The Amazing Truth of the Rapture (Dr. Thomas Ice)

Friday, January 4, 2013

Romans 11:25 indicates that the trigger point for the rapture will be when "the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." The leading Greek lexicon of our day says the noun translated fullness in this passage means "that which is brought to fullness or completion; full number." [1] Also, Acts 15:14 says, "Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name." Thus, when that last Gentile convert comes to faith in Christ, the Church, the Body of Christ, will be complete and the rapture will take place. The full number of Gentiles will have come in and then our Lord will turn His attention to the salvation of all Israel (Rom. 11:26) during the subsequent tribulation period.

The rapture of the church will be a truly amazing event that will confound the world. Just think about it for a moment. How will the world who rejects the possibility that a God who does miracles is out there, explain the sudden disappearance of hundreds of millions of people all over the world in an instance of time? People that are left behind will generally not be open to the possibility of the rapture, even though all of those taken will be Bible-believing Christians. Whatever the explanation by the authorities will be, it will be a big lie that they will propagate. However, I believe that the rapture will be a wake-up call for many of those who were close to Christians before the rapture.

Spouses, children, relatives, neighbors, and friends that heard those wacko Christians talk about their impending sudden disappearance will certainly take note concerning this global event. Many will start coming to faith in Christ after the rapture and before the seven-year tribulation even begins. After all there will be an interval of time between the rapture, which ends the church age, and the start of the tribulation, that begins with the signing of the covenant between the Revived Roman Antichrist and the nation of Israel (Dan. 9:24–27). That interval could be days, weeks, months or even years, as the restrainer will be removed at the rapture, the Holy Spirit indwelling the church (2 Thess. 2:6–8), enabling the rise of the man of lawlessness or the antichrist. Daniel 7 and 11 outline the rise of the beast or the antichrist to power and it will take some time. First, there will be the need for the ten-nation Revived Roman Empire to arise because it will be from within that federation the little horn will arise (Dan. 7:20) who is the antichrist. This will take some time. Then the antichrist will either negotiate or impose the seven-year covenant with Israel (Dan. 9:27) and the tribulation will begin.