Eschatology The Rapture – When? Part 1

Rapture Positions Pre-Tribulation Rapture Partial Rapture Mid-Tribulation Rapture Pre-Wrath Rapture (a relatively new position popularized by Marvin Rosenthal) Post-Tribulation Rapture One may hold any one of these positions and still be a Christian. However, the implications of the position taken are __________. Anyone taking a position other than the Pre-Tribulation position must inevitably find himself looking for ________ rather than the Second Coming. He will also find himself struggling with _______ with reference to things that are prophesied for the Tribulation Period since he believes that he will experience _______ or ______ of those events.

The Bible Pattern of Deliverance from Judgment Briefly defined the Pre-tribulation Rapture position believes that the church will be translated in its entirety just ________ to the beginning of the Tribulation period. Partial Rapturists believe that only faithful Christians will be translated, leaving those who are not “fully processed” to pass through part or all of the Tribulation in order to __________ their preparation for heaven. The Mid-Tribulation position believes that Christ will come for the church at roughly the _________ of the Tribulation. The Pre-Wrath position is a variant of the Mid-Tribulation position and is dependent upon a rather strained definition of the ________ of God. The Post-Tribulation position sees no difference between the Rapture and the Revelation, seeing the Rapture just prior to the Second Coming of Christ at the ______ of the Tribulation period. The Bible Pattern of Deliverance from Judgment We have the clear examples in Noah, Rahab, and Lot. Noah was a godly man whom God saved with his family _______ the flood. Rahab was an ungodly woman who had just come to faith in Jehovah and was ________ in the destruction of Jericho by Joshua. Lot was hardly a paragon of virtue. If ever a believer deserved to be left behind to suffer judgment with the ungodly it was Lot. Yet, God delivered him ______ the fiery judgment on Sodom. (2 Pet.2:4-9)

Lot was hardly a paragon of virtue Lot was hardly a paragon of virtue. If ever a believer deserved to be left behind to suffer judgment with the ungodly it was Lot. Yet, God delivered him ______ the fiery judgment on Sodom. (2 Pet.2:4-9) The Absence of the Church from the Prophetic Account of the Tribulation The church is very much in view in Revelation chapters one through three. It is not _________ again, not even by allusion, until Revelation chapter nineteen. The church as the subject from Acts to Revelation three indicates its ____________ as an entity. Its absence form the prophetic record in the balance of Revelation is _____________. No one is going to heaven because he _________ to be there. We do not believe in a works salvation (Eph. 2;8,9; Tit. 3:5). Every inhabitant of heaven will be there ________ on the basis of the grace of God. We are saved by grace and we are _______ by the same grace of God. (Eph. 1:13,14; 1 Pet. 1:5) To make participation in the Rapture dependent upon works is to _________ the grace of God. (John 5:24; Rom. 5:6-9; 8:1)

The Timing of the Judgment Seat of Christ There is clearly a very different _________ for the church as opposed to God’s purpose for Israel during the time of the Tribulation. There are several passages that call attention to the fact that the ________ of believers will be judged. (1 Cor. 3:11-15; Rom. 14:10-12; 2 Cor. 5:10) The timing of this judgment seems to ____________ a Pre-Tribulation Rapture Position. The Exodus of the Holy Spirit A very compelling argument for the Pre-Tribulation position is the __________ of the Holy Spirit from the earth. (2 Th. 2:1-11) This is not to say that He ceases to be omnipresent, for He is God. It does mean that His interaction in the world __________ at the Rapture. Believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. As salt and light the church holds back evil in the world. When the church is raptured, the __________ effect of the Holy Spirit is removed and the Antichrist is revealed.