Sorry about that tangent. Getting back to the rapture, there's another reason Satan loves the mid and post-tribulation rapture doctrines, and that's because they are dangerous. They lead the fence-straddlers to believe that they can wait for the rapture to happen to have proof of God's existence and THEN have 7 years to make their decision to get saved. This deception is straight from hell, people. 2nd Thessalonians 2:10-12 shows us that anyone who has heard the gospel before the rapture but ignored it or rejected it, will be sent a powerful delusion that makes them starry-eyed over the Anti-Christ, to where they will never accept Jesus. There will be no Holy Spirit here on earth any longer, which is why the Christians are raptured out in the first place. The Holy Spirit will be taken out of the way and the Anti-Christ will then be able to appear (2nd Thessalonians 2:2-12).
I just want to point out one more thing before we begin. Don't let the title of 'Pastor' or 'Preacher' fool you into giving any credibility to someone teaching a mid or post-tribulation rapture doctrine. The spiritual deceivers are becoming more and more convincing, just as the Bible said they would in 2nd Timothy 3:13. I'm not saying that someone is automatically sent from hell because they haven't seen the light of the Pre-Daniel's 70th week rapture yet, but you have to remember that Paul warned us that these deceivers were going to start increasingly taking on the appearance of ministers of righteousness, so just be wary:
2nd Corinthians 11:13-15
13. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
14. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
So, getting to the good stuff, here are some points of evidence for a pre-Daniel's 70th week rapture and AGAINST the doctrines of a mid-tribulation or post-tribulation rapture:
(1) First and foremost if you haven't heard a mid or post-trib rapture supporter say that the pre-Daniel's 70th week rapture was just something dreamed up by a guy named John Nelson Darby in 1830, you eventually will. They parrot this claim over and over and over like a broken record. John Nelson Darby 1830, John Nelson Darby 1830, John Nelson Darby 1830. On and on and on they go. This shows just how quick people are these days to parrot something they hear without researching it any. Even just a little bit of research will dig up cases of the pre-Daniel's 70th week rapture being talked about by people who lived long before John Nelson Darby: Here are just a few examples:
Joseph Mede (1586 - 1638 AD) taught a pre-Daniel's 70th week rapture:
"I will add this more, namely, what may be conceived to be the cause of this RAPTURE of the saints on high to meet the Lord in the clouds, rather than to wait his coming to earth....What if it be, that they may be PRESERVED during the Conflagration of the earth and the works thereof, 2 Pet.3:10, that as Noah and his family were preserved from the Deluge by being lift up above the waters in the Ark; so should the saints at the Conflagration be lift up in the clouds unto their Ark, Christ, to be preserved there from the deluge of fire, wherein the wicked shall be consumed?" ("The Works of Joseph Mede," 1672, London edition, Book IV, p.776)
Irenaeus (130 – 202 AD) spoke of a pre-Daniel's 70th week rapture:
“Those nations however, who did not of themselves raise up their eyes unto heaven, nor returned thanks to their Maker, nor wished to behold the light of truth, but who were like blind mice concealed in the depths of ignorance, the word justly reckons “as waste water from a sink, and as the turning-weight of a balance — in fact, as nothing;”(1) so far useful and serviceable to the just, as stubble conduces towards the growth of the wheat, and its straw, by means of combustion, serves for working gold. And therefore, when in the end the Church shall be suddenly caught up from this, it is said, “There shall be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall be.”(2) For this is the last contest of the righteous, in which, when they overcome they are crowned with incorruption.” (Irenaeus, 'Against Heresies' 5.29)
Ephraim the Syrian (306 – 373 AD) spoke of a pre-Daniel's 70th week rapture:
"Or do you not believe unless you see with your eyes? See to it that this sentence be not fulfilled among you of the prophet who declares: “Woe to those who desire to see the day of the Lord!” For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins. And so, brothers most dear to me, it is the eleventh hour, and the end of the world comes to the harvest, and angels, armed and prepared, hold sickles in their hands, awaiting the empire of the Lord." (Ephraim the Syrian, 'On the Last Times 2')
It's time to lay to rest the incessant claim that the pre-Daniel's 70th week rapture was merely something thought up by John Nelson Darby in 1830
(2) Post-Tribbers claim that the rapture and the second coming are not two separate events, but the Bible shows that they are. The Post-Tribbers point out that the angels told the crowd watching Jesus ascending into the clouds that he would return the same way he left, and then they say that that means his next return will be in the clouds at the end of Jacob's Trouble. They're half right in that Jesus will return the same way he left, but they don't realize that the gospel of John and the book of Acts show us that Jesus went up to heaven TWICE. The first time secretly and quietly, the second time very visibly and publicly. In John 20:17 Jesus tells Mary not to touch him because he hasn't ascended to his Father in heaven yet, but later in verse 27 he is telling Thomas to handle him and touch his wounds. Why could Thomas touch him , but not Mary? Clearly, because Jesus had since ascended to his Father and come back down. Jesus even says in verse 20 that he's going to ascend to this Father before going to see the disciples. Now, in Acts 1:11 we see two angels telling the people that were staring up into the clouds after Jesus left that he will return in the SAME way that he ascended to heaven, MEANING that there will be a secret, quiet return, and then a big, loud, visible, public return. A lot of people go decades studying the Bible without making the connection to him ascending into heaven TWICE. In a way, this shows just how stealthy the rapture is going to be.
(3) Next, I want you to notice something very important in the book of Revelation. When Jesus is talking to the seven churches in chapters 2 and 3, he says the following to each of them:
"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the SPIRIT saith unto the churches;"
Notice that he says the word 'Spirit.' He says this in Revelation 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:29, 3:6, 3:13, 3:22.
But look what the scriptures say later on in Revelation, once the Tribulation has started. Can you spot the difference?
Revelation 13:9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
That's right, the Spirit is missing. That's because by that point, the Holy Spirit will have been taken out of the world. That's why the world will have Moses and Elijah, the 144,000 witnesses, and the angel flying through all of the world preaching the gospel. And if the Holy Spirit has been taken out of this world, so have the people that the Holy Spirit had sealed until the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).
The Spirit doesn't appear again until the END of the book of Revelation and it appears with the BRIDE. Hello!...
Revelation 22:17
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.
(4) Some Post-Tribbers bring up Revelation 7:13-14 as proof that the church will go through the Daniel's 70th week, so let's take a look at those verses:
Revelation 7:13-14
13. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14. And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
They say that since there are saints being redeemed out of Daniel's 70th week that the church obviously goes through it. But what we have to keep in mind is that there are THREE parts of a harvest: (1) the firstfruits, (2) the main harvest and, (3) the corners and gleanings. The firstfruits are those Old Testament saints that were brought forth out of their graves after Jesus was resurrected, the main harvest is the church and the small crop left in the corners and gleanings are those saints redeemed out of Daniel's 70th week. Now, let's find all of this in scripture:
First, God takes up the firstfruits of the harvest. These were those sparse stalks here and there that matured and turned gold and ready before the rest of the crop, which would usually be ready a couple days later. These first stalks were then made into a sheaf and offered for a wave-offering:
Leviticus 23:10
10. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
And notice that a LAMB is offered with this sheaf of firstfruits:
Leviticus 23:12
And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he LAMB without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.
And here we see it coming to pass in the New Testament, where Jesus is the Lamb of the firstfruits. Notice that it specifically says that Jesus is the firstfruits of those THAT SLEPT, and also notice that it says every man will be taken up according to his ORDER (firstfruits, main harvest, corner and gleanings)...
1st Corinthians 15:20, 23-24
20. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
23. But every man in his own ORDER: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
24. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
And here we see that the firstfruits were indeed resurrected right after Jesus:
Luke 27:50-53
50. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
51. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
52. And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53. And came out of the graves AFTER his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
Now, obviously, after the firstfruits would come the main harvest. That's the Christian church:
Luke 10:2
Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
John 4:35
Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
After the main harvest comes the corners and gleanings, and notice that God says the poor and the strangers make up the corners and gleanings:
Leviticus 19:9-10
9. And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
10. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 23:22
And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God.
These corners and gleanings are those people that will be redeemed out Daniel's 70th week, thus the reason the angel pointed them out to John as a curious, separate groups of saints in Revelation 7:13-14.
(5) Post-Tribbers and mid-Tribbers like to bring up 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-3 as proof that there is no pre-Daniel's 70th week rapture, but what they do is twist this particular passage around and manilupate what it's saying, and they do so by SKIPPING verse 2. Let's take a look at the passage and you'll see what I mean:
2nd Thessalonians 2:1-3
1. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2. That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
What mid-Tribbers and post-Tribbers both like to do is skip verse 2, which makes it sounds like Paul mentions our gathering unto Christ (the rapture) and then says that that day will not come until after the Anti-Christ is revealed, which would mean that we are still here when the Tribulation begins. However, if you READ verse 2, instead of skipping it, you see that the Thessalonians were troubled about this false news they had gotten (most likely from a letter) that the Day of Christ was already taking place. The Day of Christ is the judgment seat of Christ, which will happen right after the rapture. They thought they had missed the rapture, in other words. They thought that, because of all the persecution they were going through at the time, that the Tribulation had started and they had missed the rapture. Paul was assuring them that the rapture couldn't happen until there was a wide-spread apostasy within the church (verse 3), and that the Anti-Chrsit couldn't show up until the Holy Spirit is taken out of the way (2nd Thessalonians 2:7-9). And when the Holy Spirit leaves, the body of Christ will leave with him because we are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).
Now, what a post-Tribber will try to say at this point is that verse 3 also shows that both the Anti-Christ (the man of sin) and the Anti-Christ fully possessed by Satan (the son of perdition) will have to show up before the Day of Christ can happen. But there is a gap between the word "first" and the word "and" in verse 3. There are gaps of many years, and sometmes even thousands of years right in the middle of Bible verses, and we can prove this. Look at this Old Testament passage in Isaiah, and notice that it keeps on going after the words "the acceptable year of the Lord":
Isaiah 61:1-2
1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
Now, notice that when Jesus read this same passage in the synagogue, he stops after "the acceptable year of the Lord" and says that the scripture has been fulfilled:
Luke 4:16-20
16. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
17. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
What happened to the day of vengeance, though? What happened to the comfort for all who mourn? Those were different times that hadn't happened yet, (and are still future events, even today). The day of vengeance is Daniel's 70week, aka Jacob's trouble (Jeremiah 30:7), also wrongly called "The Tribulation." (Nowhere in the King James Bible will you see the word "tribulation" capitalized. It is not a title, it is a description of the time. The only reason I capitalize the "T" when I type out "mid-Tribber" or "post-Tribber" is to show their error.) And the time when all who mourn will be comforted will be he millenial kingdom.
(6) Mid-Tribbers say that the rapture will happen after the 7th trumpet judgment of Revelation 11:15 because of 1st Corinthians 15:52, which says that we will be called up after the LAST trump. Notice, however, that the verse doesn't say the last trumpet, it says the last TRUMP. What's the difference? The trump is the SOUND that a trumpet makes. And now look in Revelation 4:1-2, where it says that God's words were like the SOUND of a trumpet. So if the trumps are the sounds his voice is making then the "last trump" is the last sound, or the last WORD he speaks, which will most likely be HITHER, as in "Come up hither." After he says "hither" we will immediately meet him in the sky:
Revelation 4:1-2
1. After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
2. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
And here's further proof that the sound of God's voice is that of a trumpet:
Hebrews 12:19-20
19. And the sound of a trumpet, and the VOICE OF WORDS; which voice they that heard intreated that the WORD should not be spoken to them any more:
20. (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
That passage is referring to the voice of the trumpet that heralded God's arrival on Mt. Sinai:
Exodus 19:16
And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
(7) Revelation 5:8-10 mentions 24 elders, and these elders represent the bride of Christ, the Christians of the body of Christ, which have been gathered from all nations, peoples and tongues to be with God in heaven. Notice that they are there BEFORE the Anti-Christ arrives on the scene in Revelation 6:2. Notice that in verse 5:9 it says the seven seals of the book haven't been opened yet. In other words, the first seal, which is the revealing of the Anti-Christ, hasn't been opened yet at that point, thus, Daniel's 70th week hasn't started yet, but these Christians are there with God in heaven already. also, notice that these are the same 24 elders mentioned in Revelation 4:10 that are casting their crowns at the feet of Jesus on the throne.
(8) In Revelation 7:9-14 we see that the saints that are saved out of Daniel's 70th week are seen by John as being in a completely different group of saints than the 24 elders, who represent the Christians who were saved before the rapture. These are the same white-robed, martyred saints mentioned earlier in Revelation 6:9-11. Notice that they are under the altar and not around the throne, as the 24 elders are. Notice that they are told to wait there until the rest of their brethren (the Tribulation saints) are martyred in the same way that they were (beheaded).
(9) If the rapture happens after Daniel's 70th week we can know the EXACT DAY that the Lord will return, because Daniel gives the exact number of days that the last half of Daniel's 70th week will continue after the Anti-Christ declares himself to be God (Daniel 12:6-12). But Jesus said we would not know the day or the hour he would return (Matthew 24:36).
(10) Mid-Tribbers and post-Tribbers don't realize that they are simply fulfilling the Bible prophecy of scoffers arising in the last days. Peter said that in the last days people would scoff at the idea of Jesus returning because things had gone on the same way they had always gone on (2nd Peter 3:3-4). During the Great Tribulation NO ONE will be thinking that things are going on like they've always gone on. The world will be covered with smoke, ashes, fire, disease, famine, hunger and war, and demons and Satan himself will be running amok. People will be wondering what in the WORLD is happening, that is, if they're even still alive. Also, people have always scoffed at the idea of a rapture, but Peter is specifically addressing the scoffers of the LAST DAYS for a reason. Here lately, more and more Christians are abandoning the idea of a Pre-Tribulation rapture and jumping on the Post-Tribulation rapture bandwagon, and it's happened with exponential momentum all within a couple years or so. I mean, it has practically become a MOVEMENT now. In fact, an increasing number of professing Christians are showing hostility towards Christians that adhere to the Pre-Tribulation rapture doctrine, and I'm noticing that more and more of them are willing to even side up with the secular world against Christians that believe in a Pre-Tribulation rapture.
Thanks for reading. I highly recommend watching this video link below. In it, Doug Stauffer shows exactly when the day of Christ (the rapture and judgment seat of Christ) and the day of the Lord (Daniel's 70th week) begin. There is a difference between the two and Doug explains it very well from scripture:
Also, for an absolutely awesome Youtube series that proves the rapture will happen before Daniel's 70th week, please check out Bryan Denlinger's Pre-Daniel's 70th week rapture Moment videos. I'm linking you to number 20, which is the last one at this time, but be sure to watch them all from the first to the last:
Bryan Denlinger's Pre-Daniel's 70th week rapture Moments Video Series
