Objection:
John 14 makes it
absolutely clear that a post-Tribulation cannot be.
John 14 doesn’t seem to preclude
other purposes or actions upon his return. But he speaks narrowly to
his disciples, words of encouragement, and words particular to them.
In normal speech, we don’t expect a person to speak comprehensively
on a topic at every moment. Similarly, if Jesus’ audience is
narrowed, and the purpose of his words are narrowed, there’s no
reason for surprise that the scope of his words will focus only upon
a thing he is doing to love his disciples.
Objection:
The rapture does
not become all that comforting for the Church… Jesus wasn’t even
promising to take the disciples to heaven… you’re never going to
be taken to the Father’s house… we meet Jesus in the air and then
do a U-turn and come down to earth.
While I agree that a post-Tribulation
rapture is not as comforting to the immediate church as a
pre-Tribulation rapture might be, it is nonetheless very comforting
in presenting an end to the suffering and reward. The same problem of
lack of relief applies both to a pre-Tribulation rapture as it might
to the pre-Millenial First Resurrection. We can say what’s the
purpose, if the kingdom has arrived? But the purpose is to stop the
suffering, reward the saints, and give them the promised
resurrection. The First Resurrection is the culmination of everything
the saints have been waiting for in their suffering.
Too, while the Tribulation is horrible,
why should God abandon any of his people during it the same way he
didn’t during the Holocaust or the Inquisitions? His grace is
sufficient. And saints are slaughtered throughout the whole book such
that by Rev 6 (and its not even done yet), dead martyrs under the
altar are crying out for vengeance and are told to wait until the
full number of them are killed. This might be before Rev 7 where the
Great Company are in heaven, but by Rev 9 with the trumpets in full
blast, those sealed by God (the previous 144,000) are still very much
in play on the earth alongside the wicked.
As for John 14’s promise, I had a
hard time with this argument that a post-Tribulation rapture
indicates we never get to the Father’s house. The simple argument
is that, if a rapture is post-Tribulation, and Jesus says we are
taken to the Father’s house, then of course we are, whether it
seems clear or not.
But I now have to wonder if maybe we
are not getting this whole concept of heavenly and earthly kingdom
wrong because of too many assumptions we bring to the scripture. Lack
of imagination or understanding on my part isn’t a reliable test
for interpreting verses.
In Rev 21 you the New Jerusalem coming
down out of heaven. I used to think of this as the city is moving
downward, but the rest of the chapter says nothing of the sort. The
city is so massive it breaks way past the highest atmospheric
barriers, at least of our current planet. There is no temple because
the Father and Son are the temple in the city, and provide light to
the world. Essentially they live in it. And you have a glorified
Christ as the perfect “God-man”. And we are like Christ. We know
from scripture Christ sits eternally in heaven, and we read in Rev 21
that he is the temple on a new earth.
Is it possible that the raptured
Resurrection promised in 1 Cor 15 to heavenly forms and the First
Resurrection in Rev 20 to earthly reigns are essentially one and the
same result for us? We can still be taken up into the clouds to meet
the Lord, and be with him forever, and at once be in heaven and on
earth reigning with Christ. Right or wrong, if my imagination is
stuck trying to envision what scripture teaches, that’s not a good
argument against that interpretation. We don’t do a U-turn back to
earth.
And even so, how does John 14 still
stand if we are raptured into heaven into that heavenly home, and we
only use it for 7 years before coming down to earth?
I don’t know enough about the classic
post-Tribulation position, so maybe people do advocate that there is
only a glorified earthly body somehow. But from 1 Cor 15, it’s
clear to me it’s a heavenly body and when we are raptured, we
remain in that state forever, and if we’re reigning with Christ
over earth, that’s all part of it too.
So I didn’t see this as incompatible
at all.
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