By Dr. Andy Woods 
Sugar Land Bible Church 

My previous articles [1] commenced a series on the rapture of the church. We began with the question, “What is the Rapture?” This question can best be answered by noting ten truths about the rapture from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. In previous articles, we saw that therapture is an important doctrine and not something that can be marginalized or explained away as a secondary doctrine. We also noted that the rapture is an event that is distinct from the Second Advent of Christ. We further observed that the rapture will involve the catching up of every believer to meet the Lord in the air. We now move to our fourth point.

A Reunion

Fourth, the rapture will be a reunion. The concern of Paul’s Thessalonian converts that initiated his discussion on the rapture is recorded in 1 Thessalonians 4:13. This verse says, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.” Apparently, upon planting the church in Thessalonica, Paul had taught the new converts about the rapture. However, his sudden departure from Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-9) left him no opportunity to explain the full ramifications and implications of this doctrine. Thus, when some of the Thessalonian Christians began to die, either due to natural causes or persecution, the question that likely remained in the minds of the living Thessalonian believers was whether those who had died before the Lord’s return in the clouds would miss the rapture?

Paul explains the reason that the Thessalonians made this inquiry was that they were “uninformed” (1 Thess. 4:13). The Greek word translated “uninformed” is agnoeō. Because “a” is a negation and “gnōsis” means “knowledge,” agnoeō literally means “without knowledge.” From this Greek word agnoeō, we get the English words “agnostic,” “ignorant,” or “ignoramus.” Calling someone ignorant is not necessarily an insult. Ignorance does not mean stupidity, or the inability to grasp truth. Rather, it simply refers to someone who is not yet fully informed. The reason that the Thessalonians were asking the question is because they did not have all of the facts. Paul, as the revealer of new doctrine for the Church-Age, had thus far no opportunity to explain to them how the rapture doctrine related or applied to Christians who had already died. The Thessalonians could not consult the New Testament to discover this reality, since the New Testament itself was just being initially formulated.

Paul answers the question that was on the minds of the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17. He notes,

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”

Here and elsewhere, Paul explains what happens to the souls or spirits of deceased Church-Age believers. Church-Age believers are those saints who have lived and died anytime in between the church’s founding on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) and its earthly termination at the point of the rapture (1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Cor. 15:50-58). Paul typically refers to Church-Age believers as those who are “in Christ” (1 Thess. 4:16) or “in Jesus” (1 Thess. 4:14). At death, deceased Church-Age believers’ souls or spirits leave the body and go immediately into the presence of God (Acts 7:59; 2 Cor. 5:8; Philip. 1:21-23) to remain there until the rapture.

At the point of the rapture, deceased Church-Age believers, whose spirits or souls are currently in the presence of the Lord, will then descend from heaven with the Lord and be resurrected or raised (1 Thess. 4:16) “first” (prōton). Then those believers who are living on the earth at the time of the rapture will be caught up to be with the Lord and be resurrected second (1 Thess. 4:15, 17). Thus, the believers caught up from the earth at the time of the rapture will meet the resurrected Church-Age saints who are descending with the Lord. The two groups will meet together in the clouds to be forever with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:17).

Paul’s point in explaining how the rapture event relates to the dead in Christ is that the Thessalonians should not grieve as those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13). They will see their deceased loved ones again at the moment of the rapture. In fact, the rapture event will begin with the descent of the Lord along with these deceased Church-Age believers. Because the rapture will involve a reunion between deceased Church-Age believers and living Church-Age believers, there is no need to grieve over their deaths to the extent that the unsaved world would grieve over such a loss. Paul comforts the Thessalonians by teaching them that they will see their dead, believing loved ones again at the point of the rapture!

Interestingly, Paul never tells the Thessalonians not to grieve over the loss of their deceased, believing loved ones. Grief over such a loss is normal and natural and should never be artificially stifled or suppressed. Paul instead says to them and to us to “not grieve as do the rest who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). In other words, do not grieve as if you do not have the hope of ever seeing your deceased loved ones in Christ again. Do not grieve like an unbeliever does who has no hope of ever seeing a deceased loved one again after death. Do not grieve as the world does. Such a perspective explains why Paul concludes his discussion on the rapture to the Thessalonian believers with the phrase, “Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:18).

Deceased Church-Age believers are looking forward to the rapture as much as those of us who have trusted in Christ who are presently living on the earth. As explained previously, deceased believers currently in the presence of God will receive their resurrected bodies at the point of the rapture along with believing earth dwellers, whose bodies will be changed. The prospect of a glorified body is just as inviting to a deceased believer as it is to an earth-dwelling believer. Either way, all Church-Age believers will participate in the rapture. Should we die before this momentous event, we will participate as we are resurrected first after our spirits or souls are brought down with Christ. Should we happen to experience this event before death, we will participate in the rapture by being caught up to Christ and changed second. At any rate, all Church-Age Christians will participate in the rapture, either on the way down or on the way up.

In sum, not only is the rapture an important doctrine, an event that is distinct from the Second Advent of Christ, and an event that will involve the catching up of every believer to meet the Lord in the air, but the rapture will also be a reunion between living and deceased believers. Therefore, this reunion element of the rapture doctrine furnishes a tremendous comfort to those living believers who have lost a loved one in Christ through death.

(To Be Continued…)

By David Dolan
DDolan.com

Although it was barely reported by the world press, another serious Iranian threat was issued against Israel during May—a fresh vow that the world’s only Jewish State will be totally erased from the Middle East map. More ominously, the vitriolic pledge came from the country’s senior military leader, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hassan Firouzabadi. According to the state-controlled Fars news agency, he told a “defense gathering” in Tehran on May 20 that “The Iranian nation is standing for its cause, which is the full annihilation of Israel.” The top military commander added that “threats and pressures cannot deter Iran from its revolutionary causes and ideals,” meaning international sanctions and warnings of possible military action against the Shiite regime’s manifold nuclear sites will not alter its jihad war against Israel. He called upon the world “to wake up” to the supposed “threats and dangers posed by the Zionist regime,” as if the Iranian regime’s repeated vows to destroy Israel while pursuing a rogue nuclear development program were just plot lines in some science fiction film. The Major General was said by Fars to have “reiterated the Iranian nation and Supreme Leader’s emphasis on the necessity of support for the oppressed Palestinian nation and its causes.” He reminded his audience that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said earlier this year that “defending Palestine is a full religious duty,” adding “he believes that any kind of governance and rule by anyone other than the Palestinians is an instance of usurpation.”

The latest Iranian vow to annihilate Israel came just days before diplomats from the so-called P5+1 nations, the USA, UK, Russia, China, France, plus non-nuclear Germany, held crucial talks with their Iranian counterparts. After two days of discussions in Baghdad, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton admitted that “significant differences” were evident at the talks. Speaking more bluntly, British Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters only “limited progress” had been made. He also warned that the defiant Shiite regime would face intensifying economic sanctions and the growing prospect of military action unless Iranian leaders took what he termed “urgent, concrete steps” to scale back their uranium enrichment program. This came after chief Iranian negotiator Said Jalili insisted once again that Iran “has every right to enrich uranium” for supposedly peaceful purposes. Days later, Iran announced it would begin constructing a second nuclear power plant in the south of the country next year.

After hearing the unimpressive results of the latest talks with Iran, PM Netanyahu repeated his government’s position that the belligerent Iranian regime was merely stalling for time as it proceeded full speed with its insidious nuclear weapons program. Earlier in the month, Brad Gordon, a former US government arms control official who now works for the AIPAC pro-Israel lobby in Washington DC, told a conference in New York that Iran has enough uranium already enriched to twenty percent grade to produce several nuclear warheads in short order. He pointed out that although such uranium must be fortified to ninety percent to reach weapons grade, the spinning process to reach that level is a rapid one.

Gordon’s chilling assessment was echoed by the Iran Watch American group, which posted disturbing information on its website revealing that with existing uranium stockpiles, Iran could produce a bomb equivalent to the one which destroyed much of Hiroshima Japan in 1945 in less than two months time. Another American group, the Institute for Science and International Security think tank, said Iran has enriched enough uranium to build five nuclear warheads if refined to ninety percent. The reports came just before the UN’s Atomic Energy Agency issued its latest review of Iran’s nuclear program on May 25, saying the Islamic state is pressing ahead with its uranium enrichment program. It said Iran has produced an additional 750 kilograms of enriched uranium since its last report was issued in February, with monthly production rising by around a third since then.

With this tumultuous region at the heart of planet earth now spinning around at a dizzying pace, it is wonderful to know and worship the One who holds the whole world in His unshakable hands:

“‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope’” (Jeremiah 29:10:12).

By David Kupelian
“PC is, strictly speaking, a totalitarian philosophy.” —Newsweek, Dec. 24, 1990, “Thought Police” cover story

A major engine for the left’s insatiable quest for power goes under the strange name of “political correctness”—an insidious frontal attack on common sense and conscience through language manipulation.

Many people mistakenly regard political correctness as just a nutty liberal fetish for not hurting people’s feelings. Words and phrases are continually decreed to be “insensitive” to various “minorities” and therefore replaced with euphemisms so as to avoid real or perceived offense.

People who are mentally retarded used to be called “idiots,” “imbeciles” and “morons”—psychological terms that correspond to different IQ ranges (0-25 for idiots, 26-50 for imbeciles, 51-70 for morons). But as those words gradually came to be considered offensive, the euphemism “retarded” came into vogue. When “retarded” came to be regarded as insensitive, new-and-nicer euphemisms like “intellectual disability” and being “intellectually challenged” emerged, culminating with “special.” It’s hard to be offended over being “special.”

In like manner, the deaf became “hearing impaired,” the blind “vision impaired” and the crippled “mobility impaired,” inspiring a new breed of cocktail-party jokes wherein the bald are “folically challenged” and so on.

More subversively, however, people’s ignoble or criminal qualities became disguised and excused with euphemisms: “Illegal aliens” became “illegal immigrants” and then “undocumented immigrants” and presto-chango, something bad was magically transformed into something good. Homosexuals became “gay,” abortion advocates became “pro-choice” and atheists became “brights,” each euphemism converting a negative association into a positive one. Today, increasing numbers of people refer to pedophilia as “intergenerational sex” and child molesters as “minor-attracted persons” or MAPs. (In Islam, the popular euphemism for pedophilia is “child marriage,” just as adultery is called “temporary marriage.” Really.)

Of course, Islam has become a major beneficiary of political correctness, reminiscent of what George Orwell called “Newspeak” in his novel “1984.” After 19 Muslim terrorists, acting in the name of Islam, murdered almost 3,000 Americans in a wanton act of war on Sept. 11, 2001, the government and media, to avoid offending Muslims, declared Islam to be a “religion of peace.” The Islamic jihad declared on America was mysteriously referred to by our leaders as a “war on terror” involving some unnamed enemy. But even that awkward and evasive expression was deemed too insensitive toward Islam, so under Obama the euphemizing turned surreal when “war on terror” morphed into “overseas contingency operations.” Likewise, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano came up with a friendly new phrase for mass-murder terror attacks. Announcing that she was deliberately avoiding the term “terrorism” in speeches because “we want to move away from the politics of fear,” she adopted the term “man-caused disasters.”

All of this is not, however, just a matter of annoyingly manipulative “word games.” Our civilization is literally being turned upside-down through the strategic redefinition (and therefore transformation) of our society’s operating principles.

Today’s most obvious case in point: Barack Obama, a far-left radical manifestly hostile toward free-market capitalism and American exceptionalism—in fact, to just about everything American—but who campaigned using powerfully evocative words of national restoration and reconciliation. “Hope,” “change,” “fairness,” “justice,” “reform” and “transparency” would usher in a bright new era of “healing” and “unifying” America and the world through this charismatic young leader’s “post-racial,” “post-partisan” presidency. What we got instead was a jarringly narcissistic, supremely demagogic and corrupt Chicago politician, lacking both in experience and wisdom, and displaying breathtaking contempt for America’s Constitution and its best-in-the-world system of government.

If the ongoing language war consisted solely of one man’s use of emotionally compelling catch-phrases—like Obama’s current re-election favorites (“Everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules”) and his ceaseless appeals to raw envy (attacks on “millionaires and billionaires,” “hedge-fund managers” and “oil-company executives”)—it wouldn’t be difficult for truth to prevail.

But the political and cultural left has hijacked virtually our entire language in the last couple of generations. It has redefined many key words, phrases and concepts, changing not only the words we use, but the way we think. Consider:

“Equality” has been utterly redefined. To previous generations, equality—as in Jefferson’s phrase in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”—referred to our being equal in our God-given rights before the law. Today’s idea of equality, however, is based on the virtual repudiation of meaning and morality and God Himself. Good and evil are basically “equal.” As I write in “The Marketing of Evil”:

Today, in the rarified but toxic air of multiculturalism and political correctness, all cultures and all values are of equal value. The most ignorant, oppressive, suffocating, women-hating kind of culture—where people’s hands and feet are amputated as punishment for petty offenses—is now worthy of equal respect to Western culture, which has provided most of the world’s knowledge, progress, food, medicine, technology, quality of life, representative government, and liberty. This moral inversion, which proclaims that all cultures are equal, has extended to virtually every area of society.

“Love” too has been redefined. At its finest, love is a spiritual quality of selfless, sacrificial caring about others, epitomized by Jesus when He said on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” The soldier who falls on an enemy grenade to save the lives of his fellow warriors acts out of love. But today, “love” has reached a low point—the word is used to sanctify same-sex marriage and celebrate what once were called “vile affections.” Even pedophiles creepily talk about “men and the boys they love” to justify their crimes. After all, how can love be vile? For many, our idea of “love”—basically, our feelings of attraction toward anything to which we are addicted—is now firmly in the gutter, like “equality.”

“Justice,” likewise, has been redefined. Phrases such as “social justice” and “economic justice” are euphemisms for confiscating, by threat and raw force, what belongs justly to others—in other words, injustice. Likewise, “affirmative action” is imposed and defended in the name of justice, but is inherently unjust: The most qualified applicant for a job is turned down in favor of another, because that other person has the right skin color. That used to be called racial discrimination (a great injustice), but now the same act is rationalized as “social justice.”

Freedom Is Slavery

In Orwell’s “1984,” the outside walls of the “Ministry of Truth” (headquarters for propaganda and revisionist history) are adorned with three “Newspeak” phrases—slogans of the political party ruling the total surveillance state of Oceania. They are: WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

America today is rapidly becoming Oceania, where many key political and cultural concepts actually amount to the opposite of what their labels profess:

How about these? THEFT IS JUSTICE. MORALITY IS HATE. FAITH IS IGNORANCE.

Or maybe these: ENVY IS RIGHTEOUSNESS. SIN IS LOVE. CHARITY IS ENTITLEMENT.

A 180-degree inversion of reality has been codified within our political and cultural vernacular. Whereas the poor and disadvantaged once were the grateful recipients of charity, thanks to the generosity of individuals, churches and organizations, today what used to be charity is an “entitlement.” The idea that charity—whether through private-sector generosity or governmental “safety-net” programs—is something to which the recipient is “entitled” is bizarrely presumptuous and discordant to all right-thinking people. It’s almost as though the government intends to program recipients of charity to become arrogant and ungrateful; after all, why would you be grateful for receiving something to which you were already entitled?

Likewise, “tolerance” today often amounts to not only acceptance, but virtual celebration of sexual immorality—or at the very least, an agreement not to utter or write a word of disapproval over immoral, corrupt or self-destructive behavior. However, homosexual activists condemning the “intolerance” of others are notoriously intolerant of all who hold to the millennia-old moral code of the Western world.

Why are the most perverse, immoral and confusing programs imaginable being instituted so easily throughout our nation’s public schools under the banner of “anti-bullying”? Because “gay” activists figured out that the best way to intimidate everyone into embracing their agenda was to package it that way. This is pure conditioning. For most people, the very thought of opposing any “anti-bullying” program is chilling, because we fear being condemned as haters of children.

The emotional programming inherent in words and phrases is so compelling that it affects our behavior in many areas of life. So, for instance, many conservatives automatically conclude that “environmentalism,” “conservation,” “hybrid” vehicles, “recycling” and “organic” foods are things to avoid, just because they associate them with liberals.

The Hidden Power of Political Correctness

The whole idea of political correctness is an assault on the freedom of the human mind.

The operating principle behind political correctness is raw intimidation: In a politically correct culture, if you dare use certain words—and by logical extension, even think a certain way—you are ignorant, insensitive, intolerant, bigoted or hateful.

If you criticize the president of the United States as a “socialist” or “Marxist,” for instance, you will likely be accused of “McCarthyism.” Regardless of the real history of the “McCarthy era”—yes, there really were Soviet agents honeycombed throughout the U.S. government—the phrase has become a verbal weapon with which the left attacks conservatives.

(Personal story: As a guest on Sean Hannity’s “Great American Panel,” I used the words “socialist” and “Marxist” to describe Obama,and rattled off highlights of far-left associations and exploits from his teen years to his presidency. Liberal panelist Bob Beckel, taking offense at my use of the word “Marxist,” turned to me and angrily accused me of being “worse than Joe McCarthy,” insisting I should “apologize to the president.” Apologize for what? Telling the truth? For the record, I like Beckel, he’s a very nice man off-camera.)

The point is, the weaponization of a word like “McCarthyism” has nothing to do with history or reality; it is the intimidation factor that’s programmed into the word—almost like a post-hypnotic suggestion—that we automatically associate with fears of being ostracized, diminished, marginalized and ridiculed. Remember Saul Alinsky’s famous Rule No. 5 from “Rules for Radicals”: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.”

Nobody wants to be scorned and mocked, and therefore many of us, consciously or unconsciously, avoid intimidating situations by refraining from standing up for what we really believe.

At its core, then, political correctness is nothing more nor less than the unjust intimidation of others into thinking and speaking a certain way. As such, it is pure totalitarian mind control.

[The preceding was excerpted from a much more comprehensive report—titled “Magic Words: The left’s secret weapon for transforming traditional America” by David Kupelian—in the May issue of Whistleblower magazine,

By Dr. Thomas Ice 
Pre-Trib Research Center 
It is not uncommon to hear anti-pretribulationists discount pretribulationism because the Bible teaches that Christians will suffer for Christ. Since pretribulationists teach that the church will not go through the tribulation, some attempt to equate this with a view that Believers will never experience hardship of any kind during the current church age. This is a distortion of our views. Pretribulationism teaches, by God’s grace and decree, the church will not go through the time of God’s wrath because the tribulation is designed for purposes which do not include the church. In fact, we believe that during the church age it is not uncommon for Believers to experience tribulation and even martyrdom.

Church Age Sufferings

The New Testament clearly teaches that church age believers will suffer (John 15:18-25; 16:33; Phil. 1:29; Col. 1:24; 2 Tim. 3:12, etc.). Yet this same New Testament promises a deliverance from a coming or future time of wrath. Thus, it follows that there must be different kinds or periods of wrath or persecution that the church will experience and another kind from which she will be delivered. That is exactly the case. Believers suffer persecution during the current church age, but is promised deliverance from a future, coming wrath—the wrath of the tribulation.

God’s Purpose for the Church

God’s plan and purpose for the church would naturally relate to whether He will remove His Bride before the tribulation or have her go through it. Only pretribulationism is able to give full biblical import to the New Testament teaching that the church differs significantly from Israel. The church is said to be a mystery (Eph. 3:1-13) by which Jews and Gentiles are now united into one body in Christ (Eph. 2:11-22). This explains why the church’s translation to heaven is never mentioned in any Old Testament passage dealing with the second coming after the tribulation, and why the church is promised deliverance from the time of God’s wrath during the tribulation (1 Thess. 1:9-10; 5:9; Rev. 3:10).

Believers are tested during the church age via the persecution and sometimes even death at the hand of the world (John 15:18–26; 16:33; 2 Tim. 3:12; Rev. 3:10). However, God’s wrath is never directed toward the church, Christ’s bride. Can you image the Lord beating up His bride via the wrath of the tribulation and then marrying her at the end of His period of wrath against her? I cannot, nor does the New Testament, which is why both of us teach the pre-trib rapture view. It is helpful, in determining the timing of the rapture, to note that the translation of the church is never mentioned at all in passages that speak of the second coming of Christ after the tribulation. [1]

Delivered from Wrath

The Apostle Paul notes that the church is not appointed to God’s wrath to be dispensed during the seven years of the tribulation in the following passages:

• Romans 5:9—“Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
• 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10—“you turned 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 delivers us from the wrath to come.”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:9—“For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Because God has promised that the church cannot enter the time of “the wrath of the Lamb” or “the great day of their wrath” (Rev. 6:16-17), the church will have been taken to heaven before this time.

Old Testament Origin of Wrath Terminology

The Old Testament taught that there would come a time, just before Israel returns in faith to the Lord, resulting in God returning them to a place of glory in the world. Deuteronomy 4:30 said, “When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice.” The word “distress” or “tribulation” in the KJV is said in Zephaniah 1:15 and 18 to be a time of God’s wrath. “A day of wrath is that day, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness” (Zep. 1:15.) “Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the day of the Lord’s wrath; and all the earth will be devoured in the fire of His jealousy, for He will make a complete end, indeed a terrifying one, of all the inhabitants of the earth” (Zep. 1:18).

The Old Testament calls this time “the day of the Lord,” or what is more commonly known as “the tribulation.” It will be a time of wrath—God’s wrath against the world and the earth dwellers. What is the purpose for His wrath? God’s purpose for the seven-year tribulation includes a time of wrath or judgment upon the Gentiles for their treatment through the years of Israel (Deut. 30:7) and for their rejection of Israel’s Messiah–Jesus (Rev. 3:10). It becomes obvious that since the church does not fit God’s purpose for His wrath, God has chosen to remove the church from this time-period. This is the point Paul is making when he promises deliverance from this time of wrath. The only way this can be fulfilled is through a pretribulational rapture of the church. Dr. Renald Showers explains:

the reason church saints should protect their minds with the certainty of being delivered from the wrathful first phase of the broad Day of the Lord is because God has appointed them to a radically different destiny from that of the unsaved. The unsaved will be overtaken by and experience the destruction of the wrathful first phase of the broad Day of the Lord. By contrast, God did not purpose church saints to experience His wrath. Instead, He intentionally purposed them to obtain salvation or deliverance from the wrathful first phase of the broad Day, which belongs to the unsaved. [2]

Forgiveness of sins through Christ prepares the church so that she will not be overtaken by the day of the Lord (1 Thess. 5:1-9), which includes the tribulation. This will be achieved by the rapture, mentioned by Paul in the preceding chapter (1 Thess. 4:13-18).

Kept from the Hour

The church is explicitly promised, through the church of Philadelphia (Rev. 3:10), deliverance from “the hour of testing,” which is a reference to the tribulation. Here is a clear passage teaching that the church will escape the tribulation, since God has revealed that it will be “to test those who dwell upon the earth.”

• Revelation 3:10—“‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth.’”

Believers are promised deliverance from the hour of testing. This means that the church is totally absent from the time period of this testing. It is said to be a time of worldwide testing. Further, it will test “those who dwell upon the earth.” This single Greek word “earth dwellers” is used ten other times in Revelation (6:10; 8:13; 11:10 [twice]; 13:8, 12, 14 [twice]; 17:2, 8), as “a company of people constantly in view through the Apocalypse as objects of God’s wrath because of their rebellion against Him…. These are men given up to evil and hatred of God’s saints.” [3] Thus, a contrast between what God has in store for His church and unbelievers could not be greater. Every aspect of this passage strongly supports pretribulationism. Jeffrey Townsend concludes as follows:

Although Revelation 3:10 describes the result of the rapture (i.e., the position and status of the church during the Tribulation), and not the rapture itself, the details of the hour of testing just mentioned establish the pretribulation rapture as the most logical deduction from this verse. The promise of preservation is from a period of time that will envelop the whole world. Only a pretribulation rapture would remove the church completely from the earth and its time continuum. Thus the pretribulation rapture is found to be a proper logical deduction from the data found inRevelation 3:10. [4]

Dr. Charles Ryrie adds:

the promise of Revelation 3:10 not only guarantees being kept from Tribulation trials but from the Tribulation period itself. The promise is not, “I will keep you from the trials.” It is “I will keep you from the hour of the trials.” [5]

Conclusion

The godly remnant of the tribulation are pictured as Israelites and Gentiles, not members of the church. Thus, pretribulationists do not confuse general terms like “elect” and “saints,” which are used in the Bible of all the saved of the ages, with specific terms like “church” and those “in Christ,” which refer to believers of this age only. The nature and purpose of the church is said to be unique and separate from Israel. This provides a biblical basis for removal of the church before God completes the final seven years leading up to Israel’s redemption and exaltation during the millennium. We have seen that there are specific passages promising the church’s removal before the time of the tribulation gets under way. These passages can only be harmonized with the rest of the Bible within a pre-trib framework, thus making sure that our Blessed Hope is imminent indeed. Maranatha!

By Dr. Andy Woods 
Sugar Land Bible Church 
Because today’s evangelical world largely believes that the church is presently experiencing the messianic kingdom, we began a study chronicling what the Bible teaches concerning this important issue of the kingdom. That there will be a future, messianic kingdom on earth has been revealed thus far through the divine intention to restore the office of Theocratic Administrator (Gen. 1:26-28) that was lost in Eden (Gen. 3). Likewise, the promise of a future, earthly, messianic reign was prophesied in theAbrahamic Covenant (Gen. 15) and related sub-covenants. It was also explained that while these covenants guarantee that the kingdom will one day come to the earth through Israel, according to the Mosaic Covenant, the kingdom’s ultimate manifestation is conditioned upon the nation’s acceptance of Christ as her long-awaited king during the final events of the future Tribulation period. The previous article also explained how God restored the office of Theocratic Administrator that was lost in Eden, at least in a limited sense, at Sinai. This theocratic arrangement covered most of Old Testament history as God, even after the time of Moses, governed Israel indirectly through Joshua, various judges, and finally, Israel’s kings until the Babylonian Captivity ended the Theocracy.

Times of the Gentiles

This Babylonian Captivity initiated a dark time in Jewish history known as the “Times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24;Rev. 11:2). This era is defined as the period of time when the nation no longer has a Davidic king reigning on David’s Throne. During this period, Judah would be trampled down by various Gentile powers. These powers include Babylon (605–539 B.C.), Medo-Persia (539–331 B.C.), Greece (331–63 B.C.), Rome (63 B.C.–A.D. 70), as well as the future, revived Roman Empire of the Antichrist (sometimes called “Rome Phase II”). Nebuchadnezzar, in a dream, saw this time period symbolized by a beautiful, dazzling statue. Each part of the statue represents a different Gentile power (Dan. 2). In his dream, Daniel saw the same period of time in the form of four grotesque beasts. Each beast pictured a different Gentile power (Dan. 7). To Nebuchadnezzar, who was the king of Babylon or the first Gentile power to trample down Judah, this period appeared beautiful. This perspective explains why Nebuchadnezzar perceived this era in the form of an attractive statue. To Daniel, a Jew, whose people would be trampled down by these Gentile powers, this period was dismal. This perspective explains why he saw the Times of the Gentiles as represented by various ferocious beasts.

Note, the Times of the Gentiles, which began with Nebuchadnezzar’s deposing of Zedekiah and the Babylonian Captivity in 586 B.C., are marked by the following three characteristics: the termination of the earthly theocracy, the lack of a Davidic king reigning on David’s Throne in Jerusalem, and Judah being trampled underfoot by a successive array of Gentile powers. The Times of the Gentiles will run their course and will eventually conclude with restoration of a rightful king reigning on David’s Throne, and the return of the shekinah glory of God to the Millennial temple (Ezek. 43:1-5). This difficult period will end with the return of Jesus Christ to rule and reign from David’s Throne in Jerusalem (Dan. 2:34-35, 44-45; Matt. 25:31). While the Times of the Gentiles began with Nebuchadnezzar’s deposing of Zedekiah, it will be terminated at the return and enthronement of Christ thus inaugurating the long-awaited messianic kingdom.

Thus, only after the final kingdom of man (the revived Roman Empire of the Antichrist) has been terminated by Christ, will the Davidic kingdom then be established on earth (Dan. 2:34-35; 43-45; 7:23-27). This fact alone should deter interpreters from finding a premature manifestation of the kingdom in the present Church Age. Unfortunately, “kingdom now” theologians ignore this chronology by arguing for a present, spiritual form of the kingdom, despite the fact that the kingdoms of man have not yet run their course, the Antichrist and his kingdom have not yet been overthrown, and the Second Advent has not yet occurred. This Danielic chronology causes Unger to conclude:

…Daniel neither in the image prophecy of chapter 2 nor in the beast prophecy of chapter 7 deals with the present age of the calling out of the church, the period during which Israel is temporarily in national rejection…Daniel was given the prophetic vision of Rome up to the time of Christ’s death (the two legs). The vision resumed with the resumption of the divine dealing with national Israel (after the completion of the church at the rapture) during the period between glorification of the church and the establishment of the Kingdom over Israel (Acts 1:6). Hence, the iron kingdom with its feet of iron and clay (cf. 3:33-35, 40, 44) and the nondescript beast of 7:7-8 envision not only Gentile power (1) as it was at the first advent, but (2) also the form in which it will existafter the church period, when God will resume His dealing with thenation Israel. How futile for conservative scholars to ignore that fact and to seek to find literal fulfillment of those prophecies in history or in the church, when those predictions refer to events yet future and have no application whatever to the church. [1]

The Prophets Anticipate the Kingdom

Throughout the dark years of national disobedience, Gentile dominion, and kingdom postponement, the Old Testament prophets held out hope for the nation and the world by faithfully speaking of a coming generation of Jews who would return to Yahweh thereby ushering in kingdom blessings. On account of this ray of spiritual light that the prophets provided in the midst of spiritual darkness, Peter refers to prophecy as, “…the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts” (2 Pet. 1:19). While it would take multiple volumes to adequately portray all that the Old Testament prophets revealed concerning the coming kingdom, [2] a few predictions from the prophet Isaiah will suffice. According to Isaiah 2:1b-4:

Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.

Isaiah 11:6-9 similarly says:

And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.

According to these wonderful predictions, when the messianic kingdom materializes, Jerusalem will be the center of world spiritual and political authority. This authority will result in perfect justice, world peace, cessation of conflict with and among the animal kingdom, and universal, spiritual knowledge. These glorious conditions await a future Jewish generation’s enthronement of the king of God’s own choosing (Deut. 17:15). Such enthronement will make Israel not only the owner but also the possessor of all that is promised in Israel’s covenants. As these covenantal blessings come upon Israel in that future day, the entire world will be blessed as well (Rom. 11:12, 15).

Continuation of the Times of the Gentiles Until Christ’s Coming

Following the Babylonian Captivity in 586 B.C., the prophesied seventy years of national, divine discipline had run their course (Lev. 25:1-7; 2 Chron. 36:20-21; Jer. 25:11; 29:10). The newly inaugurated Persian government allowed God’s people to return to their homeland (Ezra; Neh.). Thus, by the time of Christ, the nation had been back in the Promised Land for over five centuries. However, such long residency in the land did not mean that the Times of the Gentiles had concluded. During all of this time, Israel still had no reigning king upon David’s Throne. Moreover, as Daniel predicted (Dan. 2; 7), Israel continued to be under the domination of various Gentile powers. Those powers included Persia, which was followed by Greece, and finally Rome. By the time Christ was born, the Roman Empire occupied the Promised Land, placed Israel under an enormous tax burden, and usurped from the Jews the right to execute their own criminals. Beyond this, the nation had gone through four hundred years of silence when God was not directly speaking to His people through prophetic oracles.

Against the backdrop of such silence and bondage entered Jesus Christ,the rightful heir to David’s Throne. The Gospel accounts identify and affirm Jesus Christ as the long-awaited Davidic Descendant prophesied in both the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants. For example, Matthew’s Gospel connects Christ genealogically to both Abraham and David (Matt. 1:17). Matthew also routinely associates Christ with the title “Son of David” (Matt. 9:27). Luke similarly shows Jesus to be the rightful Heir to God’s promises to David (Luke 1:32-33, 68-69).