Getting It Straight

I understand a lot of teaching goes about, but the best way to verify or ascertain if that teaching is true is to go to the scripture.  Along with scripture are a great number of truly helpful commentaries.

Recently I stumbled upon some very helpful words regarding the "Rapture" and I hope some of my friends who have doubted the Pre-Tribulation position will read and then "search" for themselves as to how meaningful the following words are.

For those who have believed that because we have trusted Christ as our Savior, we will not experience the Wrath of God, described as the Tribulation, then you will be reaffirmed in your belief, but read on and be encouraged!!!

This commentary is from my Hebrew-Greek KEY WORD Study Bible (NASB), AMG Publishers:

"1 Thess. 10 - 'wait for His Son from Heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who DELIVERS US from the WRATH to come.

The commentary is:  "This is the only instance in the entire N.T. that the verb anameno is used.  It is composed of the emphatic ana and meno, 'to stay.' This word is still used in Modern Greek today to stress a certain eagerness in this waiting.  This waiting or looking forward to implies a state of readiness on the part of the Thessalonians who in v.9 were commended as serving the Lord faithfully. Their expectation of God's Son from heaven undoubtedly refers to His Second Coming.  This must refer to what the Apostle Paul in 1 Thess. 4:14-18 calls the rapture (only the verb is used in v. 17, harpagesometha from harpazo). If these believers were going to go through the tribulation, how could Paul possibly present the fact of the coming of God's Son out of the heavens as something that they could, at that time, be looking forward to with such great and joyful expectation?  Here the Lord Jesus is presented as coming by Himself from Heaven for His saints, both dead and alive.  In 1Thess.3:13 He is presented as coming WITH His saints.  This is at the end of the tribulation period, so that His saints may reign with Him.

The translation of the last part of this verse 'who (Jesus) delivers us from the wrath to come; speaks of present deliverance.  The present participle rhuomenon means 'the one delivering us' from the present persecution is able also to deliver us from the future one.  Paul is comforting the Thessalonians, who were then being so greatly persecuted, by the fact that they would be delivered by the Lord from the GREAT FUTURE TRIBULATION  and they would not need to go through the coming wrath of God.  What could that coming wrath be except the great tribulation?

1 Thess.2:19-"For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation?  Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?"

"The word translated 'coming' is parousia, which means basically 'presence' or 'arrival' (1 Cor. 16:17; 2 Cor. 7:7).  In Hellenistic Greek it was used to designate the visit of a ruler.  The same Jesus who ascended to heaven will again visit the earth in personal presence (Acts 1:11) at the end of the age (Mt. 24:3) in power and glory (Mt. 24:27) to destroy the antichrist and evil (11 Thess. 2:8), to raise the righteous dead (1 Cor. 15:23), and to gather the redeemed (Mt. 24:31,37,39; Jn. 5:28,29; 1 Thess. 3:13; 4:15; 5:23 11 Thess. 2:1; Js.:7,8.

  

The word parousia is used in Mt. 24:3,27,37,39; 1 Cor. 15:23; 16:17; 11 Cor. 6,7; 10:10; Phil. 1:26; 2:12; 1Thess. 2:19; 3:13, 4:15; 5:23.....plus.  The specific meaning of parousia is made clear in 1 Thess. 4:15 where it is defined as the time when the Lord shall come out of Heaven (1 Thess. 1:10).  At that time the dead who are believers will rise first and those who are believers and are alive will be changed and be caught up in the air by Jesus Christ.

1 Thess.4:17,18- "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18-Therefore comfort one another with these words.

"There are two important words here.  One is harpagesometha which is the punctiliar future.  This means that at a specific moment in the future we shall be caught up by Someone other than ourselves which is, of course, Jesus Christ who will descend from heaven.  The noun is not used in the N.T. with eschatological meaning.  Harpage, "a forceable taking away, is only used in Mt. 23:25; Lk. 11:39 and Heb. 10:34.  The verb harpazo, "to seize upon with force," is also used generally meaning to forceably seize upon or take to oneself.  .....................In Modern Greek it means exactly what it has always meant, to leave a place and go to meet one who is coming toward you.  It also means to reply to a question that has been put forth.  It involves responding to an action of another. Here Paul is speaking of the reaction of the believers as a result of the initiative that Christ will take when He comes to take His own unto Himself, after the dead have been raised by Him and the living transformed according to this entire passage and also 1 Cor. 15:51-53."

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My personal testimony:  From the day I saw the movie, "The Late, Great Planet Earth" based upon Hal Lindsey's book, I have sought the Lord for understanding.  My final belief was and is that if the tribulation is in the Bible, then it is true.

Not only did I find that truth IS there, I found that once I placed my confidence in Jesus, I had the Rapture to look forward to, thus my favorite scripture became Hebrews 11:6--And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that HE is a REWARDER of those who seek Him.

Beginning in 1978 I was on a quest to know truth and I learned that God gives signs for those who seek Him.  Just as when Jesus was born and the shepherds and the Wise men of the East were made aware of His Entry!  Another and more timely " sign" for us is the reestablishment of  Israel as a Nation and then in 1967 their occupation of Jerusalem. 

We have been told in scripture to be like the "wise virgins" who did not let the oil (of the Holy Spirit) run out while they were waiting on the Bridegroom.  There is also the encouragement that the generation that sees "these things" will not pass away.  All the more reason for us to be "looking up!" For even as Jesus ascended into Heaven, to sit at the right hand of His Father, so shall we be caught up in the air to be with Him as His Bride. We will enjoy the marriage feast of the Lamb!

I hope these words have encouraged you...as they have me!!

Blessings,

Donna