THE RAPTURE SERMON

Revelation 6-7; Matthew 24

“…This is the way the coming of the Son of Man will be. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding grain with a hand mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore be alert, since you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.” —Matthew 24:39-42

OPEN HANDED VS CLOSE FISTED

When it comes to discussing

, some things are open-handed and others are close-fisted.

The timing of the

is an “open-handed” issue because all four views can be supported by Scripture.

Today I want to argue for the “

” view of the rapture because I think it makes the most sense of everything Scripture says about the end times.

WHY I HOLD A “PREWRATH” VIEW

Prewrath places the rapture

the Great Tribulation &

the outpouring of God’s wrath (Day of the Lord.)

REASON 1: I believe we are spared from God’s wrath but we are not spared from

.

REASON 2: The presence of

in the fifth seal. When does the wrath of God actually begin?

REASON 3: There is not a single passage in Scripture that

teaches a pretribulational rapture.

REASON 4: In 2 Thess 2:1-4 Paul says the rapture happens

the rise of the Antichrist/abomination of desolation.

REASON 5: The timeline by Jesus in Matthew 24 seems to put the rapture

the events of the Great Tribulation.

REASON 6: There’s no reason to assume God can’t work with

and the

at the same time.

REASON 7: Prewrath

what Scripture says about the end better than the mid-trib and post-trim views.

REVELATION 7: SEALED AND PROTECTED

Rev 7:4-8 shows a remnant of Israel,

& protected.

Rev 7:9-14 presents the church, resurrected and

.

If we ARE on the earth when the signs start to surface, “stand up and lift your heads, because your redemption is

!”
(Luke 21:28)