Why is “Imminence” an argument for pre-tribulational Rapture?
| By: Dr. John Ankerberg; ©1996 |
| Bible Prophecy Questions Answered by Leading Christian Scholars. |
Why is “Imminence” an argument for pre-tribulational Rapture?
Dr. Earl Radmacher: Well, if I were to narrow it down to one thing that is most convincing to me in the Scripture for the pre-tribulational Rapture, as a theologian who speaks on doctrine regularly, it would be the doctrine of the imminent return of the Lord; that is, the fact that there is no prophecy that needs to be fulfilled before Jesus Christ returns for His Church.
Now, it’s interesting to me that this has been believed as the teaching of the Scripture, both by those who don’t believe the Scripture, and by those who do. For example, I could go to a liberal commentary like C. K. Barrett’s Commentary on John, and he says, “There is no question about the fact that all of the apostles believed in the imminent return of the Lord.” Now, he said they were wrong, and, of course, that’s often a liberal argument to say that they believed that and they were wrong. But we need to start with: What did they believe? What does the text teach?
So, when you come to a passage like James Chapter 5, and he is warning the Christians concerning their attitudes towards those who work for them and he says, “Remember, the judge stands at the door.” That is, it can happen immediately. It may not happen for a long time, but it can happen immediately. So, there is no prophesied sign that needs to take place before the Lord Jesus comes.
Hi,
With regard to imminence I don’t scripture to support there are no events prior to the rapture. First, please define the tribulation period and show from scripture that the rapture occurs at the start of the tribulation. I don’t see where in scripture that the rapture occurs at the start of the trib. period.
Also, assuming that God is reasonable, consider the following.
When did the rapture become imminent? Jesus spoke of the temple being being destroyed and we know from scripture that that Israel would be scattered, restored to Israel, the temple rebuilt and sacrifices resume. Suppose we assume that the rapture is pre-Trib and imminent. 3.5 years later you have the abomination of desolation. Before that you have the resuming of sacrifices. Before that you have Israel becoming a nation. Before that Israel is scattered throughout the whole world and the temple destroyed. All of these predicted in the Old Testament. Are you saying that all of those things had to occur within 3.5 years? Is that reasonable?
Also consider 2 Thes 2:1-4. This seems to clearly state that the day of the lord (along with the coming of the Lord and our gathering together) will not occur until after the abom. of desolation which occurs at the mid point of the 70th week. If this is true then the rapture is clearly not imminent. Dr. Ryrie and Dr MacArthur (both pre-trib) state in their study bibles that the gathering together in 2 Thes 2:1-4 is the rapture.
I lean very heavily toward the pre-wrath view.
May God continue to bless you!