I’m not one who believes in the pre-trib rapture.
I’d love to, because it sounds amazing. Wouldn’t it be great to be saved and meet Jesus in the air and miss all the dark chapters of Revelation?
Oh how I wish I could!
But from my reading of the OT “Day of the Lord” which is repeated multiple times by various prophets, and which seems to agree with the destruction seen in Revelation, I see far more evidence against a rapture than for it.
“For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it?”
Joel 2:11b ESV
“Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?”
Amos 5:18-20 ESV
Amos makes it clear that only a fool desires the day of the Lord. Revelation shows the wraths poured out against the world and horrific punishments to come. Jesus comes back as the conquering king, and those opposed to him will pay. The moon turns to blood and the sun loses its light (Joel and Revelation both portray the his)
And frankly, if Jesus allowed His friends and disciples to die horrible deaths in His name, why do we feel that we are the exception? What makes us so special? There are Christians dying for Jesus in Nigeria, China, the Middle East, and North Korea right now.
When you’ve read the OT prophets, you can find a great deal of similarity between their “day of the Lord” and John’s vision in Revelation. It’s as if they all got to see the same vision, but John saw it the clearest. Joel 2 and Revelation 6 read like the same scene, separated by centuries.
Frankly I’ve no idea how anyone can think that Revelation has already happened. That would also be a very comfortable thing to believe. I wish that I could, but sadly for me, I’ve read too much to believe otherwise.
Now if you believe in the rapture, you think it happens as Jesus comes again. Before tribulations occur, so that Christians do not suffer.
When you see world events line up together like I do, you get the sense that it’s imminent. Now what does that mean? My grandpa thought it was imminent in 1946 and I can’t blame him. None of us know the day or the hour.
That’s why I tell people to live ready to go. It could be tomorrow or a thousand years from now. You have no way of know which eschatology is true. The only thing you can control is yourself. So be ready to go as if it is your last hour.
Hebrew Messianic Israel 