Coming To Theatres October 3, 2014

A Study of The Rapture Left Behind, Really?

What Are The Events of the Rapture?

Alleged Rapture Timeline

Presuppositions of the Rapture Even though the Jews reject Jesus as the Messiah, they are still God's chosen people. Therefore, God has to fulfill all of the promises that He made to ancient Israel because God always keeps His promises. There are two future comings of Christ. – The first is to return FOR His saints. – The second is to return WITH His saints.

Rapture Presuppositions God has two distinct plans and programs in history. One is for the church. The second is for the nation of Israel. There will be a distinct 7 year period in the future called the "tribulation" or "Jacob's trouble." The church will not go through this tribulation.

Understanding Key Terms In hearing about the rapture, you will often encounter the words postmillennialism, amillennialism and premillennialism. First, the root word, Millennium, comes from the Latin for 1,000 years. It is believed to refer to the first 1,000 years of Christ's reign over the Kingdom of God on earth (Revelation:20:4).

Understanding Key Terms A postmillennialist believes that Christ returns to establish the Kingdom on earth after the 1,000 years An amillennialist doesn't believe that the Kingdom is coming at all A premillennialist believes that Christ returns before the Millennium to set up His Kingdom

Where Does Rapture Come From? The word rapture comes from the Latin rapere, meaning, "to seize" or "to abduct." It is translated from the Greek word that is rendered "caught up" in English Bibles today. All advocates of the rapture agree that the main argument is based on 1 Thessalonians:4:17. Here the argument stands or falls.

A Look at 1 Thess. 4:13-18 Written to comfort Christians about the state of their love ones who have gone on. When Christ comes He will bring those who sleep in Jesus with Him We will not precede or go before our loves ones to glory. Dead in Christ will rise first…The living will meet the dead in the clouds….we will meet the Lord in the air. The Living and Dead will both always (from that time on) be with the Lord.

False Assumptions of The Rapture The Kingdom is something different from the church. Actually, the kingdom is the church (Mt. 16:18; Mark 9:1) and we are in the kingdom NOW (Col. 1:13; Rev. 1:6,9). The Romans empire must be revived to keep the promises of Daniel 2, 7, 8, & 9 from failing. The promises of Daniel were fulfilled during the original Roman empire and it’s rule in Acts 2.

False Assumptions of the Rapture Christ will return in one generation from the time Israel became a nation in Actually, Mt 23:34; 24:34 speak about how the Herodian temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed within one generation. This indeed came to pass with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD by Titus. Notice the parallel: "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. " (Luke 21:20)

False Assumptions of the Rapture Israel never possessed all the land promised to Abraham and must return to fulfill this promise. God made three promises to Abraham and all three were fulfilled at the time of Joshua - Solomon. "And the LORD gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the LORD gave all their enemies into their hand. Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass. " (Joshua 21:44-45)

False Assumptions of the Rapture The Mosaic Old Testament temple will be rebuilt on the temple mount in Jerusalem complete with animal sacrifices and Aaronic priests. The Old Testament was nailed to the cross and abolished: Heb 8:13. To go back to animal sacrifices is to deny Christ: (Galatians 5:3-4) Restoring animal sacrifices nullifies the sacrifice of the blood of Christ on the cross which was the last blood sacrifice for all future eternity. (Hebrews 10:11-12)