the other cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven.

I saw the people of God in an awfully dangerous situation, surrounded by nets and entanglements, about to be tried, and many about to be deceived and fall. Now will the wicked be revealed, (the Antichrist- 2 Thess 2:3) with all power and signs and lying wonders, so that if it were possible, the very elect will be deceived. This is the fiery trial which is to try us. (She is showing the Church present during the Tribulation.) It will be for the purging and purifying of the real members of the body of Jesus; but Oh! it will be a fiery trial. Every soul will be shaken to the very centre. The enemy will try to shake everything we have believed in, but the trial of real faith will be found to result in honor and praise and glory. Nothing but what is of God will stand. The stony-ground hearers will be made manifest. And the love of many will grow cold.

That night [and often since] I have frequently said,"....now shall the awful sight of a false Christ be seen on this earth, and nothing, but the living Christ in us, can detect this awful attempt of the enemy to deceive—for it is with all deceivableness of unrighteousness that he will work. He will have a counterfeit for every part of God’s truth, and an imitation for every work of the Spirit.

The Spirit must and will be poured out on the church, that she may be purified and filled with God—and in just the same proportion as the Spirit of God works, so will he [the false christ]—when our Lord anoints men with power, so will he [the false christ] do the same. This is precisely the nature of the trial through which all those who will be counted worthy to stand before the Son of man will have to pass through. (Again, she is showing the Church being tried in the Tribulation.) There will be an outward trial too, but ‘primarily it will be temptation.’ It is brought on by the outpouring of the Spirit, and will increase in proportion just as the Spirit is poured out. The trial of the Church comes through the anti-christ, but it is by being filled with the Spirit that we shall be kept. Pre-trib doctrine says the church will NOT be on earth when Antichrist is revealed. Here miss MacDonald is showing her post-trib view.

I frequently said, "Oh be filled with the Spirit—have the light of God in you, that you may detect Satan—be full of eyes within—be clay in the hands of the potter—submit to be filled, filled with God." This will build the temple. It is not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. This will fit us to enter into the marriage supper of the Lamb.

I saw that it was the will of God that all should be filled. But what hindered the real life of God from being received by his people? It was their turning from Jesus, who is the way to the Father. They were not entering in by the door. For he is faithful who has said, "...by me if any man enters in....he....shall....find pasture." They were bypassing the cross, through which every drop of the Spirit of God flows to us. All power that comes not through the blood of Christ is not of God.

When I say, "they are looking [away] from the cross," I feel that there is much in it - they turn from the blood of the Lamb, by which we overcome, and in which our robes are washed and made white. There are low views of God’s holiness, and a ceasing to condemn sin in the flesh, and a looking from him who humbled himself, and made himself of no reputation. Oh! it is needed, much needed at present, a leading back to the cross.

That night [and often since] I saw that there will be an outpouring of the Spirit on the body, such as has not been—a baptism of fire, that all the dross may be put away. Oh there must and will be such an indwelling of the living God as has not been—the servants of God sealed in their foreheads—great conformity to Jesus—his holy holy image seen in his people—just the bride made comely by his comeliness put upon her. The servants of God sealed in their foreheads are the 144,000 Jewish evangelists preaching during the Tribulation. (Revelation 7:3-8)

This is what we are at present made to pray much for, that speedily we may all be made ready to meet our Lord in the air—and it will be! Jesus wants his bride. His desire is toward us. He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry.

Amen and Amen Even so come Lord Jesus.

— End of Margaret MacDonald’s message —

What Is The Rapture?

This is a study on the doctrine of the Rapture. I've broken down the study into what I hope are manageable bites. There's a lot here, so take a topic from the list posted at the right and digest it before coming back for another topic. It's too much study for a one-time read. This is a study on the doctrine of the Rapture. I've broken down the study into what I hope are manageable bites. There's a lot here, so take a topic from the list posted at the right and digest it before coming back for another topic. It's too much study for a one-time read.

Some basics:

What IS the Rapture?
The Bible tells us that before the great Tribulation comes upon the earth, the Lord will remove his believers from the earth.

"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. 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. Therefore comfort one another with these words."
Thessalonians 4:16-18

The source of the word "Rapture"
In the Greek translation of the Bible, the words "caught up" are the word "harpazo," which means to sieze, catch away, pluck, pull, take by force.

When the Bible was translated into Latin in the 4th century, the Latin word used for "caught up" is raptere, "to seize, snatch, tear away." It's from "raptere" that we get the term "Rapture."

Whom Is He Coming For?
An ominous warning here. Not everyone is taken, as is gleaned from the parable of the five wise and the five foolish virgins. That's another study. The point here is this: he's coming for those who are eagerly watching for him. More often, conversation is about who the Antichrist might be. Jesus is coming for those who are eagerly waiting for HIM, not for the Antichrist.
"To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation." Hebrews 9:28

As Christians we are not to look for the Tribulation, or for the Antichrist, but for "His Son from heaven who has delivered us from the wrath to come."
Ist Thessalonians 1:10

Jesus is the pattern
As it happened to Jesus, so will it happen to us. Those who have been conformed to his death, will also be conformed to His resurrection. Jesus is the pattern. We were shown a picture of the Rapture at the Rapture of Jesus. Are you surprised to hear that Jesus was Raptured?
"And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.''' Acts 1:10-11

More: on the right side panel, at the top

The 70th Week of Daniel

What Does The Bible Mean By "Week?"

Daniel 9:24-27

"Seventy weeks are determined upon your people..."
In the Hebrew, a "shavua" (translated "week") is a period of seven in the sense that a decade in English is a period of ten.

Seventy periods of seven equals 490 years. All but the last seven have been fulfilled, and that last period of seven is what is referred to as "Daniel's 70th week." It's a period of seven years determined upon Israel that is yet to take place before the end of the age. The purpose of it is judgment of the world, while Israel is protected and brought through to redemption.

The 70th Week Is Appointed Upon Israel, NOT upon the church.
Daniel 9:24 indicates that all 70 weeks are specifically determined upon Israel.
"...are determined upon your people and your holy city…."

It's determined "upon THY people," which is the Jews.
It's determined "upon THY holy city," which is Jerusalem.

It is not two half-weeks that are "determined" upon Israel and Jerusalem, but one period of 7 years.

The events of the period revolve around Israel, The Temple, Jerusalem, the Two Witnesses, and the 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel ...not Upon the Church.
The church was not present during the first 69 weeks, and is not present in the last week.

During the Tribulation period described in the Book of Revelation chapters 6 through 19, the church is not named once. This is all the more noticeable since the word is used repeatedly in the first three chapters, where Christ is seen walking among the churches, and then sending messages to seven specific churches.

The church age began suddenly and unexpectedly on Pentecost, and ends suddenly and unexpectedly, before the events of the 70th week begin.

Not Post-Trib
The post-tribulation view requires that the church be present during the 70th week of Daniel , even though it was absent from the first 69, which is conspicuously inconsistent.

Not Pre-Wrath
The pre-wrath view requires the church to be present during the first part of the 70th week, which indicates a misunderstanding of the purpose and continuity of the 70 weeks. It also suggests that the first half of the week will be relatively calm. No, as soon as "the Lamb" opens the seals (Revelation 6) it begins the wrath of God, and is anything but calm.

The text: Daniel, chapter 9:24-27
24: Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

25: Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.

26: And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; the end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.

27: Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering; and on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.

The Church Conspicuously Missing

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.'' Revelation 4:1

The Church Conspicuously Missing After Revelation Chapter 3

The church is mentioned repeatedly in the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation, where Christ is seen walking among the churches, and sending messages to seven churches.

But from chapter 4:2 on, "after those things," the church is not named once throughout the entire account of the Tribulation period.

From the moment John is told to "Come up here," for the remainder of the vision he is in the presence of the Lord, looking down on the dreadful events of the Tribulation on the earth. He is seeing it from heaven.

It is significant in the fact that John is told to "Come up here."
The very same words are spoken to the two witnesses before they too are raptured:
And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here.'' And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. " (Revelation 11:12).

The Church age began suddenly and unexpectedly on Pentecost.
It will also end suddenly and unexpectedly.
The is the "mystery" Paul was speaking of, the church age, something not revealed in the Old Testament and something not present when Daniel's "70th week" begins again.

There are two peoples of God, Israel and the church.
Two covenants.
Two programs.
Two "times."

In the 70th week, God is dealing with Israel and judging the world.

What Is The Trump of God?

Shall the Bridegroom come for his Bride with a trump of JUDGMENT???
Of course not!

There is more than one kind of Trumpets.
The Trumps of the Tribulation are the trumps of angels delivering the JUDGMENTS of God's WRATH.

The Rapture takes place not with the trumpet of angels but with the "Trumpet of GOD."

Let us not confuse the "Trumpet of God" with the temple trumpets or the shofar. Remember that those trumpets continue during the Millennium, so none of them are "the last trump" anyway.

The silver trumpet
Make two silver trumpets for yourself; you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for calling the assembly and for directing the movement of the camps.
Numbers 10:2

The shofar or ram's horn
Rosh HaShanah is the day of "the blowing of the trumpets."
According to the Mishnah, the trumpet used for this purpose is the ram's horn not the silver trumpets mentioned in Numbers 10.

There are two FUNCTIONS of Trumpets:
1. the Trumpet call to war
2. the Trumpet call to assembly

The seven trumps of the Book of Revelation are trumps of war, trumpets of judgment.
The trumpet of the seventh angel in Rev. 10:7 is straightforwardly presented as the last of seven trumpets of angels blown in a sequence as God releases His WRATH upon a Christ-rejecting world.

The trump of Corinthians is not a trump of judgment;
it is not a trump of angels;
it is the Trump of God;
a trump of assembly.

When Jesus comes with the Trump of God, it is the call to assembly.

Paul mentions the "Trumpet of God" in connection with the rapture.
It is interesting that this term appears only twice in the Bible:
at the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai at Pentecost;
and at the Rapture.

When Jesus comes, it's with the "Trump of God." He's coming to assemble the Church, not poor judgment on her.

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. 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.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1 Corinthians 15:51-53

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