Prophecy

5. The Imminence Problem

 

This is an easy problem to address, because I agree with the Pre-Wrathists. In my view, any Pre-Tribber who believes that the Resurrection/Rapture is imminent and therefore can happen at any time with no precursor signs is wrong. I've stated this in the first problem addressed, The Precursor Problem. There I also agreed with the Pre-Wrathers that there are precursor signs to the "day of the Lord" and also to the Resurrection/Rapture. As you may recall, 4 precursor signs to the "day of the Lord" were addressed:

 

1. The return of Elijah. I agree with the Pre-Wrathers that this must occur before the "day of the Lord," which I consider the literal day of the Second Coming of Christ or perhaps the last year of the last 7 years of great tribulation. I put his return with Moses at the Resurrection/Rapture, 7 years before the "end of the age." Jesus will return invisibly with Moses (who was resurrected) to receive the resurrected "dead in Christ" (all dead saints since Adam and Eve) and with Elijah (who was raptured) to receive the raptured "alive" saints. Then Moses and Elijah will descend further to Jerusalem to preach Jesus as King for 1260 days until they are killed by the Jewish Antichrist. They will be resurrected 3 1/2 days later to show that they will return in 3 1/2 more years.

 

2. The apostasy. I view this as the apostasy in the worldwide visible Church that has grown especially since Satan and the demons not active in the 120 years before Noah's 600th year were released from hell (where they were bound in 70 AD) in 1903/4, 120 years before Moses (who died at 120 years of age) and Elijah descend at the Resurrection/Rapture in 2023/24, 7 years before the 6000th year in 2030/31.

 

3. The revelation of the Antichrist. The Pre-Wrathists wrongly, I believe, put this at the midpoint of the last 7 years, at the Abomination of Desolation, when the Antichrist (a Jewish man, I believe) displays himself as God in the 4th temple (after Solomon's, Zerubbabel's and Herod's). However, I believe that he will be revealed immediately after the Resurrection/Rapture, 7 years before the "end of the age," once "he who restrains" Satan and the demons and lawlessness, the Holy Spirit in the invisible Church, is "taken out of the way." At that point, I believe that the Jewish Antichrist will assassinate Vladimir Putin and take down 2 other CIS leaders and come against Israel with his army. These actions will fully reveal him. Keep your eyes on General Valery Gerasimov. He could be the man.

 

4. "The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood." As  I wrote on The Precursor Problem, I believe that Pre-Wrathers and nearly everybody else makes the mistake of not seeing this verse and others like it figuratively. I believe that it is referring to the ascension of Christ and much Christian martrydom before the "day of the Lord." Please read my first article for more on that.

 

So, I agree with Pre-Wrathists that believing in the imminence of the Resurrection/Rapture, that it may come at any time without any precursor signs, is wrong. However, even if some or most Pre-Tribbers believe this, that does not mean that they are wrong about the Resurrection/Rapture occurring 7 years before the "end of the age." The 2 can be believed or not believed separately. I do not believe the first assertion, but I do believe the second.

 

Let me ask some questions of Pre-Tribbers that believe in imminence. Do you not believe that God's times are set to the very hour, day, month and year? Does that not also apply to the Resurrection/Rapture? If so, how can the Resurrection/Rapture occur at any time? Consider this verse from Revelation 9:

 

In my view, the 4 angels are a figure for Satan (see my commentary on the chapter), who was released from hell with the demons not active in Noah's day, so that they would kill a third of "mankind," one of the many figures for Jews. A third of 18 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Note that the timing of their release was down to the "hour." Will it be any different with the Resurrection/Rapture? I say no.