First Rapture Truth

First Rapture Truth

I think there is no excuse for people to be historicalists, that is to say, amillennial, preterist, partial-preterist or postmillennial.

The reason this is a wrong teaching is because the Bible is very clear in the millennial kingdom (1000 years), there is a new dispensation: "deceive the nations no more" (Rev. 20.3).

A nation that is not deceived is one that does not war. This proves that we are not in the 1000 years yet since nations still war. Many do not have the faith to believe Jesus will step down on the mount of olives (Zech 14.4) to return with His overcomers saints (Jude 14,15; Rev. 20.4) to reign for 1000 years in Person with an IRON ROD. It's not happening yet.

Therefore, the only issue becomes whether Christians are raptured at the first rapture or the 7th trumpet rapture or both. The negative fruit of one or the other is dissension as we are all familiar with the two camps constantly arguing back and forth. So therefore, the solution is first rapture is according to readiness, while the 7th trumpet rapture is according to the completion of the remaining saints awaiting resurrection. The Bible proves this unequivocally.

First rapture according to readiness:
"Because thou didst keep the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial, that [hour] which is to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth" (Rev. 3.10) - This warning is given to all believers but not all believers keep this patient word, so not all believers will escape the hour of trial of the Tribulation, because they will not all be ready.

"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21.36) - If you don't watch and pray, you might not be ready to escape the hour of trial of the Tribulation. The only way God can make this promise to escape the Tribulation is to be raptured if you are worthy to be ready. God can not promise you will not die in the Tribulation, for there will be Christian martyrs.

"Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left." (Matt. 24.40) - Since this is addressing believers, both the taken at first rapture are saved and the left are saved who will be raptured at the last trumpet.

The verses for the last trumpet rapture are found in 1 Thess. 4.15-17; 1 Cor. 15.23, 50-52 and some others, which you might like to ask for.

Some other verses for a first rapture according to readiness are Rev. 12.5, 14.1-5, Rev. 7.9, Mark 13.32, and some others you might like to ask for.

Hope this helps you to stay focused on what matters in Christ regarding end-times and not get caught up in the dissension.

Some may still argue though, but there is no problem still, none whatsoever by reading the Bible correctly as originally intended!

God deals with accountability and firstfruits, that is to say, advanced parties.

Some might say Paul "would not be one who missed a rapture based on readiness." Paul was humble enough to hope to be in the first resurrection (that is, reward of overcoming in the millennial kingdom), which naturally those at first rapture are included in. Paul never said he is ready, but he hoped he was ready: he hoped he would be included in the first resurrection. He knew he was saved (at the very least he would be included in the 7th trumpet resurrection, but not necessarily the best resurrection-the first resurrection), but he was unsure of his own personal readiness to be received at first rapture. This clarity is so beautiful!

Some people say that the rapture of the church cannot be divided because the body of Christ cannot be divided. It should be noted in reply, however, that the body is a figure of speech which signifies one life, If the body is taken literally, then there is already division today because the Lord is now in heaven, Paul has already died, we remain living on earth, and some believers are yet to be born. Altogether we can count at least 12 different raptures in the Bible. Should I go through them one by one with you?

Some argue that according to I Thessalonians 4.15, the living “shall in no wise precede them who are fallen asleep” -The dead are resurrected at the seventh trumpet; and so timewise, rapture occurs after the Tribulation. Now if there is a first rapture, it will have to take place before the resurrection of the dead. But since this verse distinctly says “shall in no wise,” how then can rapture take place twice? Let me say in reply that it is most precious and significant to find in both verse 15 and verse 17 the qualifying clauses “we that are alive, that are left” - Now to be alive is obviously to be left on earth; why, then, is there this apparent unnecessary repetition? Because it implies that there are people who though alive yet have already gone ahead (that is, raptured) and therefore are no longer left on earth. Would Paul enlist himself among this class of people who are alive and are left? Not at all. He uses the word “we” only because he is speaking at that moment of writing, and the proof of this is that since Paul no longer lives today, he cannot be numbered among those who are left on earth.

Since in 1 Cor. 15:50-52 (“We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed”) “all” is the word used, surely this signifies the whole body. Yes, the “all” here does indeed refer to the entire body, but it does not have reference to the same time. For example, we all will die, but certainly not all of us will do so in one day.

One group of believers will be raptured before the Tribulation while another group of believers will go through the Tribulation and be raptured afterwards.

My prayer is to stop the dissension in the church between pre- and post-trib since first rapture is according to only those in the church that are ready to be received, while the rest go through the time of testing if they are alive or sleeping awating 7th trumpet rapture.

What other examples are there of the two raptures?

By reading Matthew 24.42 together with 1 Thessalonians 5.2, 4, it is evident that there are at least two raptures: for note that the first passage suggests rapture before the Tribulation because one must be watchful since he does not know when his Lord will come; while the second passage suggests rapture after the Tribulation because one knows when the day of the Lord shall come.

The places to be raptured towards are also different. Whereas Revelation 7.15 mentions to “the throne of God” and Luke 21.36 mentions “to stand before the Son of man”, 1 Thessalonians 4.17 says that it is to “the air” – Such distinctions would thus indicate that the entire body of believers is not raptured all at one time.

Mark 13 states, “But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (v.32), So that the day of the coming of Christ is unknown. But 1 Thessalonians 4 declares that “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” (v.16). From this second passage we know that the appearing of Christ is after the sounding of the seventh trumpet. And hence the first passage re-lates to pre-tribulation rapture while the second relates to post-tribulation rapture.

So beautiful!