I Love the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

I love the Bible’s teaching about the Pre-tribulation Rapture. I have studied it for nearly half a century, and have no doubt that it is a Bible doctrine and that it is a fundamental doctrine. It is not based on any one verse; it is based on the totality of the Bible’s teaching on prophecy. If you interpret Bible prophecy in a consistent normal-literal manner, which is the only proper way to interpret it, you land on the clear distinction between the church and Israel, and you understand the 70 Weeks of Daniel 9 and Revelation 5-18 as Israel ground, not church ground. You understand that the doctrine of imminency, which is clearly taught and hugely emphasized throughout the Epistles (e.g., Ro. 13:12; Php. 4:5; 1 Th. 1:9-10; 5:4-9; Tit. 2:13; Jas. 5:8-9; 1 Pe. 4:7; Jude 1:21; Re. 1:3), demands that church-age saints be Raptured before Israel’s program is brought back to the fore. The Lord is at hand! As far as I’m concerned, the matter is settled. I have made the effort to look at all sides of the issue and the Pre-tribulation Rapture has resonated with me ever more strongly through the years. The first Bible course we published in the 1980s was on prophecy. In more recent years we have published Understanding Bible Prophecy ; The Future According to the Bible ; Jews in Fighter Jets: Israel Past, Present, and Future ; and other prophecy studies. Dispensationalism, as a system of theology, began in the 19th century, but the literal interpretation of prophecy and the imminent return of Christ and the distinction between Israel and the Church and the literal fulfillment of Israel’s covenants are clear Bible doctrines that were taught by the apostles and believed by the early churches. The Spirit of God restored this doctrine to prominence in the 1800s and it impelled a great spiritual revival of holy living and zeal for evangelism and world missions. The imminency of Christ’s coming has great practical implications for Christian living and ministry. It preaches holiness, watchfulness, and encouragement, and keeps a church’s focus on the Great Commission. We are seeing great fruit from preaching it, and I will do my best to keep the influence of preachers who reject the Pre-tribulation Rapture away from our church and family. I definitely consider it to be a separation issue.

(Friday Church News Notes, January 17, 2020, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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