1. The Rapture of the Church
Things To Come
The Rapture of the Church

2. Things to Come The Rapture The Partial Rapture Theory
The Post-tribulation Rapture Theory
The Mid-tribulation Rapture Theory

4. Things to Come
The partial rapture theory makes inclusion in the rapture an issue of works, saying only those who have earned the right will be taken. Those who are
Keeping on the alert
Eagerly watching
Patiently waiting
Fervently praying for strength
Loving His appearing
And strong enough to stand in His presence

5. Things to Come
The postribulationist position denies distinctions between the Old and New Testaments
They deny the distinctions between Israel and the church---making the Church relevant and Israel irrelevant
The position denies the Scriptural teaching concerning the nature and purpose of the tribulation period. Scripture uses terms such as wrath, judgment, indignation, trial, trouble and destruction, with the purpose to pour out divine judgment on sin. This is more than just ‘affliction’ we all go through.

6. Things to Come
The posttribulationist makes the rapture and the second coming of Christ one and the same event.
They deny the doctrine of imminence, which says that the Lord may come at any time
They deny any future fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27, claiming the historical fulfillment of Daniel has already happened. [we will discuss Daniel 9 in more detail a little later]
They ignore---or apply to the Church--- God’s plans for the Nation of Israel (Matt. 13; Matt ; Revelation 4-19).

7. Theories of the Rapture
c. The Mid-tribulation Rapture Theory

8. Things to Come The Mid-tribulation Rapture Theory
According to this interpretation, the church will be taken at the end of the first three and one-half years of the seventieth week of Daniel 9.
The tribulation is thus a 7-year period of time, as several Biblical passages make clear
Dan. 12:7, 11 “And I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed...”

9. Things to Come
Dan. 12:8-11 “As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, ‘My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?’ And he said, ‘Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. Many will be purged, purified and refined; but the wicked will act wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. And from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days. But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.”

10. Things to Come
Q: What does he mean by listing the number of days? 1290 days = years (3 ½ years) 1335 days = years (3 ½ years + 45 days) Q: Does a Biblical year have 365 (364 + leap years) days, or 360 days as a ‘prophetic year’ typically has? That is way over my head to determine 

11. Things to Come
Q: Are there other Biblical passages which state the number of days of the Great Tribulation? Yes!
Revelation 11:2 – “(2) they will tread under foot the holy city for forty two months. (3) And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
Revelation 12:6 – “And the woman (Israel) fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she might be nourished for 1,260 days”
Revelation 13:5 – [speaking of the beast and dragon] “and there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies; and authority to act for 42 months was given to him, and it was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them...”

12. Things to Come
In the Midtribulation position, the church will endure the events of the first half of the tribulation---which this position says are not manifestations of divine wrath. Then the church is raptured mid-way through the tribulation, before the full outpouring of the wrath of God begins world-wide---which will be 42 months (3 ½ years)

13. Things to Come
The rapture is said to occur in connection with the sounding of the seventh trumpet and catching up (taking to heaven) the two witnesses in Revelation 11 who prophecy 1260 days (3 ½ years)
This position concurs with the PREtribulation view in holding that the church will be raptured as an event that is distinct from the second coming of Christ (2 Thess. 2).
This position also concurs with PREtribulationism, in that the church is promised deliverance from the wrath of God---but then states that it might have to go through it anyway for 3 ½ years.

14. Things to Come
It also concurs with POST-tribulationism that the church is promised tribulation [perhaps making all affliction synonymous with wrath] on the earth, and the church is in need of purging.
there is no doctrine of the imminence of Christ,
the church is found in Revelation which the Pre-tribulation position believes is the Great Tribulation Period of Daniel 9. However, the church is NEVER mentioned after Revelation 3 until Revelation 19 and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
They make ‘affliction’ and ‘wrath’ synonymous

15. Things to Come
Q: What are arguments against the Mid-tribulation position?
The position must deny the distinction between the Old and New Testaments.
They must deny the distinction between Israel and the church, placing both in the tribulation period at least until the mid-point of 3 ½ years
They divide the tribulation up into two separate and unrelated halves.
They must deny that the Church age and the Nation of Israel overlap in God’s program.

16. Things to Come The Rapture –SUMMARY so far 
The Partial Rapture Theory
Not all true believers are taken in the rapture
Only those who are worthy
Propitiation, Reconciliation, Redemption argue against it
The Post-tribulation Rapture Theory
No millennium; all Christians taken at the end of history
No distinction between Israel and the Church
Wrath and affliction are synonymous in this position
The Mid-tribulation Rapture Theory
They deny Old and New Testament distinctions between Israel and the Church, and make wrath and affliction synonymous; but they do believe in a 7 year tribulation

17. Things to Come The Rapture The Partial Rapture Theory
The Posttribulation Rapture Theory
The Midtribulation Rapture Theory
The Pretribulation Rapture Theory

19. Things to Come
Q: What Bible teachers hold to pre-tribulationism? J Vernon McGee David Jeremiah Tony Evan Adrian Rogers Chuck Swindoll Andy Stanley David Reagan (TV) Hal Lindsey (TV)

20. Things to Come d. The Pretribulation Rapture Theory
This position holds that the church, the true body of Christ, in its entirety---all true believers, by resurrection and translation (or by change, or ‘rapture’), will be removed from the earth before any part of the seventieth week of Daniel 9 begins
Revelation 4-19, are details of the Great Tribulation Period, and the Church is not present on earth--- but in heaven with Christ
This position rests on one major premise---the literal method of interpretation of the Scriptures.

21. Things to Come
Israel and the Church are two separate and distinct groups with whom God has a divine plan.
The church is a Scriptural ‘mystery’, unrevealed in the Old Testament, but explained in the New Testament.
The present mystery age intervenes within the program of God for Israel because of Israel’s rejection of the Messiah at His first advent.
This mystery program of the Church must be completed before God can resume His program with Israel and bring His program to completion.

22. Things to Come
Q: What are the major arguments for the Pretribulation Rapture position?
A literal method of Biblical interpretation. “The question of literal versus figurative interpretation is, therefore, one which has to be faced at the very outset,” writes O. T. Allis, Prophecy and the Church, p. 17, who is writing from the Amillennial or Postmillennial [posttribulation] position. He admits that if the literal method of interpretation of the Scripture is the right method, then premillennialism [pre meaning ‘before’ and millennial meaning 1000 years] is the correct Biblical interpretation.

23. Things to Come
The nature of the seventieth week of Daniel, with other passages, uses several words to describe the seventieth week in its entirety:
Wrath (Rev. 6:16-17; 11:18; 14:19; 15:1, 7; 116:1, 19; I Thess. 1:9- 10; 5:9; Zeph. 1:15, 18)
Judgment (Rev. 14:7; 15:4; 16:5-7; 19:2)
Indignation (Isaiah 26:20-21; 34:1-3)
Punishment (Isaiah 24:20-21)
Hour of trial (Rev. 3:10)
Hour of trouble (Jer. 30:7)
Destruction (Joel 1:15)
Darkness (Joel 2:2; Zeph. 1:14-18; Amos 5:18)

24. Things to Come
Q: What does Daniel 9:24-27 say? 24 “Seventy [t ‘sevens’] weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to[u ‘restrain’] finish the transgression, to [v ‘seal up sins] make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and [w ‘prophet’] prophecy and to anoint the most holy place....

25. Things to Come To finish the transgression, To make an end of sin,
24 “Seventy ‘weeks’ have been decreed for your people and your holy city
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sin,
To make atonement for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy
And to anoint the most holy place”

26. Things to Come
“So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks [sevens---of years] and sixty-two weeks [sevens--- of years]; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.”
Then after the sixty-two weeks [sevens] the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.

27. Things to Come
And he [the prince who will come: the Antichrist] will make a firm covenant with the many [only with Israel, or with them and their Arab enemies also?] for one week [seven], but in the middle of the week [seven] he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations, will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate”