Adrian Rogers is wrong About Rapture

Andrian Rogers is Wrong about the Rapture

I can prove to you Adrian Rogers is wrong about rapture. He said the rapture is at Rev. 4.1, "Come up hither" - "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."

For him, first rapture is not according to readiness (Rev. 3.10, Luke 21.36). Therefore, he could never know when the Tribulation is happening, since when he enters it he will assume it is still not the Tribulation and be unable to identify the mark of the beast to refuse it. He will accept the mark of the beast.

Also, he thinks the key is is important, that is, the things that are and the things that will be. He is right, but he misinterprets the meaning and does not realize also that after this key is, in fact, the combination to the lock tumblers in which the 7th seal opens up the 7 trumpets of the Tribulation and the 7th trumpet opens up the 7 bowls.

Interpreters of this first school consider Revelation 2 and 3 as depicting the sage of the church; 4.1 as referring to the rapture of the church; 4.4 (with the 24 elders) as representing the glorified church after the rapture; and chapters 5 and 6 as having reference to the beginning of the Great Tribulation. But 4.1 is not spoken to the whole church. It is only spoken to John. “Come up hither” is an accomplished fact in the personal experience of John on the isle of Patmos. Otherwise, Philip’s experience as recorded in Acts 8.29 might also be taken as signifying the rapture of the whole church. As regards the 24 elders, it is rather absurd to deem them as signifying the glorified church (from King and the Kingdom of Heaven, p. 273).

4.1 “AFTER THESE THINGS”

On the basis of the words “After these things”, some maintain that whatever is described in chapters 4 and 5 are events yet to be fulfilled, since these two chapters speak of the things which will happen at the time when the church shall be raptured and the Lord shall return immediately. Such an interpretation is most widely accepted, but it presents the following eight problems.

1) If chapters 4 and 5 truly refer to “the things which shall come to pass hereafter”, why should such a significant event as the rapture of the church not be mentioned? Rapture is touched upon in chapters 7, 12, 14 and 15 of this book. Why is it not referred to here? Some do suggest that the rapture of the church is implied in the words “Come up hither” (4.1), but are not these words followed immediately by “Straightway I was in the Spirit…” (v.2)? The rapture of the church is a bodily rapture, yet here it is in the Spirit. And thus this verse cannot be interpreted as referring to the rapture of the church. How can chapters 2 and 3 speak of the church and there not be a clear word given of her rapture immediately afterwards?

2) If 4.1 indeed speaks of the rapture of the church, then where is the church seen in chapters 4 and 5? Some people advance the thought that the 24 elders in 4.4,10 and 5.8 represent the church. We shall prove later on that they do not represent the church. For the present we need only to ask one question: Why is it that not even one of the 24 elders mentioned from 19.5 through chapter 22? Is it possible that the church is limited to the time of tribulation and to the enjoyment in the kingdom, but that she will not heard of in the new heaven and the new earth? How can it be that she is seen at the beginning but she disappears at the end?

3) Chapter 5 describes the glory which the Lamb receives in heaven. Can we say that the Lord must wait for about two thousand years before He will receive glory?

4) The praise from every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth spoken of in 5.13 agrees perfectly with what Philippians 2.10 says. Due to His resurrection and ascension and His receiving the Name that is above all names, He is shown in such glory as is described in Philippians (2.9). How then can it be said that Revelations 5.13 describes a scene of two thousand years later?

5) Why should the new song in 5.9 be sung two thousand years later? Has not the work of redemption already been done? Why cannot the new song be sung at once?

6) “As though it has been slain” (5.6) is, in the original, rendered “as though it had been newly slain”- This clearly proves that this is the scene of the ascension of the Lord. Although the death of the Lord is forever fresh, the word here designates it as being newly slain.

7) In 4.8 the four living creatures are recorded as saying: “The Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come”-Compare this with 11.17, where the 24 elders are found worshiping God and saying: “O Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who wast”; in this latter instance the words “who is to come” are not said, thus intimating that the return of the Lord cannot be before 4.8 but after 4.8.

8) In 5.6 it is said that the seven Spirits of God are “sent forth into all the earth”-May we not ask, then, what the Holy Spirit will be doing in the great tribulation as he is sent out into all the earth? We know that the Holy Spirit comes down after the ascension of the Lord Jesus. It is during the dispensation of the church that He is sent out by the Lord.

In view of these 8 points, we may conclude that chapter 4 depicts the daily scene in God’s presence, which is the natural situation in heaven; while chapter 5 speaks of the sight of the Lord’s ascension, for in it we are told of “a Lamb standing, as though it had been [newly] slain” (5.6). This scene is repeated for the benefit of the apostle John-“After these things…a door opened in heaven” (4.1). This is not a continuation of the seven churches but rather is a sequel given to the vision in chapter 1.

“A door opened in heaven”-The heavens were opened to Ezekiel (1.1), to the Lord (Matt. 3.16), to Stephen (Acts 7.56), to Peter (Acts 10.11) and to John (Rev. 4.1, 19.11).

“And the first voice that I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me”-It is not a trumpet blowing but a voice as of a trumpet.

“Come up hither”-This word is spoken to John personally; it should not be interpreted as a type of the rapture of the church.

“I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter”-This serves as an introduction to the prophecies to follow.

4.2 “Straightway I was in the Spirit”-John was raptured in the spirit, it was not a bodily rapture.

4.4 “THE TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS”

The common interpretation of the 24 elders as given by most commentators is that they point to the entire glorious church. But do these commentators have sufficient proof for offering this interpretation? Recently some of them have quoted 4.4, saying that these elders have thrones and therefore they reign as kings; they also point out that in 5.8 these elders are shown as having harps and golden bowls full of incense, and hence they are priests. And does not 1 Peter 2.9 state that believers are “a royal priesthood”? Since these 24 elders are both kings and priests, surely, they conclude, these elders represent the glorious church.

According to this interpretation, therefore, the entire church must be raptured together and thus it does not go through the tribulation. But how, then, will 3.10 be explained? Furthermore, there are ten other reasons why the 24 elders do not represent one glorious church.

1) The name of elder is not the name of the church. Nowhere in the Scriptures does “elder” ever represent the church. There are elders in the church and among the Jews, but not all believers are elders. If the elders here point to the church, it will be almost like saying that the entire church is made up of elders. According to historical fact, God first chooses the angels (Is. 14.12; Ez. 28.11-19), then the Jews (Gen. 12.1-3), and thirdly he gave grace to the church (for it is formed in the time of Acts 2). How can the church bear the title of elders?

Not only the church cannot be reckoned as elders, even the Jews are not to be considered as elders (the election mentioned in Eph. 1.4 refers to the eternal purpose of God, and hence is quite different from the elect angels as mentioned in 1 Tim 5.21).

2) The number of the elders is not the number of the church. The church’s number in the Scriptures is seven or multiples of seven, but 24 is not such a multiple.

3) The church cannot have the throne and the crown before the Lord Jesus has His. The one who sits on the throne as seen in 4.2 is God the Father (the Lamb is standing, according to 5.6). The 24 elders also sit on thrones, and they all wear crowns of gold as described in 4.4. If they represent the church, how can it be that the church sits while the Lamb stands? According to this interpretation, in 5.6 the church is already crowned. Yet please note that the Lord Jesus will not be King until the time of chapter 20 is reached! How can the church receive glory in advance of the Lord? Moreover, after 19.4 there is no more trace of the 24 elders. If these elders do indeed represent the entire church, what has happened to the glorious church thereafter? Thrones and crowns are symbols of kingship.

4) The white garments which the elders wear are not said to be cleansed by the precious blood; however, in another place 7.14 the white garments are said to have been washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. The white garments here show that the elders are without sin.

5) The song these elders sing is not that of redemption since the song in 4.11 tells of the creation of God. They thus know only God’s creation; they have no personal knowledge of God’s redemption. Though they do sing a new song not of themselves as mentioned in 5.9-10, this is because the Lord has redeemed “them”-not these elders, but men of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “And madest them to be…” (v.10). The word “them” here refers to the church. Now if it is the church who sings, would she use “them”?

6) All the phenomena in chapter 4 stand for the state of the universe. Besides the throne and the seven Spirits, there are the four living creatures and the 24 elders; none else is mentioned. This indicates that these elders are the elders of the universe. Can we possibly say that the church is the eldest of the universe? Revelation 4 deals with the universe and not with the church, the nations, or the Jews. The church is not an elder of the universe.

7) To carry prayers to God as is shown in 5.8 is not the action of the church. Even though the church is commanded in Scriptures to pray for others, God has not asked her to bring others’ prayers to Him. The church does not have this power. Many commentators agree that the angel spoken of in 8.3-4 refers to the Lord. Whether or not it is the Lord, it can at least be said that the task of carrying prayers to God is done by angels. Thus, bringing prayers of the saints to God as mentioned in 5.8 must be the task of done by the angels.

8) Never once do the 24 elders identify themselves as the church. The “them” in 5.10 is a reference to the church. The “them” in 5.10 is a reference to the church by these elders. If the “them” were indeed an expression of self-identification, the elders should have instead said “us”. What the elders do say clearly distinguishes them from the church. The 24 elders cannot represent the entire church. There are three classes of people in view in 7.13-17, namely: (1) elders, (2) John, and (3) those arrayed in white robes. Should the 24 elders be an allusion to part of the church, it would still make some sense for the elders to ask John, “Who are they, and whence came they [those in white robes]?” But if the 24 elders mean the entire church, it would be absurd for the entire church to ask concerning part of the church.

9) John addresses one of the elders as “my lord” (7.13-17), thus showing the superior position of the elder over John. Otherwise how could the elder permit John to call him “my lord”? (cf. 22.8-9). If the 24 elders represent the church, then John who is among the first in the church, should be the elder of the elders. If John also represents the church, it would then be the church asking the church.

10) The demeanor of the 24 elders before God is most peculiar. They have never been hungry and thirsty like the church nor have they ever shed any tears. They are not afraid of God, neither do they possess any sense of sin. They are strangers to the experience of being redeemed. All these points prove that they are not the redeemed church.

Who, then, are these elders? The number 24 should be taken literally, not symbolically. Since one of the elders speaks to John, how can one twenty-fourth of the church talk to John? The number is fixed, and hence the elders are fixed. These 24 elders are archangels who rule the universe. Even under Satan in his domain there are principalities and authorities. Let us assume that they are the kings and priests among the angels, that they are the elders of the universe (that is to say, they rule over the angels and the universe in God’s service). The evidence for such a conclusion are as follows.

1) Since they sit on thrones and wear crowns of gold, they must be kings.

2) They wear white garments which are the garments of priests (see Ex. 28; Lev. 6.10, 16.4). They have harps, sing songs, and hold golden bowls of incense-all these are the evidences of their priesthood.

3) The reason they are the priests among the angels is because they are the elders of the universe. In chapters 4 and 5 God is God, the Lord is the Lamb, the Holy Spirit is the seven Spirits, the four living creatures represent the animate creation (and also shows God’s nature in His creation), and the 24 elders are the elders of the universe since they are the oldest among created things.

4) Besides the angels, who are entitled to sit on thrones and wear golden crowns ahead of the Lord Jesus? God had originally appointed angels to govern the universe. But one of the archangels fell and turned himself into Satan, there thus coming into existence the satanic kingdom. As to those angels who had not followed Satan in rebellion, God still assigns them the rule over the universe. Now just as Michael is the chief prince over the nation of Israel (Dan. 10.13), even so, all of us who are redeemed have our guardian angels (Acts 12.15; Matt. 18.10; Heb 1.14). The 24 elders sit while the seven angels who blow the trumpets stand before God (8.2). They are now in charge of the universe. When they see people getting saved they are not jealous at all; rather, they praise God for it. They will govern the universe until the kingdom shall come; and then they will resign their appointments and there will be the transfer of the government of the universe to men (Rev. 11.16-18; Heb. 2.5-8). This is why there is no mentioning of the 24 elders after 19.4.

5) The number of the 24 elders is the number of the priesthood. At the time of David the priesthood was divided into 24 courses (1 Chron. 24.7-18). The duty of the priesthood is to bring the prayers of the saints of God. The harps are for singing, and the golden bowls are for prayers.