Pre-trib Rapture – To Be or Not To Be

by:  Lonnie Lane

This
question of the Rapture and when it will take place is one that seems to circle
the earth. When things are calm the issue of the Rapture fades into the
background; but as soon as things heat up, people begin to get nervous about
the status quo of the world, and the
issue resurfaces. It sure has resurfaced lately – for good reason. The world is
in increasing turmoil. Here’s a question that came from Sydney, Australia.

 Q. Many of the U.S
evangelical pastors say God will not allow his church to be here while the tribulation
takes place…and that the Rapture and the second coming are not two separate
events. Care to explain why you differ?

A.  Believe me when I say I’m all for
the Rapture happening before the tribulation or any time that will take us out
of it. My vote would be for the Rapture to happen ASAP!

But before I go any further in answering this man’s question, I want to make
it clear that I am not dogmatic about when the Rapture takes place; but I am
greatly concerned about people who are not spiritually, or mentally equipped to
go through times of tribulation should they occur. My experience has been that,
not all, but a significant number of believers expect to be taken out of harms
way at any time; so they are not pressing into the Lord as they would if they
were preparing should troubled times lie ahead.

There is a less of a dependence upon
Him, or little realization of how much we desperately need to get as close to
the Lord as we can; or of those who realize how much we will need to trust in Him fully if we should head into difficult times. And most of all,
there is not the same quest for holiness for those who feel that they already “qualify”
for the Rapture because they “prayed the sinners prayer” at one time. If that
sounds judgmental, may I say it comes with love, and much concern for the well-being
of people’s souls, who may be vulnerable to discouragement and fear if hard
times come to them.

When I confronted friends of mine who were “pre-tribers” with the
possibility of still being here in times of great tribulation; and shared some
verses with them, it changed their whole way of relating to the Lord. Even if
things do not get difficult, growing stronger in the Lord is always advisable. One
is never sorry they took the time and the focus to grow in God. We should never
settle for the existing state of our walk with the Lord. There
is so much more to be gained from a deeper walk with the Him. Seeking to know
Him more; asking Him for insight, and revelation into His Word; can only
benefit us, and equip us regardless of what may come. The
greater the revelation we have of Him, the greater the change in us, so that we
are more and more like Him, as we wait for His coming.

Now let’s get into some of the issues. Yeshua told the story of the ten
virgins; half of whom were ready when the Bridegroom came at midnight, while
the other half were unprepared. It appears that they all had every intention of
being ready for the Bridegroom, and were waiting for him with great
anticipation. But he didn’t come when they expected, and so rather than remain
alert and in continued prepared anticipation for his coming, the sleepy ones
drifted off until they totally missed his coming. “Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep” (Matthew 25:5).

To be awake is to be alert to the things and Person of God. To be asleep is
to be unresponsive to God or His call. I get concerned that there are some, who
do not expect to be here in difficult times, who will slip off into a spiritual
slumber and not remain alert in the Spirit; and will therefore be vulnerable to
error or accusations.  Take the following
verse for instance: “Know this first of
all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying,
“Where is the promise of His coming” (2 Peter 3:3, 4). 

What does this verse mean to you?  To me
it sounds like in the last days, which many believe we are approaching; there
will be unbelievers who are out to taunt the believers by basically saying,
“Yeah, you’ve been waiting for that Messiah of yours, and saying He would come
for you, but you’re still here and He’s not. You’ve waited for something that
never happened.”  Will all believers
remain steadfast in their faith in the midst of that ridicule?  It looks to me like in the “last days”
believers will be here along with the mockers. Maybe this refers to those
believers who are saved after the Rapture. It doesn’t say so, but maybe. Big
maybe! Here’s why:

The Rapture theory considers that
the Holy Spirit will be taken out of the earth with the believers, based on
this verse about the appearing of the anti-Christ:  “And you
know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.  For the mystery of lawlessness is already at
work; only he who now restrains will
do so until he is taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians
2:6, 7).  It is assumed that it is the Holy
Spirit that restrains evil, and what this verse is speaking about, but how does
anyone get or stay saved without the Holy Spirit if He is taken out in the Rapture?
To think one can “get saved” or will remain faithful to God without God’s grace
being resident is to misunderstand our entire dependence upon the Spirit of
God. Without the Spirit, it is impossible to be saved because it is the
indwelling of the Spirit of God that makes us one with God. “If anyone does not have the Spirit of
Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Messiah is in you, though the body is
dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if
the Spirit of Him who raised Yeshua from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Messiah
Yeshua from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His
Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:9b-11). No Spirit, no spiritual life.  

We Jews seem to have to go through things, we don’t get evacuated from them.
It seems to be God’s way for us. The
early disciples went through terrible persecution. Why in Western society do we
think we should be exempt because most of us have been in these past few
generations? It’s not the case elsewhere in the world. People are suffering for
their faith in Yeshua as you read this in the comfort of your own home.  Have you read the book of Revelation lately,
especially the first three chapters? 
Those folks went through some very difficult things, but Yeshua’s word
to them was “Hang in there, remain faithful, hold to your first love, to your testimony,
and the blood of the Lamb, and I will give you a crown of life. (See Revelation
2 & 3).

Was Yeshua chastising most of those congregations where they needed it? Yes,
He was. He was warning them; He corrected them.  He was attempting to protect them from what
was facing them. He also promised them that as they lined up their lives and faith
where they were amiss, He would be with them and great victory was ahead;
perhaps not in this world but in the next. 
I am concerned that too many in the church today have a rather
earthbound image of Yeshua, and do not see Him as the glorious King of the
universe; to whom we are pledged in righteousness. Our treasure is too much
located on earth, in the here and now, and not the glory of eternity.  Yeshua said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust
destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do
not break in or steal for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”
 (Matthew 6:19-21). How do you
personally live out this verse? Where is your treasure? Are we so used to
hearing this verse that we don’t really “hear” it to be accountable to it?

I really dislike writing articles like this one. I
much prefer to be God’s cheerleader and talk about how good and great He is. I
know this is not one of my usual God-is-so-good
articles, but it may be that some of us need to hear this. I’m saying this in the spirit of, “one who…speaks to men for edification and
exhortation and consolation” (1 Corinthians 14:3). But Paul also clearly
said, “I
solemnly charge you in the
presence of God and of Messiah Yeshua, who is to judge the living and the dead,
and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke,
exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting
to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in
accordance to their own desires…” (2 Timothy
4:1-3).

Accordingly, please note that Yeshua didn’t say to the churches in the first
chapters of the Revelation, “And I will make sure you never suffer a day of
stress or duress.”  Rather, He said
things like, “Do not be afraid of what
you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison
to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to
the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown” (Revelation
2:10).  Sounds like tribulation to me. I
hope those words were only for them back then. But everything in the Bible is
for our present edification and to learn from. What I take away from those
verses is that should difficult times come upon us, or even just upon myself, I
want to remain faithful to the Lord, and be strong in Him, even to the point of
death if need be.  

When the disciples asked
Yeshua, “Tell us, when will these things
happen, and what will be the
sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3), He
answered, “….of that day and hour no one
knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For
the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in
those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not
understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of
the Son of Man be. (Matthew 24:36-39).
 

Let’s examine this. The Rapture understanding of these
verses is that the good guys would be taken out and the rest left behind to
perish. But is that what it says? It says, “They
did not understand until the flood came and took them all away.” It was the
flood which did away with them. Noah and his family weren’t taken away; they
remained on the earth. The rest perished.  

Prior to these words
Yeshua said, “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and
will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that
time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another” (Matthew
24:9, 10).

This is my great concern:
that you who read these articles, who visit our website, who have a longing to
come to know God in a greater measure; who are pressing in to lay hold of God
and His power, who are seeking to be in His presence; that we together remain
faithful to Messiah Yeshua, and to our brothers and sisters in the Lord. And
that we remain people of His love. We may not know each other in the natural,
but I feel a connection to you who read my articles. I care about you. The Lord has let me know that many of you and I will
meet in heaven one day. Won’t that be wonderful? Till that day, we must prepare
to remain faithful when many fall away.

As
for the Rapture and the second coming being the same, I have no way of knowing
for certain when He will come; but what I’ve given you above is but a small
example of why I do not believe a Rapture will take place that will exempt us
from times of tribulation. Could there be a mid-trib Rapture as some expect?  I would hope so there too. Don’t know. I’m
just going to do my best to prepare to remain faithful, and in love and
forgiveness; whatever may or may not come. That’s the best way I know to be
ready whenever He comes. There are a
large number of pastors who feel as I do; about the Rapture not taking us out
of times of difficulty. There is a
greater glory to God when He takes care of His people in the midst of His
judgment of others, rather than just removing them from it. I heard one pastor
on TV recently, who is known world-wide, speak in agreement with these
thoughts: Where is the glory to God if there is no testimony to His keeping
power over His people? If there are no believers in the earth anymore, where is
the testimony of God? And without any testimony, there will be no salvation for
those who are perishing, which is always God’s primary concern. He has to have
His people here to be His ambassadors. Yeshua came that people might be saved.
That hasn’t changed.

Even
if and when judgment comes on the earth, there is always this: “In wrath (He will) remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:2), but someone has to be here to pray
for mercy. Some people who know He is a merciful God need to be here to
intercede for that mercy. That’s God’s way: that we partner with Him in what
He’s doing, through prayer. I personally believe prayer is how He is teaching
us now to reign with Him in eternity forever. He is teaching us to bear the
burdens of His heart now.

There
are many other verses I could go into, and by now I’ve probably frightened some
of you who do not feel ready. Then
again, who could really feel ready? The
best way to be ready is to know how to put the full weight of your trust in the
Lord in all things. It’s okay, dear ones, if you don’t feel ready now. This is
a wakeup call, but please be aware that this is not for you to find a way in
the flesh to try to be ready, nor should you fear. Just surrender yourself to
God, turn away from any sins you’re been tolerating in your life or
compromising about; and turn fully to God. 
He will teach you how to be wholly His as you look to Him to do so.  In times of darkness, He has promised that His
people will prove to be the light in the world: 
“ Prove yourselves to be blameless
and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and
perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast
the word of life, (Philippians 2:14-16). There’s our goal. That’s His
standard. Let’s agree to live up to it, by His grace.

 We may just well be the most (or only) joyful people on the planet,
and surely the only people in peace, as we “hold
fast the word of life” who is Yeshua. We understand that the shaking of the
world system that we call tribulation is God bringing sin and unrighteousness
to an end. His intention is to bring people to repentance, and to rethink the
values in their lives, and to realize they are far from God; so as to come
under His eternally-safe wings. We get to be the ones to show them the way. Our
path grows brighter and brighter as the day grows closer of His return,
whenever that is.

 As a final thought, consider the Exodus from Egypt. It was
God showing His deference to, and protection of those who were His, when they
did not experience the plagues that Egypt did. In Goshen
where God’s people lived, there was light when the rest of Egypt was under
the curse of darkness. Thousands of Egyptians, and a “mixed multitude” in Egypt
at the time, saw the power and protection of their God; and left Egypt with the
Hebrews to become a part of God’s own people. As people see the protection of
God upon His people, can we not expect that thousands will come under His
protection and righteousness as well? If we were not there, how would they know
He was available to them? 

 Reprint of this article is permitted as long as you use the following; Use by permission by Messianic Vision, www.sidroth.org, 2011. 

Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible Copyright ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif.  All rights reserved. Used by permission.