Transcription
What does Revelation say about the rapture? And should we make specific predictions about a date? Let's read Revelation 4 and then I want your take on this.
>> Uh it says, "After this, I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice when I heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, come up here. I will show you what must take place after this. At once I was in the spirit and behold, a throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne."
Of course, we could read more from within Revelation, but give us a sense of what it tells us about the rapture.
>> Yeah. Uh nothing.
Seriously?
>> Yeah. I I don't think Revelation 4 has anything to do with the rapture.
Okay.
>> Um uh it is the beginning of John's uh apocalyptic visions. So in in Revelation 1:1 and 2, uh John sort of lays out uh what he's going to be doing. Revelation by the way, you know, is a letter that John writes to the seven churches of Asia, >> and the body of the letter is a report of these visionary experiences that he had.
So he says in Revelation 1:1 and 2, uh, "the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his bondservants the things that must take place." M.
>> Um uh and this he did communicating it through his angel to his bondservant John. Now um the things that must take place, that's a phrase that comes from, guess where? The book of Daniel, >> where it is sort of Daniel's shorthand version of the eschatology of the book of Daniel.
Okay. And so um uh in Revelation 1, when John starts to have a visionary experience starting in Revelation 1:9 and 10, he sees the risen Christ, whom he likens to one like a son of man, which is Daniel chapter 7.
>> Uh he's described like the angel that reveals to d to Daniel the eschatology in Daniel chapter 10.
And then after that, John is told, "Come up here." And the voice, by the way, that sounds like a trumpet, that's the voice of Christ that he heard in chapter one, >> says, "Come up here, uh, and I will show you the things that must take place after these things." I'm going to start showing you now the fulfillment of the Danielic eschatology.
>> Um, some argue that John is a type of the church, and so when he goes to heaven, it's it's a type of the rapture. Others will argue that the 24 elders who are sitting around the throne of God in heaven uh represent the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints and is some uh type of the rapture. Uh I don't I don't think that that's the case. Rather, following John's use of the Olivet discourse.
>> Uh in my opinion, the rapture occurs in Matthew 24:31 where it says, >> uh, "then the son of man, when he appears, >> will send forth his angels and uh reap uh the earth or or uh gather his elect together." Paul uses same language now regarding the coming of the Lord and our gathering together to him.
Um um that occurs at uh during this period of the of the tribulation, which we can talk about. Mhm.
>> Um and so, um in Revelation, John, when the lamb starts to break these seals, after he's broken the sixth seal, uh he's told, uh, "the people on earth have recognized the great day of God's wrath and the wrath of the lamb has arrived and they want the mountains to hide them," etc., etc., quoting from Old Testament eschatological passages.
And um and then Revelation 7:1 begins, sort of before God's wrath is poured out, they're they're told to stop. "Hold on a second. We've got to seal the 144,000 servants of God on their foreheads."
>> And um and then John sees a great multitude who have come out of the great tribulation standing before the throne in heaven. I take that to be the the rapture. That that's the raptured church.
>> And then, excuse me a second.
>> Uh and then uh the 144,000 stay on earth. Um, we I can go more into detail with that if we need to, but >> uh they stay on earth. It's clear because as the God's wrath is being poured out, they're we're told specifically it doesn't harm those who have the mark of God on their foreheads.
Um, at any rate, that same visionary uh timing is uh repeated in Revelation 14. Mhm.
>> So, in Revelation 14, John sees the lamb standing on Mount Zion with the 144,000.
>> And uh and um some angels come and they tell people, "You got to make a decision because uh the time of judgment is coming up." And then um uh three angels uh come from heaven. And um then one like a son of man comes riding on the clouds.
Clearly an image of the coming of Christ.
>> Um, though people debate that.
I'm sure.
>> Um and uh um and he harvests the earth. After harvesting the earth, another angel comes and he harvests the earth and throws the grapes into the wrath of God. And so here again, we have an image of Jesus rescuing >> his own before God's wrath is poured out, just like it was in Revelation 7. Revelation uh 15 and 16. A third run-through of these events and a great uh crowd is seen in heaven who have come off victorious from the beast.
Uh and then uh the the the bowls of wrath are poured out in in chapter 16. So in each instance um the uh the seals vision places the rapture where I would expect it to to find it in Matthew 24, uh in heaven before God's wrath is poured out, having experienced the tribulation.
>> Uh chapter 14 does the same thing. Uh after the beast starts his tribulation, the son of man comes and harvests his his own from the earth. And chapter 15 uh and 16 do the same thing. So that's where I see the rapture in in Revelation.
So can we make rapture predictions given the general time frame in which you place it, or should we?
>> First of all, no. I don't think we should. Uh Jesus of course said, "You will not know the day or the hour" of when this is going to come.
>> Some understand that to mean we are 100% clueless about it. So there are no signs that precede the rapture.
But uh Jesus himself gives signs that precede the rapture. Not the least of which is the abomination of desolation. And so um I think we can have an idea that um we are approaching the end, but unless you were to say it occurs, you know, there's something in the text that says it has to occur X many days or hours after the abomination of desolation, but we don't have anything like that, just that it occurs after the abomination of desolation.
>> Um, and I sometimes I liken it to to the idea when you have, you know, a plumber or a service guy going to show up to your house and they say, "I'm gonna get there after 12:00." You know, >> so you know they're going to get there after 12, but you have no idea when they're actually going to show up to your house. It's kind of it's kind of like that.
That's really helpful. Thank you.