Always interesting to write on a familiar subject and compare today's and past thoughts.
According to “The Doctrine of Immanency” we can expect Jesus at any moment; there is nothing more required for the Rapture of the Church to occur. The Church will have been caught up to the Lord in the "Blessed Hope" before the Second Coming of Christ. There are many names for the Second Coming of Christ such as “Day of the Lord” and as “The Day of Vengeance of our God” in Isaiah 61:2.
Past leanings. “While the rapture can occur at any time, the Second Coming of Christ will be predictable once future events have set it in motion. The seven year tribulation starts with the signing of a covenant between the Anti-christ and Israel. Horrific as the first 3 1/2 years will be, the last half of the tribulation will be the time of Jacob's troubles with a Holocaust unlike anything ever occurring before. The Second Coming of Christ will bring the tribulation to an end.”
While I want to believe that we, the Church, will be caught up before the start of the seven year Tribulation, I’m not so sure. Revelation 12 has the woman being pursued by the dragon while holding a baby. The baby ascends and the woman is transported to Petra to be protected during the three and a half years of Jacob's troubles. The baby is Jesus and the woman is the remnant of Israel. We, the Church, are the body of Christ so do we get caught up with Jesus, the Head of the Church? This strongly suggests a mid-tribulation rapture.
Pre-trib, mid-trib aside, we will not be here to go through all or half of the seven year tribulation which starts with the covenant between Israel and the Anti-Christ. A preview of the Second Coming of Christ is detailed in Isaiah 63:1-4 “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.”
Again, the Church will not go through wrath of God, the final three and a half years of the tribulation. Rather we will return with Jesus to witness Him “treadeth in the winefat” and more as He destroys the army of the son of perdition. Then a thousand year Millennium. And finally one last unsuccessful attempt by Satan to overthrow Jesus and the "New Heaven."
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