| Jesus will return!
Once or twice? → Will Jesus return once more or twice? → Will he come secretly to catch us away before the tribulation and then again at the end?
The Abomination of
Desolation
The Rapture Theory
Pre-trib Rapture
Why speculate? Why not see what Jesus said about it:
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. |
And Jesus said unto them, See you not all these things? truly I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. |
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the world? |
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. |
And you shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  There have been many wars but the end is not yet. |
All these are the beginning of sorrows.  But wars and Natural Disasters are only the beginning. |
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. |
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. |
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. |
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:  Leave the populated areas. |
Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: |
Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.  Forget your possessions. |
And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!  It will be an especially hard time for women looking forward to having their child and raising them. |
But pray you that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:  Fleeing the populated areas can be especially torturous during the winter and holidays. |
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. |
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. |
Behold, I have told you before. |
Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. |
For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. physical lightening is visible for miles. The brightness of His coming will illuminate the whole earth instantly. |
For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. |
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. - |
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.  For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of the Lord: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. - , 17 |
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near:  The fig tree represents israel and its leaves indicate it is reaching the point to bear fruit. |
So likewise you, when you shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. |
Truly I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. |
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.  The Word of the Lord is guaranteed to stand until it is all fulfilled. |
But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.  More signs of the end of the age. |
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, |
And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.  A conviction that things will continue on as they always have will cause the world to be in shock at His appearing. |
Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. |
Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. |
Watch therefore: for you know not what hour your Lord does come.  We watch for the signs He gave us so that we can know that His appearing is near. We cannot know the hour but we can know the season. |
But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. |
Therefore be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes. |
Truly I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. |
And shall begin to strike his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; |
The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, |
And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. |
Do you think Jesus did not know he would Return in 2 phases?
Do your really believe Jesus would not have told us about a 2-phased Return ?
What if you are wrong?
→ Pre-Trib - you will be looking for Christ to Return when the anti-Christ is on his thrown - likely you will be deceived into not recognizing who he is
→ Post-Trib - you will be pleasantly surprised if there is a pre-Trib rapture and you will not be deceived when the anti-Christ takes control
God is not the author of confusion
John Piper on the Rapture: |