The Bible does not
support a pre-tribulation rapture
for several reasons and here are
at least three: First, a
pre-tribulation rapture requires
a pre-tribulation judgment. For
this theory to be true, it means
God has to judge the living before
the Great Tribulation begins
to determine who can be ruptured
and who has to be “left
behind.” Moreover, this also
means that if God judges a person
unfit for the rapture, then the
sinner will have a second chance
at receiving salvation during the
Great Tribulation. The Bible
refutes both ideas. Second, the
Bible says the devil is preparing
to make war on the last or the
remnant of the woman. “Then
the dragon was enraged at the
woman and went off to make war
against the rest of her offspring
– those who obey God’s
commandments and hold to the
testimony of Jesus.” (Revelation
12:17) The Bible also says the
leopard-like beast will make war
against the saints during
the Great Tribulation. “He
was given power to make war
against the saints and
to conquer them….”
(Revelation 13:7, italics mine)
How can the devil and the
leopard-like beast make war on
the remnant of the woman (the
saints) if they are in Heaven?
Third, Bible history and secular
history affirms that God’s
people have suffered persecution
and harm ever since sin began.
(Hebrews 11) Abel was slain
because he obeyed the Lord.
(Hebrews 11:4) Nine of the twelve
apostles were martyred for their
faith. Jesus was beaten and
murdered and He told His
disciples, “Remember the
words I spoke to you: ‘No
servant is greater than the
master.’ If they persecuted
me, they will persecute you
also…. They will put you out
of the synagogue; in fact, a time
is coming when anyone who kills
you will think he is offering a
service to God.” (John
15:20; 16:2)
The rapture
concept seems incongruous when we
know that God deliberately handed
over the woman (the saints) over
to the Roman Catholic Church for
1,260 years of persecution!
Consider this text: “He
[the little horn, the Roman
catholic Church] will speak
against the Most High and oppress
his saints and try to change the
set times and the laws. The saints
will be handed over to him for
a time, times and half a
time.” (Daniel 7:25,
italics and insertion mine) Who
handed the saints over to the
little horn if not God? God
protected the woman from
extinction, not persecution. More
than fifty million Christians
died for their faith during the
Dark Ages! If God allowed the
woman to suffer persecution for
1,260 years, there is no reason
“the rest of the woman”
should be protected from
persecution during the Great
Tribulation. (Revelation 13:5-7)
I could go on and on about the
shortcomings of the rapture
doctrine, but you should
understand this point: God does
not view persecution as a
horrible thing because His grace
is more sufficient for every
challenge that His children may
face.
Corporately
speaking, I believe persecution
has a very valuable benefit for
God’s people or why would
God allow it? Please consider the
following three statements and
keep in mind that God’s
treatment of the woman –
during the Dark Ages and the
Great Tribulation – is
consistent with His changeless
character of love. Keep in mind
His wisdom goes beyond
comprehension.
Persecution for
Christ’s sake purifies our
devotion to God. When people are
persecuted for humbly doing the
will of God, they have no
bitterness or anger toward the
predators because they accept
through faith that it is
God’s will that they pay the
price that His truth demands.
When faced with persecution for
Christ’s sake, the
importance of God’s Word
becomes paramount. The fires of
persecution separate the
faith-full (the gold) from the
faith-less (the dross). When the
Great Tribulation begins,
everyone (including Christians)
who obey the first angel’s
message will soon face
persecution. Our Creator’s
demand to worship Him on His
Sabbath will stand in direct
opposition to Babylon’s
demand. Many Christians will
suddenly discover that they
really do not have the faith in
Christ. They will cry out,
“Oh God, how could you let
this happen to me?” There is
a huge difference between submission
to the gospel and an admission
that the gospel is true.
Peter’s
experience is recorded in the
Bible because he perfectly
mirrors the difference between
admission and submission. In the
Garden of Gethsemane, Peter was
bold, ready to die for His Jesus.
When the mob rushed into the
garden to lay hands on Jesus,
Peter whipped out his
fisherman’s knife and a
brief scuffle ensued. He managed
to cut off the right ear of
Malchus, the high priest’s
servant. (John 18:10) Six hours
later, in Pilate’s judgment
hall, this same courageous Peter
denied that he even knew Jesus.
Peter did not know
it, but he had no faith in God.
Peter admitted that Jesus
was the Messiah. (Matthew 16:16)
Peter expected Jesus to set up
His kingdom on Earth. (Matthew
20:21-28) Peter admitted that he
loved Jesus. “But Peter
declared, ‘Even if I have to
die with you, I will never disown
you.’ And all the other
disciples said the same.” (Matthew
26:35) When the mob showed up,
Peter proved he was ready to
fight and die for Christ, but out
of self-defense. When peter saw
that Jesus was not going to
defend Himself and overcome His
enemies, Peter denied that he
knew Jesus because Peter was not
prepared to share in
Christ’s condemnation and
death. It is one thing to die
in self-defense or in the defense
of God and country, but it is
altogether another matter to
suffer death for no other reason
than God requires it. This is
the beauty of Isaac surrendering
to his father on Mt. Moriah.
Jesus said, ‘If anyone
would come after me, he must deny
himself [our self interests] and
take up the cross [the will
of God] and follow me. For
whoever wants to save his life
will lose it, but whoever loses
his life for me will find
it.” (Matthew 16:24,25)
When the rooster crowed a third
time, Peter had an epiphany. When
he saw Jesus humbly submitting to
inhumane treatment, he began to
understand the meaning of
submission to the will of God. In
that moment, Peter’s head
knowledge moved to his heart. He
became ashamed of himself and
wept bitterly. Peter realized for
the first time that it was
God’s will for Jesus to die.
When Peter discovered that faith
in God means total submission to
God’s will, Peter was
transformed and he surrendered
himself to God’s will that
day. Persecution purifies the
soul of the persecuted and it
often changes the hearts of those
who observe such submission.
Persecution refines us, puts our
“self” aside, and makes
God’s will central in our
lives. Jesus said, “This
third I will bring into the fire
[of persecution]; I will
refine them like silver and test
them like gold. They will call on
my name and I will answer them; I
will say, ‘They are my
people,’ and they will say,
‘The Lord is our
God.’” (Zechariah
13:9, insertion mine)
Persecution kept
the faith of the woman pure for
1,260 years. When Jesus spoke to
the seven churches in Revelation
2 and 3, the Christian faith was
only sixty-five years old.
Already, six of the seven
churches in Asia Minor had become
corrupted by false doctrines.
Because religion mutated quickly,
God allowed the devil to chase
the woman into the desert. God
knows the desert is a good place
for training people. This is why
He took Israel into the desert
when they first came out of
Egypt. I call God’s use of
the desert, “Desert
University.” When a person,
nation, church is exiled to the
desert, God has to be depended
upon for everything. The desert
is an unforgiving place, a
hostile place, a lonely place,
and not a place that allows
self-indulgence and
self-reliance. The carnal nature
hates the desert. It seeks
pleasure and luxury, and it wants
the “easy life.”
However, joy can be found in the
desert because sanctification
expands the ability of the heart
to love God and man, and it
redirects our motives from
self-seeking to selfless service.
“Desert U” teaches
discernment and insight. This
holistic experience is called
“walking with God.” “This
is the account of Noah. Noah was
a righteous man, blameless among
the people of his time, and he
walked with God.”(Genesis
6:9, italics mine) Looking at
human nature, and knowing that
God’s wisdom is perfect, we
have to admit that putting the
woman in the desert for 1,260
years had to be the best thing
that God could do for her.
Humility is the
soil that nurtures faith in God,
God’s promises are the
sunshine, and the Holy Spirit is
the rain. Living by faith is like
putting on a blindfold, taking
hold of Christ’s arm, and
following wherever He leads. When
Jesus is leading, there is no way
to know where we are going, but
your destination is secure!
God’s people are usually
alone in this world. Family and
friends rarely understand or
appreciate the faith experience.
In fact, family and friends are
often opposed to the faith
experience. Jesus said, “A
man’s enemies will be
members of his own
household.” (Matthew
10:36) I have mentioned these
matters because there is great
joy at “Desert U” and
God covers all the room, board,
education, and security for you!
If necessary, He can make food
fall from the sky and water flow
from the rocks. “The
woman fled into the desert to
a place prepared for her by
God….” (Revelation
12:6, italics mine)
The final benefit
that comes from persecution is
exclusion. Persecution keeps
those who love the world and the
things of this world out of the
visible church. When the
threshold for being a Christian
is suffering, the woman remains
healthy. When the threshold for
being a Christian is easy, the
church suffers. The visible
church differs from the invisible
church in an interesting way.
This visible church exalts unity
at the expense of truth. The
invisible church exalts advancing
truth, social consequences
notwithstanding.
The pure in heart
are poor in spirit (ego). These
people are willing to make
whatever sacrifice is necessary
because they seek only to glorify
God and to help their neighbor.
Jesus said, “Blessed are
those who are persecuted because
of righteousness, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are you when people insult you,
persecute you falsely say all
kinds of evil against you because
of me. Rejoice and be glad,
because great is your reward in
heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were
before you.” (Matthew
5:10-12)
God’s people
do not serve Him because they
want to avoid Hell and achieve
Heaven! The woman loves God even
if there is nothing beyond this
life, because she has found
peace, joy, and the sustaining
grace that comes through total
submission to God’s will.
This experience is called
“overcoming the world.”
“They [the saints]
overcame him [the devil] by
[their faith in] the blood
of the Lamb and by the word of
their testimony; they did not
love their lives so much as to
shrink from death.” (Revelation
12:11)
