The Greek word for “from” is “ek” which means “out of” and not ...

1. The believers in the Philadelphia church were given the following promise in
Revelation 3:10:
“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the
hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell
upon the earth.”
The Greek word for “from” is “ek” which means “out of” and not through.
Church age believers will be kept out of the entire Tribulation.
If this verse means that the Church will be kept safe during the Tribulation,
then something goes terribly wrong because saints will be killed on a massive
scale and the promise of this verse is meaningless. Only if Church saints and
Tribulation saints are kept distinct does this verse make any sense.
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2. None of the Old Testament or New Testament passages on the Tribulation
Period mentions the church.
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2. None of the Old Testament or New Testament passages on the Tribulation
Period mentions the church.
Deuteronomy 4:29-30; Jeremiah 30:4-11; Daniel 8:24-27; 12:1-2;
Matthew 13:30, 39-42; 48-50; 24:15-31; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 5:1-10;
2 Thessalonians 2:1-11; Revelation chapters 6 through 18
In the book of Revelation, the Church is clearly found in chapters 1-3,
dealing with events prior to the Tribulation. But in chapters 6-18 which deal
with events in the Tribulation, the Church is not mentioned even once. It is
impossible for anyone to turn to any Tribulation passage and to show that
the Church is there.
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3. The purpose of the Tribulation is to prepare Israel for restoration. It is not
to prepare the church for glory. That’s why it is called the “time of Jacob’s
trouble” in Jeremiah 30:7.
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3. The purpose of the Tribulation is to prepare Israel for restoration. It is not
to prepare the church for glory. That’s why it is called the “time of Jacob’s
trouble” in Jeremiah 30:7.
Luke 21:27 says: “for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon
this people.” “This people” is Israel. It is not the church.
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4. The Bible says the church is not appointed to wrath:
Romans 5:9: “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be
saved from wrath through him.”
1 Thessalonians 1:10: “And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised
from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.”
1 Thessalonians 5:9: “For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain
salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Nahum 1:2: “God is jealous…the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries,
and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.”
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5. The Bible describes the Tribulation Period as a day of wrath:
Zephaniah 1:15: “That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day
of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds
and thick darkness.”
Revelation 6:16-17 describes the first set of tribulation judgments which are
the seal judgments and clearly states that they are wrath: “Fall on us and hide
us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the
Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”
Luke 21: 35 says the Tribulation will “come upon all them that dwell on the
face of all the earth.” No earth dweller can escape the judgments of the
Tribulation, but since the Church is promised to be delivered from the future
wrath to come; it is delivered from Tribulation wrath by the Rapture.
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The result of the fourth seal judgment is that one fourth of the people on earth
will be killed. How can anyone say that this is not wrath? It clearly is God’s
wrath.
The seal judgments are the first judgments of the Tribulation Period and are
clearly referred to as being wrath, and since Church Age believers are not to
experience wrath, they are raptured before the Tribulation begins, and not
during it.
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6. After the Church Age is revealed to John in Revelation 2 & 3, he hears a
trumpet, and is caught up to a throne in heaven in Revelation 4:1-2 in order to
see the events of the Tribulation which will happen after the Church Age.
John’s calling up to heaven is a picture of the church being raptured up to
heaven at the end of the Church Age and before the Tribulation, to go before
the judgment seat of Christ for rewards.
This truth is seen in Luke 21:36: “But watch ye at every season, making
supplication, that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to
pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
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7. In Revelation 4:4 John sees 24 elders with crowns of gold and wearing white
robes as they sit around the throne. These 24 elders represent Church Age
believers that have been raptured at the end of the Church Age as seen in
chapters 2 & 3, but before the Tribulation which begins in chapter 6 with the
seal judgments.
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8. Revelation 1:19 gives us the outline for the book: “Write the things which
thou hast seen, (chapter 1) and the things which are, (chapters 2 & 3
concerning the present Church Age) and the things which shall be hereafter”
(chapter 4 & forward which concern the Tribulation, Millennium, and Eternal
State).
The present Church Age ends with the Rapture of the Church and the
Tribulation begins only after the Church Age is concluded; hence the
Tribulation is “hereafter” the Church Age and Rapture.
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9. The pattern given in the Old Testament is one of delivering believers before
a divine judgment is inflicted on the world as seen in the examples of Noah,
Lot, Rahab, etc. in 2 Peter 2:5-9.
2 Peter 2:9: “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and
to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.”
Thus, the bride of Christ (the Church) will be taken out before the
Tribulation.
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10. The Bible supports an imminent Rapture. (Imminent means it can happen
at any time without any required preceding event).
See 1 Cor. 1:7; 16:22; Phil. 3:20; 4:5; 1 Thess. 1:10; Titus 2:13; Heb. 9:28;
James 5:7-9; 1 Peter 1:13; Jude 21; Revelation 3:11; 22:7, 12, 17, 20.
If the Rapture came at any point during the Tribulation, then it would not be
imminent, since there are things which must be done at the beginning of the
Tribulation.
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11. Paul himself believed that the Rapture was imminent even in his day. That
is why he includes himself in his letter to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 15:51 when
he says:
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed.”
Imminency of the Rapture can be seen in Romans 13:11-12:
“And this, knowing the season, that already it is time for you to awake out of
sleep: for now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is
far spent, and the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness,
and let us put on the armor of light.”
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Imminency of the Rapture can also be seen in James 5:7-9:
“Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the
husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until
it receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient: establish your hearts: for
the coming of the Lord is at hand; Murmur not, brethren, one against another,
that ye be not judged: behold, the judge stands before the doors.”
This verse views the coming of the Lord as being “at hand” and views Him as
“standing before the doors.” Christ’s coming is imminent.
Revelation 22:20 also views His coming as being imminent:
“He who testifies these things says, Yea: I come quickly. Amen: come, Lord
Jesus.”
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Imminency of the Rapture means Christ could come at any moment. If the
Rapture came at any point after the beginning of the Tribulation, which begins
with the signing of the seven year covenant, it would not be imminent. The
Rapture will not occur beyond that event.
Imminency does not mean “soon.” It means that nothing else must come
before it and that it could come at any point of time.
The conclusion is that the Rapture will occur some time between this very
moment and the signing of the seven-year covenant.
The Rapture will precede the Tribulation, but it does not begin the Tribulation.
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12. The New Testament views the Rapture as a “blessed hope” in Titus 2:13:
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Savior Jesus Christ.”
The word “hope” means an event whose occurrence is certain and is anxiously
looked forward to, but whose timing is uncertain. This describes the Rapture.
This “blessed hope” is negated if the Church must go through even a part of
the tribulation.
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13. The signs that Jesus gives in Matthew 24 all concern the Second Coming of
Christ to earth and not the Rapture. There are no signs given for the Rapture
because it is imminent and happens before the Tribulation Period.
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14. Paul wrote to the believers in Thessalonica to correct their erroneous belief
that they were already in the Tribulation Period because of the persecutions
they were enduring. And in 2 Thess. 2:6-7 he tells them that the “restrainer,”
the Holy Spirit, must be taken out of the way first, before the Wicked One will
be revealed. Since one of the primary ministries of the Holy Spirit is to indwell
believers, this will be done at the Rapture. And since the Wicked One, the
Antichrist, is the one who will begin the Tribulation with the signing of a peace
covenant with Israel (Daniel 9:26-27); the Rapture of the Church must take
place before the Tribulation begins.
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