![]() ![]() According to the posttribulational layout, the rapture will take place at the end of the tribulation. Posttribulationists combine the rapture with the second coming of Christ. Sixth, the posttribulational rapture scheme would take all believers from the earth and give them glorified bodies immediately before Christ’s return to the Mount of Olives thus, the posttribulational scheme would not allow for the required presence of believers with natural bodies at the beginning of the millennium. Fifth, at the beginning of the millennium all its inhabitants will be believers, but many of the descendants of these believers will remain in unbelief so that at the end of the millennium the unbelievers will rebel against God for one final time. Fourth, people with unglorified bodies, bodies capable of death and procreation, will inhabit the millennium. Third, those with glorified bodies cannot die, nor can they procreate. Second, every participant in the rapture will receive a glorified, resurrection body. First, at the rapture every dead believer “in Christ” will be resurrected and every living believer will be “caught up” to the clouds (1 Thessalonians 4:17). The previous issue of the Faith Pulpit established six points regarding the inhabitants of the millennium and the timing of the rapture. Faith in Christ as the only Savior from sin will distinguish the saved from the unsaved, regardless of our views on the rapture.September 2001 The Inhabitants of the Millennium and the Timing of the Rapture, Part 2 John Hartog III, Th.D. The timing of that event doesn’t alter the fact that those who belong to Him will enjoy eternal life and those who do not will experience everlasting condemnation (John 3:18). Second, the most important aspect of eschatology is not a secret rapture but the absolute certainty of the return of Jesus Christ to the world in the last days (Acts 1:11 Revelation 19:11–16). ![]() Wrangling and name-calling over issues such as the timing of the rapture does not exhibit Christ’s love. He also said that by our love for one another all people would know that we are His disciples (John 13:34–35). Jesus commands us to love one another, just as He loved us. First, no difference of opinion among Christians justifies unkindness or hostility toward those who hold different views. Whatever we believe about the existence and/or timing of the rapture, there are two realities all Christians must keep in mind. The phrase second coming isn’t found in the Bible, either, but the reality of it certainly is. To say the rapture won’t happen because the word isn’t found in Scripture is a specious argument. While it is true that the English word rapture doesn’t appear, the concept of the rapture of the church is certainly present.įirst Thessalonians 4:16–17 (the definitive passage on the rapture of the church) says that the Lord will descend from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain will be “caught up.” The word rapture is derived from rapio (“to catch up or snatch away”), a form of which is found in the Latin Vulgate Bible. ![]() Among the arguments they pose are that the word rapture doesn’t appear in the Bible. “One-coming believers” who deny the rapture put themselves in conflict with the Bible and biblical scholarship, as well as the majority of the evangelical world. Those who believe the rapture and the second coming are one and the same event often use the term secret rapture in derision and refer to those who believe in the rapture as “rapturists.” Secret rapture is a term frequently used as a pejorative by those who deny the idea that the rapture of the church is separate from the second coming of Christ. Others hold to a mid-tribulation rapture, and still others to a post-tribulation timing. Some believe in the pre-tribulation rapture, which occurs before the beginning of the seven-year tribulation. There is considerable disagreement among Christians regarding the timing of the secret rapture. The secret rapture is “secret” in that no one will see Jesus coming except believers this is in contrast to the second coming of Christ after the tribulation, when “every eye will see him” (Revelation 1:7). The secret rapture-usually just called the rapture of the church-is the idea that Christ will come to take believers out of the world before His return with them at the second coming.
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