Another concept that is often taught in conjunction with the Pre-Tribulation
Rapture is that after the church is removed, many will be brought to the
knowledge of the Lord by 144,000 Jews who become “super” evangelists. We
are introduced to these 144,000 when they have the seal of God placed on
their foreheads.
1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel (Rev. 7:1-4).
Verses 5-8 continue with the catalog of those who are sealed (twelve
thousand from each of the tribes of Israel). The next time we see these
144,000 they are in heaven.
1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God (Rev. 14:1-5).
Nowhere are we told what these 144,000 have any particular mission
to perform. They are simply identified as firstfruits which have been “redeemed
from among men.” Since the only way to get to heaven before the Rapture
is through death, it would be much more logical to assume that they were
sealed unto martyrdom than anything else. Whatever we choose to believe
about the 144,000, it should be understood that it is simply our own conjecture
and not scriptural fact.
What about the tribulation saints?
Another Pre-Tribulation Rapture teaching says that after the Church is raptured, many who have known about the end times but haven’t believed will then believe because of the Rapture. The 144,000 Jews we just dealt with will evangelize others. These new believers then become a special class of Christians called “tribulation saints.” Well, there will be a period of time the Bible calls the Tribulation. And there will be saints in the Tribulation as we have already seen. But the term tribulation saints does not appear in the Bible. The Bible makes no distinction between believers before the Tribulation and those in the Tribulation. This term and concept are nothing more than the invention of those who advocate a Pre-Tribulation Rapture to explain why God’s elect are still found in the Tribulation after they have supposedly been raptured away.
What about the seventieth week of Daniel?
In Daniel 9:24-27 the angel Gabriel delivers a message to Daniel. Gabriel tells him that God has allotted seventy weeks unto Daniel’s people, the Jews, to fulfill His purposes in them. The weeks are weeks of years, or to put it another way each week represents seven years. These seventy weeks (490 years) are further broken up into periods of seven weeks (49 years), sixty-two weeks (434 years) and one week (7 years). The first sixty-nine weeks (483 years) are accounted for in the period between the time Daniel received the message and the time when the Messiah was cut off. This leaves one week (7 years) in which God will use the Jews to demonstrate his purposes in the earth in a special way. This last week is associated with the time when the Anti-Christ makes a seven-year covenant with Israel. There has been a gap of almost two thousand years since the Messiah was cut off and still the last week of years has not happened. I believe that it will be fulfilled just as the prophecy of the first 69 weeks was fulfilled. I believe that it is quite likely that it will be fulfilled within my lifetime.
Many who believe that the rapture will occur before the Tribulation see the church as a gap filler that didn’t exist during the first sixty-nine weeks of the prophecy and must be removed before the last week can be fulfilled. It would take a book to deal with this in any fullness and many books have been written both for and against this position. All I will say about it here is that I have never found conclusive arguments from scripture to convince me that the church must be removed from the earth for this prophecy to be fulfilled. In fact, I find ample evidence in scripture to convince me that not only will the church not be removed, but that believing Jews and Christians will actually be coming together in some form of unity as the end of the age approaches.
First, I see in scripture that the mission of God’s chosen people, Israel, was to bring all of mankind to a knowledge of God. They were also chosen to be the people from whom the Messiah came. Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, died for the sins of all and brought the gift of salvation to all of mankind. When the nation of Israel rejected the Messiah (though not all Jews rejected Him) the task of spreading the gospel fell primarily to the gentiles who soon became the majority of believers in Jesus Christ. Paul deals with this mystery extensively in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters of his letter to the church at Rome. Toward the end of this passage in 11:11-36 he tells us that Israel’s rejection of the Messiah is not final. He likens the gentiles to branches from a wild olive tree that have been grafted onto a domestic olive tree whose root is Christ. The Jews are portrayed as branches that have been broken off from this tree. But, Paul tells us that the natural branches, the Jews, will be grafted back into the tree with us when they come to believe in the Messiah. There is no hint that the gentiles must be removed in order for the Jews to be restored.
Paul also wrote concerning the coming together of the Jews and the gentiles
in Christ in his letter to the Ephesians. Here he likens this joining as
the coming together of two men into one new man:
14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father (Eph. 2:14-18).
We see this come to fruition during the time of the Tribulation
in a couple of passages we have already looked at in Revelation. Here the
two groups are referenced together, both those who keep God’s commandments
and those who have faith in Jesus.
17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17).12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus (Rev. 14:12).
Finally, the prophet Isaiah also foresaw his own participation in
the resurrection of the just:
19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain (Is. 26:19-21).
So, it is not necessary for the church to be removed prior to the
tribulation for God’s purposes to be fulfilled. And there is ample Biblical
evidence to show that to the contrary all of God’s saints, the Jews and
the Church (God’s elect from every nation, tribe, and tongue), are coming
closer together as the end of the age nears.
When will the number of the gentiles be complete?
Another teaching associated with the doctrine of the Pre-Tribulation
Rapture is that it will occur when the number of the gentiles is complete.
This comes from Paul’s letter to the Romans where we’re told:
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in (Rom 11:25).
But have we considered when this will occur. Like the rapture, there
is no scripture that says, “The number of the gentiles is now complete.”
We do know however, what it takes to get saved, repentance and believing
in Jesus for salvation.
Can we find a time in the period of the Apocalypse when mankind will
no longer repent and turn to our Lord for salvation? Yes, in the time of
the Sixth Trumpet we’re told:
20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts (Rev. 9:20,21).
This lack of repentance leads to the Seventh Trumpet that contains
the final seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth. During the pouring out
of these bowls, unsaved mankind is given more opportunities to repent,
but twice more we are told that they refuse to do so.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds (Rev. 16:8-11).
Mankind’s continued lack of repentance leads to the Sixth Bowl judgement
where the armies of the world are gathered for the battle of Armageddon.
And as we’ve seen already, this is the season in which the rapture occurs.
The teaching is correct that the rapture will occur when the number of
the gentiles is complete, but the assumed pre-tribulation timing is not.
For when mankind stops repenting and turning to the Lord Jesus Christ for
salvation, then He will remove His own from the world. After which, He
will return to unrepentant mankind as their conqueror and judge.
Now, I don’t mean to suggest that Abner Doubleday was prophetic or that God is a baseball fan. I’m sure that it is just a coincidence, but it appears that for mankind in this age in which we live it will be three strikes and their out. May we labor in the harvest to bring as many of them as possible to salvation before time runs out.
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