The Rapture of the Church
 1ST THESSALONIANS 4:13-17 The Resurrection of dead/sleeping believers The Translation of living believers EVIDENCE FOR A PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE 1) LUKE 21:34-36 -The ‘promise’ of escape from ‘that day’ (the tribulation) - ‘escape’ is Greek word ‘ekpheugo’ = to flee out -(true) Christians will escape the tribulation -unbelievers will not escape the tribulation (1 Th 5:3) -‘to escape all these things’ (all=vs 8 on, whole tribulation period) -(vs 28)= ‘when you see things things begin -’ -notice however, that this ‘promise’ only applies to: a) Christians who have ‘come out’ of this world b) Christians who are ‘on the alert’ (watching/signs) c) Christians with a prayer life † 2) 2nd THESS 2:1-7* -The Church will be removed before antichrist reigns -antichrist is being restrained by someone -this ‘someone’ must be removed before antichrist -‘restrainer’ could be the Holy Spirit in the Church -Church is a restraining force against evil (Matt 5:13) † 3) REVELATION 3:10 -The promise of being kept from ‘the hour of testing’ -‘hour’ is the Greek word ‘ora’ (used both literally & figuratively) -(lit: ‘no man knows/day or hour’; fig: ‘an hour is coming/worship’) -‘hour of testing’ must be the tribulation period (whole world) -Philadelphia (true Church) escapes, not Laodicea † 4) REVELATION 4:1,2 -John’s experience parallels the Rapture -a door standing open in heaven -he hears a voice like the sound of a trumpet -he hears the ‘command’: “come up here” -‘immediately’, i.e ‘the twinkling of an eye’ (1st Cor 15:52) -no further mention of the Church in Revelation after this † 5) REVELATION 4:3 -The 24 ´Elders’ represent the Church -only the redeemed are in ‘white robes’ -only the redeemed are promised crowns (rewards) -12 tribes & 12 apostles= the Church (Rev 21:12-14) * The ‘apostasy’ mentioned in 2nd Thessalonians 2:3 could refer the rapture instead of ‘a falling away from the faith’, but it is not likely. The word ‘apostasy’ is the Greek word ‘apostasia’ which means ‘a defection from the truth’ (Vines Expository Dictionary). The word is used only twice in the New Testament, here, and in Acts 21:21, where it is translated ‘forsake’, in reference to people ‘forsaking’ or ‘falling away’ from the teaching of Moses. Couple this with the fact that this last-days ‘falling away from the faith’ is mentioned elsewhere (1st Tim 4:1), it would be stretching the point that this word refers to the rapture, or ‘the departure of the Church’