Everyone who takes the Bible literally

believes in the physical second coming

of Jesus. Almost as many believe in a

Rapture of the church to the Father’s

house according to Jesus’ promise in

John 14:1-3. There is no one verse

that teaches specifically that Jesus

will come before the Tribulation, dur-

ing it, or at the end. The timing of that

event is a matter of deduction based

on a careful study of all the Bible pas-

sages on the Lord’s return.

THE FOUR VIEWS

1. The Pre-Tribulation View

Christ comes in fulfillment of His

own promise in Revelation 3:10 to

keep His church from “the hour of temptation, which shall come upon

The Various Views of the Rapture

THE END TIMES

October 3, 2012 North Park

Apostolic Church

all the world, to try them that

dwell upon the earth” (KJV).

2. The Partial Rapture View

Christ will only rapture those

“that look for him” (Hebrews 9:28 KJV), causing some Christians to

enter the Tribulation but be rap-

tured at another time during that

traumatic period in one of the

subsequent raptures. This view is

not supported by other Rapture

teachings in the Scriptures.

3. The Mid-Tribulation View

Christ raptures His church in the

middle of the Tribulation, with the

rapture of the two witnesses in

Revelation 11 serving as an illus-

tration of it. One problem with

this view is that the two witnesses

are Jews who have come to min-

ister to Jews in Jerusalem, and

are not members of the church.

People who hold this view skip

over the fact that Revelation 4:1-3

has John (a member of the

church) being taken up to heaven

as an illustration of the Rapture of

the church.

Pastor A. Mark Garcia

Lesson 2

NOTES: __________________________________________________________________________

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4. The Post-Tribulation View

This view is second in popularity

after the pre-Trib position. Christ

will come at the end of the Tribula-

tion, which means the church will

go through the Tribulation and be

raptured just before the glorious

appearing. Thus those who are

raptured zip right up to the sky

then right back down. This leaves

no time to visit the

Father’s house, no

time for the judg-

ment seat of

Christ, and no

time for the Mar-

riage Supper of

the Lamb. One

important fact

post-Trib advo-

cates forget is

Jesus’ promise to

“keep” believers from that time of

trial (Revelation 3:10). The prom-

ise would be broken if Christ came

for His church after an over-

whelming majority of its members

had been martyred.

WHY THE RAPTURE MUST BE

PRE-TRIBULATIONAL

When properly understood, The scrip-

tures are quite clear that the Rapture

will occur before the Tribulation be-

gins. Here are some reasons why:

The Lord Himself promised to

deliver us.

A clear promise guaranteeing the

church’s rapture before the Tribula-

tion is found in Revelation 3:10: “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants

of the earth” (NIV).

Though this promise appears in a let-

ter written to the church at Philadel-

phia, we can be certain it refers to

members of the universal church

throughout the ages:

1. the passage refers to a future

event;

2. the church of Philadelphia has long

since been destroyed and dis-

banded;

3. this was a letter to all the

churches; and

4. this promise will not be fulfilled

until a time of trial that comes

upon the whole world – not just

the church at Philadelphia.

In addition, the word “from” (Greek, ek) in Revelation 3:10 literally means

“out of,” which is how it’s rendered many other times in the Bible. God is

saying, “I will keep you out of the wrath

to come.”

Only the pre-Trib view preserves

imminency.

Imminency is the word used to refer to

the doctrine that Christ could come at

any moment to call His bride to be with

Him in His Father’s house. That is why

Scripture has so many admonitions to

watch, be ready, and to look for Him to

come at any moment. The other three

views destroy that immediate, at any

time coming. In fact, those views have

Christians looking not for Christ to

come at any time, but rather for the

Antichrist and the Tribulation.

The church is to be delivered from

the wrath to come.

The promise in 1 Thessalonians 1:10

(“Jesus . . . rescues us from the wrath to come”) was given by the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul to a young

church planted on his second mission-

ary journey. Many of his teachings

during that brief period evidently per-

tained to Bible prophecy and end-time

events, emphasizing the second com-

ing, the imminent return of Christ, the

Rapture, the Tribulation, and other end

-time subjects. Paul apparently con-

sidered these topics essential for new

converts.

Paul mentions the second coming in

every chapter, so there is no doubt

about the main subject of his letter.

He also commends them for turning

Page 2 THE END TIMES

The Various Views of the Rapture (cont…)

When properly

understood,

The scriptures

are quite clear

that the

Rapture will

occur before

the Tribulation

begins.

Page 3 Lesson 2

“to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessaloni-

ans 1:9-10).

The context of that passage is the Rap-

ture, for Christians are not waiting for

the glorious appearing. Paul tells

these people in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

that the latter will not occur until Anti-

christ (or “that lawless one”) is re-vealed (verse 8). No, the Christians in

Thessalonica were awaiting the coming

of Christ for His church – that is, the

Rapture, and that God had promised to

rescue them from the wrath to come.

Christians are not appointed to

wrath.

According to 1 Thessalonians 5:9, “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (KJV). This makes it clear that God has not “appointed us to wrath” (the Tribulation) but to “obtain salvation,” or deliverance from it. Since so many saints will be martyred

during the Tribulation, there will be few

(if any) alive at the glorious appearing

of Christ. This promise cannot mean,

then, that He will deliver believers dur-

ing the time of wrath, for the saints

who live through the Tribulation will

not be delivered; in fact, most will be

martyred. To be delivered out of it, the

The Various Views of the Rapture (cont…)

North Park

Apostolic Church

Primary Address

2515 Lemon Grove Ave.

Lemon Grove, CA 91945

Phone: 619-229-2800

Fax: 619-667-8821

E-mail: npac@apostolicpower.org

We’re on the web:

www.apostolicpower.org

VISION STATEMENT

We are called to be a Christ-centered, Holy Spirit-dependent church that operates with simplicity and excellence as we love God with all our being and

love all others with the same passion.

MISSION STATEMENT

To passionately pray, preach, teach and live through the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

which is His greatest act of love toward us.

church will have to be raptured before

it begins.

The church is absent in

Revelation 4-18.

The church is mentioned 17 times in

the first three chapters of Revelation,

but after John (a member of the

church) is called up to heaven at the

beginning of chapter 4, he looks down

on the events of the Tribulation, and

the church is not mentioned or seen

again until chapter 19, when she re-

turns to the earth with her Bride-

groom at His glorious appearing.

Why? The answer is obvious: She isn’t

in the Tribulation!! She is raptured to

be with her Lord before it begins!