Eschatology has become a hot issue in these end times. Will it be a pre-tribulation rapture, a mid-tribulation rapture or a post-tribulation rapture?
Jack Hibbs, the founder and senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in Chino Hills, California, says the answer to that question is pretty clear, and most of all, it’s biblical.
“The reason I believe in the rapture is the same reason I believe in water baptism or, for that matter, salvation by faith and by faith alone. It’s because it’s in the Bible. But what do I mean by this?
“In John chapter 14 verses 1 through 3, Jesus is the first one to introduce the teaching of the rapture.”
That portion of Scripture reads, “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also.”
Hibbs says, “It’s Paul the apostle that elaborates on it beautifully in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 13 through 17 in great detail. That portion of Scripture reads:
“‘But I would not have you ignorant, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and arose again, so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall be forever with the Lord.’
“Here’s what we need to remember is that the First Coming and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is for the Jewish people and to Jerusalem, and to set up His kingdom,” Hibbs says. “The rapture is something that is an appearance in the atmosphere. And, it’s to take the church to heaven to meet Christ.”
The biggest proof of a pre-tribulation rapture, Hibbs says, comes in Revelation 19, which Hibbs says shows the church in heaven before the great Second Coming of Christ.
So, it’s biblical, and it’s the blessed hope.” {eoa}
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Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.
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