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In the previous article, Will there be a Secret Rapture, we looked at the false secret rapture doctrine held by dispensationalists. Now we will further discuss the differences between the Biblical rapture and the erroneous secret rapture.
Typology Regarding the Rapture
Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16 NIV).
Dispensationalists say that the relief for God's people and the consequences for those who disobeyed Him will occur seven years apart. They say that the rapture of God's people will come first, followed by the destruction of the Antichrist at the Second Coming. During this supposed seven-year period, the Jewish people will go through the tribulation and will come to accept Christ.
However, the truth is that typology in the Bible always points to something greater. The symbolic lamb points to Christ—the latter being so much greater than the former. Literal Babylon points to end-time Babylon, comprising all the forces that reject God. Literal Jerusalem is a type of end-time spiritual Jerusalem, comprising the redeemed of all the ages. Despite this, dispensationalists await a literal reconstruction of Babylon and Israel, which would be the same as awaiting the return of a literal lamb.
According to the dispensationalist view, the end-time tribulation is for literal Israel only. This is not a Biblical teaching. The trials and tribulations are rather designed to purge and cleanse God’s faithful people around the world (1 Thessalonians 3:3).
And one of the elders answered, saying to me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said to him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:13-14).
All will Experience the Tribulation
Contrary to dispensational doctrines, God's people—those who have washed their robes in the blood of the lamb—have to go through the tribulation. “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works” (Matthew 16:27).God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels (2 Thessalonians 1:6-7 NIV).
According to these texts, relief for the accepters of God and recompense for the rejecters of God take place at the same time—at the return of Christ.
This is what Jesus told His disciples about the end- time tribulation:The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:41-43 NKJV).
Just like the wheat and the tares Jesus describes in Matthew 13, everyone will stay together until the return of Christ. When Old Testament Israel was delivered from the bondage of Egypt, the plagues did not fall when the Israelites were already gone. They were present and witnessed the events, being subjected to the first three plagues themselves (Exodus 8-12).
God divinely protected the Israelites from the effects of the last seven plagues in Egypt, just as He will divinely protect His people from the effects of the last seven plagues at the end of time (Revelation 3:10-13). God's people are urged to hold on until He comes. They will not be taken to heaven before these events.
The glory of Christ's Second Coming leaves no hint of secrecy. Everyone will be judged at the same time. The return of Christ is the blessed hope of the people of God: Jesus is to be revealed (1 Corinthians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:7,13; 4:13).
Ahead to The Seven Plagues
Back to The Second Coming of Christ
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This article is adapted from Truth Matters by Professor Walter J. Veith, an international speaker who has studied Biblical issues in-depth in his quest for truth. His popular series Genesis Conflict brings the debate between Creation and evolution to a new climax as he dissects the arguments with a scientific eye. His highly-acclaimed series Total Onslaught sheds light on the state of the world today as we move to a one-world government and an anticipated apocalypse.
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