Steven Braun (13 Dec 2007)
"RAPTURE"

 

STEVEN BRAUN

RAPTURE

All Scripture form the KJV 1611

~ Part two ~

 

Nowhere in the English Bible KJV 1611, can you find the word "rapture"

People have argued and write books to try to use the fact that the word rapture does not appear in the Bible as an argument against its validity. The issue should be whether or not the concept of the rapture appears in the Bible.

The most popular Scripture in the Bible is definitely, 1 Thess. 4:16-18, where the people say that this is the “Rapture” Scripture, and I quote;

V.16; For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
V.17; 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.
V.18; Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

So let’s look at the scripture in the original tongue (Greek);

 



4:16 oti autos o kurios en keleusmati en fwnh arcaggelou kai en salpiggi qeou katabhsetai ap ouranou kai oi nekroi en cristw anasthsontai prwton
4:17 epeita hmeis oi zwntes oi perileipomenoi ama sun autois arpaghsomeqa en nefelais eis apanthsin tou kuriou eis aera kai outws pantote sun kuriw esomeqa
4:18 wste parakaleite allhlous en tois logois toutois
 

I don't see the dead in Christ rising, Jesus descending from heaven, and us meeting him in the air. They're right; the word rapture is nowhere to be found. All I see is gobbledygook. Because I cannot read Greek, can you?

For the record, the word rapture comes from the Latin word rapturo, which in turn was a translation of the Greek verb "caught up" found in 1 Thess. 4:17. You can call it the pre-trib rapture, the pre-trib rapturo, or the pre-trib caught up - it's all the same thing.

The words “caught up” according to the Strong’s Concordance, the number is # 726 and the Greek language is as follows;

harpazō (har-pad'-zo)

From a derivative of G138; to seize (in various applications): - catch (away, up), pluck, pull, take (by force).

According to “Wikipedia.org” the following is mentioned regarding the word ‘rapture’;
“Rapture", when used in eschatological terms, is an English word used in place of the Latin word raeptius; taken from the Vulgate, which in turn is a translation of the Koine Greek word harpazo, which is found in the Greek New Testament manuscripts of 1 Thessalonians 4:17.”
In many modern English translations of the Bible, harpazo is translated; "caught up", or "taken away".
"Harpazo" \har-pad'-zo\ Koine Greek; "forcibly snatched away", "taken for oneself".
So now we see that the Greek word for ‘caught up’ is “Harpazo” and there are only four places in the Scriptures where the two words “caught up” appears, which have the same meaning, and they are;
2 Cor. 12:2, 2 Cor. 12:4, 1 Thess. 4:17, and Rev. 12:5.
2 Cor. 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up  (726) to the third heaven.

2 Cor. 12:4 How that he was caught up (726) into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

1 Thess. 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up (726) together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Rev. 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up (726) unto God, and to his throne.

My dear fellow Saints, I have seen something that is so profound and I want to share the Scripture with you.

Notice the Strong’s # 726, which means “Harpazo” and in English “caught up” is only reflected in the New Testament, four (4) times. What caught my eye was the fourth Scripture, Revelation 12:5 where it talks about the woman who is ready to go into labour to bring forth the man child and her child was caught up unto God and His throne.

We all know that the woman reflects (Israel) and the man child reflects (Jesus Christ).

So what is the significance of this verse? There was an event that was hidden in the natural, but revealed in the Word of God, and that was the ‘rapture’ of the man child (Jesus Christ).

So when did that happen? Let’s examine the Scriptures quickly regarding the events after the resurrection, shall we? It could not have been on Ascension Day (40 days after the resurrection) because the angels told the disciples and just as you have seen this Jesus ascend so you will also see Him coming in the clouds and that is confirmed in Zachariah 14:4. The Scripture I believe relates to the Second coming.

So we start where Mary Magdalene went to the grave and where she found it empty, and we take the Scripture from there.

It is written in John 20:15 - 17 the following;

“Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and [to] my God, and your God.”

Here is the crux, the LORD said to her not to touch Him and I believe being in the resurrected body, being pure, He needs to present the “First Fruits” of the Harvest to the Father and therefore He command the warning.

Something else happened at the time of the resurrection and I quote from Matthew 27:51 – 53;

“And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”

Notice that there was an earthquake and only after His resurrection did the graves opened and many of the saints were resurrected and they appear too many in the Holy city, (Jerusalem).

I believe that those saints that rose were part of the “First Fruits” seeing that Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:23 that;

“But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.”

This Scripture tells me that the Feast of First Fruits were a rehearsal as to the real meaning within the Feasts of the LORD, as been taught by Dick Ruben.

So Christ was the ‘first fruit’ of the resurrection in the Glorified body and as Paul exclaimed, every man in his own order. What does that tells me?
I know the Word states in 1 Corinthians 15:50 that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, so it is proven what Paul said that Christ was the ‘first fruit’ of the ‘Resurrection’.

My dear friends, I believe that the next order of “caught up” should be on a specific time, day, month and year, seeing that our LORD has fulfill the first four Feasts up to the ‘yot’ and ‘tittle’. He was our Sacrificial Lamb and our High Priest to fulfill the Law that was given to Moses, just as He said in Matthew 5:17;

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”

If the Feasts of the LORD were rehearsals and shadows according to, Colossians 2:16 – 17 then it is my conviction that the next resurrection should be on a Feast of First fruits, but I also believe the Holy Spirit will give us more Understanding and Wisdom regarding this mystery and just as the LORD told Noah, in seven days it will beginning to rain, and just as Elisha knew that Elijah will be taken away as it is written in 2 Kings 2, so I also believe that the Bride of Christ will be notified in due time of the departure.

 

So therefore you see from the above four Scriptures, in all the cases someone has been removed or transported from the earth, and that confirms that a HARPAZO / RAPTURO / RAPTURE has taken place. So irrespective whether Pre, mid, or post there will be a “Great Tribulation” and there will be a “Rapture”.

Now let’s look at the scriptural evidence for a Pre-tribulation Rapture, meaning just before the start of the 70th week of Daniel. The following information I took verbatim from a website relating to the topic for ease of reference. Unfortunately I could not remember who the writer is for the credit, but I do not think that he/she would mind if all the Glory goes to our Father in Heaven. Amen!

When we search the scriptures and read the passages describing the Lord Jesus’ return, we find verses that tell us we won’t know the day and hour. Mat. 25:13 say Jesus will return at an unknown time, while Rev. 12:6 indicates that the Jews will have to wait on the Lord 1260 days.
The 1260 days start when the Antichrist stands in the Temple of God and declares himself to be God (2 Thess 2:4). This event will take place at the mid-point of the seven year tribulation (Dan 9:27).

(Just to set the record straight, the Scripture in Dan. 9:27 doesn’t make mention of the exact three words, ‘seven year tribulation’. This is an assumption that the 70th week of Daniel is going to be a ‘seven year tribulation’ period. The Bible clearly teaches that the Great Tribulation is going to 1260 days, 42 months long and that equate to 3½  biblical year period.)

It should be noted as mentioned that some people only see a 3 1/2 year tribulation. They are in a way correct, because the first half of the tribulation will be relatively peaceful compared to the second half.

(The reason for this statement is that I feel that the Scriptures call this time “the beginning of sorrows”, or ‘birth pangs’ Matthew 24:4-8, but friends I could be wrong).

Nonetheless, peaceful or not, there still remains a Biblical 7 year time period. When the Jews flee into the wilderness, they know that all they have to do is wait out those 1260 days (Mat 24:16). There is no way you can apply “neither the day nor the hour” to this situation. The only way for these two viewpoints to be true is to separate the two distinct events transpiring here; the rapture of the Church of Jesus Christ must come before the confirmation of the covenant as mentioned in Dan. 9:27 and the return of Jesus to the earth takes place roughly seven years later.

(Why he is saying that, is that if the truly born-again Children of God are still here on earth, then we will be the most dangerous people on this planet, because we will then be able to pinpoint the exact day and hour of the return of our LORD and Christ, and that means that the Scripture “neither the day nor the hour” cannot apply to us, as stated above. Now that nullified the Mid-Tribulation rapture, because we can count. I also need to add that when the 1260 days start it would be the middle of the ‘week’ spoken of in Daniel.)

 (I must say at this point that 1260 + 1260 days = 2520 days divided by 30 days – biblical days = 84 biblical months, divided 12 months = 7 biblical years. Another view point is 2520 divided by 360 biblical days = 7 biblical years. If you use our Gregorian calendar, then you take 2520 divided by 365 days = 6 years and 9 months)

What They Didn’t Teach You in History Class

There are many groups that are trying to discredit the pre-trib rapture, primarily because they believe most of the end time events in the Bible have already taken place. By 70 AD, or the middle ages, they see just about all of the apocalyptic scriptures as being already fulfilled.

If the book of Revelation were truly just a part of history, it would seem very difficult for me to explain away some of the current situations I see occurring around us: the rebirth of Israel, the reunification of Europe, the number of global wars that have occurred, and the development of nuclear weapons.

During history class, I must have slept through the part where the teacher talked about the time when a third of the trees were burned up, 100 LB hailstones fell from the sky, and the time when the sea turned into blood (Rev 8:7-8, 16:21).

I think several people would have to question their opposition to the pre- trib rapture doctrine if they knew that the evidence provided to them was based on the understanding that most tribulation prophecies have already occurred.

The People of the Millennium

If Christ were to come back after the great tribulation, rapture all the saints, and slay all the ungodly; who would then be left to populate the millennium?

Only the pre-trib viewpoint can account for this post-trib problem. The Church is rapture before the tribulation, a vast number of souls are saved during this 7 year time frame, and those that make it through the tribulation will go into the millennium, while the unsaved are cast into hell.

The Saint U-turn

In the pre-trib scenario, after we rise to meet the Lord in the air, we will go to ‘heaven’ and abide there seven years. At the end of the seven years Christ comes down to earth, defeats the Antichrist, and cleanses the temple. In post-trib rapture we would rise in the air to meet the Lord, then do a 180-degree U-turn and come back down to earth. It states in Rev. 1:7 that Christ will appear out of the clouds and come down to earth. It says in Zech. 14:4 that His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. If He’s already headed our way, why would we need to be caught up to meet Him?

“Come up Hither”

Many pre-trib writers cite Rev. 4:1, where it says, “come up hither”, as a prophetic reference to the rapture of the Church, leaving Revelation chapters 1 through 3 as a description of the Church Age.

 After the shout to “come up hither”, the church is not mentioned in scripture at all. The attention of scripture switches from the Church to the Jews living in Israel.

Armies in Fine Linen

When Jesus returns, Rev. 19:11-16, there is an army that follows Him riding on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. In Rev. 19:8 we are told that the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. If the saints of God are returning with Christ to wage war on the Antichrist, then it is not possible to have a post-trib rapture without us running into ourselves as we are coming and going.

(Interesting to note that in 1 Thessalonians 4:14 it is written that “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” Awesome! That means when you die or sleep you will be instantly with Jesus because you need to be part of the said Scripture, my friend.  No soul-sleep as some taught.)

The Time of Jacob’s Trouble

In several passages the Bible refers to the tribulation as a time of trouble for the Jews. The phrase “Jacob’s trouble” pertains to the descendants of Jacob. In Jeremiah 30:7 it says that this time of trouble will come just before the Lord returns to save His people. The final week of Daniel’s 70th week is yet to take place. An angel told Daniel that “70 weeks are determined unto thy people”(Dan 9:24). Who is ‘thy people’ that the angel told Daniel? Scripture never mentions that the tribulation is meant to be a time of testing for Christians, however, some post-tribbers try to claim that they are the ones being tested during the tribulation.

To make this so, they need to spiritualize the 144,000 Jewish believers in Rev. 7:2-8 who receive God’s protective seal.

(I need to interject here and to make the second last sentence clearer as I understand it. Those who did not qualify to be the Bride of Christ at the time of the rapture has entered the Great Tribulation, and the Word states in Revelation 20:4 the following;

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received [his] mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

Interesting again, why does the Word say “Souls” and not “Saints”?

Notice the underlined section, which shows the events that indicate the timeline and that means the antichrist was already on the scene.
So my conviction is that those ‘christians’ going through the Great Tribulation are those that didn’t have a personal intimate relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ.)

 

God Hath Not Appointed Us to Wrath

In 1 Thessalonians 5:9 Paul assures us that God has not appointed His people to wrath. This wrath is plainly God’s anger that will be poured out during the great tribulation.

Pre-trib believers interpret this as meaning that Christians will be removed from the earth. Post-trib believers tell a different story. They describe this as meaning that God will protect Christians during the tribulation and pour this wrath out on the unbelievers only.

This idea runs against the statement made in Rev. 13:7, where the Antichrist is given power to make war with the saints and to overcome them.

(I believe these Saints are those that were left behind and therefore they also conform to those mentioned in Revelation 7:14 and those in Revelation 20:4)

A post-trib view would make God’s promise of protection from wrath into a lie. In years past, it was possible to think of being protected from the guns and swords of that day. Today, when any major war would involve nuclear and chemical weapons, it’s impossible to expect that same kind of protection. When Nagasaki, Japan was bombed during W.W.II, the bomb exploded over a Catholic church. Everyone that was in the centre of the explosion died, both Christians and non-Christians. The only way to validly interpret God’s promise of protection from wrath is by viewing 1 Thess. 5:9 as the bodily removal of the true Church from this world. d

 

So now what have we learned here is that yes, there will be a “Rapture” and yes, there will be “The Great Tribulation” which as you know by now would start from the middle of the ‘week’ and last 42 Jewish months, 1260 Jewish days, and a time, and times and half a time, spelling out 3 ½ Jewish years which is according to the Biblical Calendar.

The writer told that the first 3½ Biblical years will be ‘relatively calm’ compared to the “Great Tribulation” and I want to add some points to this.

The Third Jewish Temple must be rebuilt and that can only be accomplished when there is peace and safety, or some agreement in the Holy Land of Israel. And the Scripture is clear as to the timing of that season, 1 Thessalonians 5:3 which reads;

“For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”

The other day I was pondering on the different dissimilarities regarding the Tribulation and the titles that we have added to the term to form an opinion and then to believe the idea and stand by it no matter what.

So I want to put this thought on the table but it is not to agree or disagree with any doctrines or view points regarding the issue. It’s just a thought.

Let’s say, we take away the prefixes, such as “Pre”, “Mid”, and “Post” before the word tribulation period, what then are we going to watch for?

What are we going to argue about? Shouldn’t we focus on our LORD and GOD, Jesus Christ of Nazareth and hear what He is saying to us?

The Word makes mention clearly of the ‘Great Tribulation” and with all the graphic events listed in Revelation.

As already mentioned, that the first halve of the ‘week’ might be relatively calm, so then we would be looking for the events relating to the Temple Mount and the splitting or dividing of Jerusalem. Yes and don’t forget about Damascus that needs to be destroyed according to Isaiah 17:1.

Just remember again that the Prophecy given to Daniel was for ‘thy people’ and ‘thy Holy City’ not for the church. So the turmoil and tribulation would be in the land of Israel. Yes we would feel the ripples as the fighting escalates into the entire world because everything is linked with the stock market and oil price, etc.

What I’m trying to say is that “if” there was an agreement or covenant with many as mentioned in Daniel 9:27 and we are already in the first part of the ‘week’ then we should be looking at the Sanhedrin that was re-established after 1600 years who will oversee the planning of the rebuilding of the Third Temple.

So when will the rapture arrive on the scene, seeing that we ‘might’ be in the first part of the 70th week of Daniel?

The Word of God states that the “Great Tribulation” would be 1260 biblical day long, 42 biblical months and that would be a time of destruction and horror that was not in this world since the foundation of the world!

Just remember, my dear fellow watchers, I’m just throwing some thoughts around because we have been moulded into a specific shapes or idea’s and we believe that without a doubt and we normally reject any views that do not conform to our view.

So I want to put on the table a hypothetical scenario and I want you to bear with me.

As now being discussed by Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem of the re-established Sanhedrin in Israel, plans is being made for the rebuilding of the Third Temple.
The Sanhedrin, a religious assembly of 71 sages that sat from the time of the Holy Temple through 425 CE, was the highest Jewish legal-judicial tribunal in the Land of Israel. The great court used to convene in one of the Temple's chambers in Jerusalem. On October 14, 2004 the Sanhedrin was reestablished for the first time in 1,600 years, at the site of its last meeting in Tiberius.
Most of the Temple vessels have been manufactured and the latest one was the Crown of the High Priest.
The website to the Sanhedrin is www.thesanhedrin.org/en  and for the Temple vessels is www.templeinstitute.org.
Priesthood being verified
On Sunday, April 4, 1999, at the semi-annual “Priestly Blessing” ceremony at the Western Wall, a booth was erected nearby for the genetic testing Kohanim (priests), to see if they have what is now called “Priestly gene”. Two years ago, an American geneticist found that all Kohanim share a common gene, supporting the belief that they have one common ancestor (presumably Aaron the Priest). Rabbi Nachman Kahane said that 17 Kohanim have already been tested.  Thirteen tested positive, one negative, and three cases were inconclusive.
www.kenraggio.com
As you can see my dear friends, the stage is being set and the wheel is turning. When it comes to prophecy, one needs to turn to the Word of God for guidance and not our opinions, and I’ve found the Scripture that can give us guidance to Prophecy.
Amos 1:1
“The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.”

Dear Saints, look closely at the Scripture, Amos saw the earthquake and utter his voice from Jerusalem. I believe that someone wrote down the Words spoken because the Scripture reveals that the Word of the LORD was given two (2) years before the earthquake.

I do not perceive that the LORD has given the timeline of the earthquake because only two years after the earthquake the words was acknowledge as Prophecy, so it looks to me, because of the last part of the sentence of verse 1.

So my conclusion is that Prophecy will only be revealed after it has happened and then we can relate the event to the Prophecy.

Putting that on the table as foundation, how will we know that Daniel 9:27 has not started? How will we know whether we are not in the first halve of the ‘week’ of Daniel’s 70th week?
We are looking for an event that would confirm that the ‘week’ has started but according to the said Scripture we will not know the timeline, but yes the season would be clear, but not specific on the date.

So maybe we should not look forward for an event, but backwards to see whether an event has taken place in line of Scripture.

What concerns me is that the LORD showed Daniel the whole vision and I believe Daniel saw even the start thereof, but now maybe we are in that season or timeline, and then how will we know if anything was done behind close doors?

Even the media is been controlled by the powers to be and therefore, what if it didn’t made headline news? Not much has come from Annapolis relating to Daniel 9:27 but there are other documents that tell me that it is much later than we think.

Go to www.unaoc.org click on “The Report” and follow the instructions. On the internet you can also search in Google.com “Alliance of Civilizations” and the commentary by Constance Cumbey. Her article is called “War on Monotheistic Religions?”

Then there is the “Earth Charter (March 2000)” www.earthcharterinaction.org  and www.earthcharter.org and the “Noahide Laws (Public Law 102-14-March 20, 1991)” www.thewatcherfiles.com/noahide_laws which also give a clear indication of how far have we come to without being notified. I have used this website as reference because it is very thorough and very clear what is in store for us as Christian Fundamentalists.

These are all events that have been occurring right under our noses and the Body of Christ is fast asleep!

Luke 21:36

“Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”

~~End of Part two~~

Next letter, if the LORD permits is the validation of “neither day not hour”.