Ahwatukee said,
This issue is not about grammar, but about cross-referencing and comparing scripture, as well as the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.
Cross reference all you want. The grammar and context indicate the Parousia and Harpazo occur at the same time. You know do the harpazo indicates 'the rapture.' Correct? So, did you guys change the meaning of the word 'parousia too? The rapture and second coming/Parousia is mentioned in the same cluster of verses....
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming (Parousia) of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up (harpazo) together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
But you're telling me even though the two are found in the same cluster of verses, they do not occur at the same time or event. Correct? Just making sure we're on the same page.
PAROUSIA
- presence
- the coming, arrival, advent
- the future visible return from heaven of Jesus, to raise the dead, hold the last judgment, and set up formally and gloriously the kingdom of God
Harpazo...CAUGHT UP...
- to seize, carry off by force
- to seize on, claim for one's self eagerly
- to snatch out or away
SO, if I'm reading correctly, you are saying that there's a seven year difference between 1 Thes. 4:15 and 1 Thes. 4:17? Correct?
This issue is not about grammar, but about cross-referencing and comparing scripture, as well as the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.
When a person mentions, "the enlightenment of the holy spirit", I consider it a cop out. Everybody likes to support their beliefs by attributing their 'superior knowledge' to the Holy Spirit, implying their spirituality gives them the upper hand in the discourse. Besides requesting the holy spirit's help, there is a method to discovering truth. That method being a sensible unbiased hermeneutic. My question would be, "are you willing to change your mind should you beliefs be refuted?"
It is also about understanding that the believer has been credited with righteousness and has been reconciled to God and therefore cannot go through the time of God's wrath which must take place prior to the Lord's return at the end of the age.
If that were true, the 12 apostles wouldn't have been skinned, stoned, sawed, burned and beheaded! Righteousness doesn't exempt anyone from tribulation. The only reason pre-tribbers believe they will not go through tribulation is because that's what the big guns like Thomas Ice etc. mislead them to believe.
During the tribulation, the wrath of God is directed toward unbelievers, especially the followers of the men of sin and those who take the mark. We know that in the end times most people will let their love grow cold and that some will actually depart from the faith (Matthew 24:12, 1 Timothy 4:1). I believe the tribulation will lead many to Christ and it will help purify the Church.
The bottom line, is that your interpretation puts the living church through the same wrath that the wicked will experience.
He didn't remove Noah from the flood, Daniel from the lions den, the three Hebrew children from the furnace, or Job from his trials.
These are the verses you guys use to support the idea Christians won't go through tribulation and suffer "GOD'S WRATH."
"For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ."
I'm very troubled that people believe this verse implies God would remove believers by a rapture to avoid enduring the wrath of God. With the application of very simple hermeneutics,
one should determine that this wrath is averted by Christ through repentance and attributed to salvation. It has to do with God's Judgment! So take a look at the context in bold...
For they that sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet,
the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath,
but to obtain
salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Pretribbers have horribly distorted the meaning of that verse!
"Because thou hast
kept the word of my patience, I also will
keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon
all the world, to try them that dwell upon the
earth."
This is directed specifically to the church at Philadelphia. And there's no mention of the end-times in the entire passage. The phrase, "to try them that dwell upon the earth," doesn't imply the entire planet.
The word all...'HOLOS' is used with the word 'earth' doesn't always mean the entire planet. BUT! The primary meaning is
"the inhabited earth or a portion of the earth." Since the context is a specific church in a specific are, the context indicates, "the inhabited earth." Revelation 3:10 has absolutely nothing to do with a rapture!
earth
- arable land
- the ground, the earth as a standing place
- the main land as opposed to the sea or water
- the earth as a whole
- the earth as opposed to the heavens
- the inhabited earth, the abode of men and animal
world
- the inhabited earth
- the portion of the earth inhabited by the Greeks, in distinction from the lands of the barbarians
- the Roman empire, all the subjects of the empire
- the whole inhabited earth, the world
- the inhabitants of the earth, men
- the universe, the world
One more important point and probably the most important point! The Greek word translated as “keep” in the phrase, “keep you from the hour of trial” DOESN’T MEAN to “take out of” or “remove from” the hour of trial. It means to attend to carefully, take care of, guard, metaph. to keep, one in the state in which he is, to observe, to reserve: to undergo something.
So what is Revelation 3:10 saying, AND WHAT IS IT NOT SAYING?
IT DOESN'T IMPLY A REMOVAL FROM TRIBULATION ACROSS THE ENTIRE PLANET AT THE END OF THE AGE.
It does imply a safe keeping of Christians at the Church of Philadelphia. There was no such “test” upon the whole Earth around the time that the Apostle John wrote to the Church at Philadelphia. Only a portion of it.
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For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming (Parousia) of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up (harpazo) together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
The scripture above is the event of the gathering of the church, not the second coming. At this time the Lord does not return to the earth, but only calls up the church to meet Him in the air. Where He then takes the entire church back to the Father's house to those places that went to prepare for us.
Not the second coming???
coming
PAROUSIA
- presence
- the coming, arrival, advent
- the future visible return from heaven of Jesus, to raise the dead, hold the last judgment, and set up formally and gloriously the kingdom of God