Questions and Answers for Pre-tribulation Rapture Believers

Questions and Answers for Pre-tribulation Rapture Believers

1. Does Israel have to be a nation, in the promised land with control of Jerusalem in order for the 70^th Week of Daniel to begin? (Daniel 9:24) ANSWER: YES
2. Does Elijah have to “restore all things” in order for the Day of the Lord to begin? (Malachi 4:5, 6; Matthew 17:11) ANSWER: YES
3. Do “the servants of our God” the 144 Thousand have to be redeemed before they are sealed? (Revelation 7:3) ANSWER: YES

1. Paul was told that his ministry would prove to be lengthy at its beginning and on a number of occasions knew that God had given him knowledge of events and purposes he had to fulfill, and places he had to go, so he never preached or taught that Christ could return at any moment.

2. John, whose writings occurred after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Temple and the dispersion of the Jews never taught that the Lord could come at any moment and as a matter of Biblical fact only referred to the return of the Lord once in his epistles (I John 2:28-3:3.) This single passage does not include immanency/at any moment coming of the Lord.

3. Peter was told by the Lord that he would live to be old in John 21 so he did not preach or teach immanency in his writings knowing that the Lord told him he would live to be old.

4. The disciples were told the Temple would be destroyed (Matthew 24:1-3) so they did not expect the immanent return of Christ

5. The believers were told to evangelize the world in Matthew 28:19, 20 so they certainly did not expect the Lord to return at any moment.

6. Daniel 9:24 teaches that all seventy weeks would be upon the Jews and their holy city so the 70th Week of Daniel could not begin until the Jews became a people/nation and they controlled their holy city Jerusalem.

7. Placing the church and Israel in world events is not an impossibility for God to accomplish. It is happening right at this moment and God has dealt with Gentiles and Jews throughout the Old Testament at the same time and the early church existed during the 40 year period of time between the Cross and the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews according to Scripture. There is no Biblical prerequisite for the church to be removed before the 70th Week of Daniel for there are also church saints present in Daniel 7 as saints appear six times in that chapter which occurs during the end of the age during the great tribulation before the Lord returns when the Redeemer comes to Zion at the end of the 70^th Week of Daniel.

8. The Scripture tells us "through much tribulation we shall enter the Kingdom of God" in Acts 14:22, so, we the believers have never been promised to be delivered from tribulation but we have been promised deliverance from the wrath of God. The Greek word for tribulation appears in the New Testament over 40 times with the great majority of those occurrences referring to believers suffering tribulation while under persecution. And, our compassionate and loving Lord promised us the night before the Cross: 'In the world ye shall have tribulation, but, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

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