EARLIEST REF TO PRE-TRIB RAPTURE/REMOVAL AFTER NT: EPHRAEM'S SERMON

Atwood · Dec 28, 2014

EPHRAEM'S SERMON, WITH DISPUTED DATE IN THE RANGE IV-VIII AD,
& some claim it is a pseudo-Ephraem

But it is not really important who gave the sermon, but the earliness of the document tosses out the dogmatic dismissal of pre-trib rapture as invented by some Jesuit or crazy Scottish girl late in history. Also in Ephraem, it appears that the rapture or removal of the saints is an event distinguished from Christ's return to destroy the Antichrist.

It may be that the Shepherd of Hermas is the most ancient (readily available) document which indicates that the Church is not on earth during the tribulation. But after the New Testament, the first document I know of that speaks of a pre-tribulation rapture/removal is a document attributed to one Ephraem (possibly in collaboration with one Isidor of Seville?), a document of disputed date, but dated IV-VIII AD. The Title is (In English) On the Last Times, the Anti-Christ, and the End of the World A Sermon. I don't know how or why the Wickedpedia connects Isidor with this. Further investigation is in order.

The Wikipedia has an article on it from which the following is an excerpt:
[spacing and emphasis mine]

Q:
Section I

There will be stirrings of nations and evil reports, pestilences, famines, and earth quakes in various places. All nations will receive captives; there will be wars and rumors of wars. . . .

Section II
We ought to understand thoroughly therefore, my brothers, what is imminent or overhanging. Already there have been hunger and plagues, violent movements of nations and signs, which have been predicted by the Lord, they have already been fulfilled (consummated), and there is not other which remains, except the advent of the wicked one in the completion of the Roman kingdom. . . .

[Newspaper Exegesis is nothing new!]

Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms all the world? Believe you me, dearest brother, because the coming (advent) of the Lord is nigh, believe you me, because the end of the world is at hand, believe me, because it is the very last time. Or do you not believe unless you see with your eyes? See to it that this sentence be not fulfilled among you of the prophet who declares: "Woe to those who desire to see the day of the Lord!" For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins. And so, brothers most dear to me, it is the eleventh hour, and the end of the world comes to the harvest, and angels, armed and prepared, hold sickles in their hands, awaiting the empire of the Lord. And we think that the earth exists with blind infidelity, arriving at its downfall early. Commotions are brought forth, wars of diverse peoples and battles and incursions of the barbarians threaten, and our regions shall be desolated, and we neither become very much afraid of the report nor of the appearance, in order that we may at least do penance; because they hurl fear at us, and we do not wish to be changed, although we at least stand in need of penance for our actions!

Section III

When therefore the end of the world comes, there arise diverse wars, commotions on all sides, horrible earthquakes, perturbations of nations, tempests throughout the lands, plagues, famine, drought throughout the thoroughfares, great danger throughout the sea and dry land, constant persecutions, slaughters and massacres everywhere, fear in the homes, panic in the cities, quaking in the thoroughfares, suspicions in the male, anxiety in the streets. . . .

Section IV

Whenever therefore the earth is agitated by the nations, people will hide themselves from the wars in the mountains and rocks, by caves and caverns of the earth, by graves and memorials of the dead, and there, as they waste away gradually by fear, they draw breath, because there is not any place at all to flee, but there will be concession and intolerable pressure. . . .

Section V

Whenever the days of the times of those nations have been fulfilled, after they have destroyed the earth, it shall rest; and now the kingdom of the Romans is removed from everyday life, and the empire of the Christians is handed down by God and Peter; and then the consummation comes, when the kingdom of the Romans begins to be fulfilled, and all dominions and powers have been fulfilled. Then that worthless and abominable dragon shall appear, he, whom Moses named in Deuteronomy, saying:-Dan is a young lion, reclining and leaping from Basan. . . .

Section VI

When therefore the end of the world comes, that abominable, lying and murderous one is born from the tribe of Dan. He is conceived from the seed of a man and from an unclean or most vile virgin, mixed with an evil or worthless spirit. . . .

Section VII

But when the time of the abomination of his desolation begins to approach, having been made legal, he takes the empire, and, just as it is said in the Psalm:-They have been made for the undertaking for the sons of Loth, the Moabites and the Ammanites shall meet him first as their king. Therefore, when he receives the kingdom, he orders the temple of God to be rebuilt for himself, which is in Jerusalem; who, after coming into it, he shall sit as God and order that he be adored by all nations, since he is carnal and filthy and mixed with worthless spirit and flesh. Then that eloquence shall be fulfilled of Daniel the prophet:-And he shall not know the God of their fathers, and he shall not know the desires of women. Because the very wicked serpent shall direct every worship to himself. . . .

Section VIII

In these three years and a half the heaven shall suspend its dew; because there will be no rain upon the earth, and the clouds shall cease to pass through the air, and the stars shall be seen with difficulty in the sky because of the excessive dryness, which happens in the time of the very fierce dragon. Because all great rivers and very powerful fountains that overflow with themselves shall be dried up, torrents shall dry up their water-courses because of the intolerable age, and there will be a great tribulation, as there has not been, since people began to be upon the earth, and there will be famine and an insufferable thirst. . . .

Section IX

. . . as God beholds the human race in danger and being tossed about by the breath of the horrible dragon, he sends to them consolatory proclamation by his attendants, the prophets Enoch and Elijah, who, while not yet tasting death, are the servants for the heralding of the second coming of Christ, and in order to accuse the enemy. . . .

Section X

And when the three and a half years have been completed, the time of the Antichrist, through which he will have seduced the world, after the resurrection of the two prophets, in the hour which the world does not know, and on the day which the enemy of son of perdition does not know, will come the sign of the Son of Man, and coming forward the Lord shall appear with great power and much majesty, with the sign of the wood of salvation going before him, and also even with all the powers of the heavens with the whole chorus of the saints, with those who bear the sign of the holy cross upon their shoulders, as the angelic trumpet precedes him, which shall sound and declare: Arise, O sleeping ones, arise, meet Christ, because his hour of judgment has come! Then Christ shall come and the enemy shall be thrown into confusion, and the Lord shall destroy him by the spirit of his mouth. And he shall be bound and shall be plunged into the abyss of everlasting fire alive with his father Satan; and all people, who do his wishes, shall perish with him forever; but the righteous ones shall inherit everlasting life with the Lord forever and ever. /Q

[It is noted that no catching up to a meeting in the air is mentioned]

Bibliographic data below:

Hizikyah · Dec 28, 2014

Atwood said:

False doctrine.

Mattithyah 24:29-31, "Immediately, but after the tribulation of those days will the sun be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then will all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His malakim with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of earth to the other."

1 Corinthians 15:50-54, "Now I say this brothers: that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of Yahweh; neither does corruption inherit incorruption.Behold, I show you a secret truth: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible will have put on incorruption, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory."

Atwood · Dec 28, 2014

This translation uses the expression "the end of the world." That needs checking, as that translation used in Mat 24 is an error for "the consummation of the age." It is doubtful that there is any "end of the world" in the Bible, though there is at least a drastic renovation by fire prophesied yielding a new earth.

This is analogous to the new birth. When a man trusts Christ as Savior and is born again, the old man is not evaporated & made non-existent. The born again man is still the same person as before. But instead of utter destruction, the old has become new. What lies between Old Man & New Man is transformation (metamorphosis). This is like the metamorphosis of Christ at His death & resurrection. After the resurrection He appeared in a new morphē (new form following meta-morph-osis). Thus I find it probable that the new earth is a transformation (metamorphosis) of the old, though a drastic metamorphosis.

Atwood · Dec 28, 2014

This Thread is to Discuss EARLIEST REF TO PRE-TRIB RAPTURE/REMOVAL

This Thread is to Discuss EARLIEST REF TO PRE-TRIB RAPTURE/REMOVAL,
not to debate the timing of the Rapture -- there is no shortage of threads debating that topic.
Nevertheless, Hiz wants to address the timing itself here!

Hizikyah said:

You mean Matthew, not Mattithyah -- no such book in the Bible!
Let us not set up a straw man to argue against. It is indeed obvious in the Olivet Discourse (where neither Rapture nor Church occur) that the Coming of Christ is after the trib. There is nothing inconsistent with a pre-trib rapture in that fact, so you prove nothing with this. The pre-trib rapture is a rapture of the Church, not Christ's return to earth to sort out the earth & establish His kingdom.

You cannot prove anything with this reference to "last trumpet." Do you really maintain that after the Rapture, all trumpets will be gathered & destroyed -- or put in museums -- and that trumpet tooting will never happen again in eternity? There is no necessity to maintain that "the last trumpet" of the Church age at the joyous call of the Church to go to Heaven, has anything to do whatsoever with the 7th trumpet of Revelation which is an announcement of judgment (the 7 Vials of Wrath).

But why don't you debate the fact or error of the Pre-Trib position on another thread, as this one was dedicated to a discussion of the History of the doctrine, and refutation of the theory that Pre-Trib Rapture was the invention of a Jesuit, a Scottish crazy girl, or Darby.

Atwood · Dec 28, 2014

Atwood said:

Q:
Section I

There will be stirrings of nations and evil reports, pestilences, famines, and earth quakes in various places. All nations will receive captives; there will be wars and rumors of wars. . . .

Section II
We ought to understand thoroughly therefore, my brothers, what is imminent or overhanging. Already there have been hunger and plagues, violent movements of nations and signs, which have been predicted by the Lord, they have already been fulfilled (consummated), and there is not other which remains, except the advent of the wicked one in the completion of the Roman kingdom. . . .

[Newspaper Exegesis is nothing new!]

Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms all the world? Believe you me, dearest brother, because the coming (advent) of the Lord is nigh, believe you me, because the end of the world is at hand, believe me, because it is the very last time. Or do you not believe unless you see with your eyes? See to it that this sentence be not fulfilled among you of the prophet who declares: "Woe to those who desire to see the day of the Lord!" For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins. And so, brothers most dear to me, it is the eleventh hour, and the end of the world comes . . . .

Section X

And when the three and a half years have been completed, . . . , will come the sign of the Son of Man, and coming forward the Lord shall appear with great power and much majesty, with the sign of the wood of salvation going before him, and also even with all the powers of the heavens with the whole chorus of the saints, with those who bear the sign of the holy cross upon their shoulders, as the angelic trumpet precedes him, which shall sound and declare: Arise, O sleeping ones, arise, meet Christ, because his hour of judgment has come! Then Christ shall come and the enemy shall be thrown into confusion, and the Lord shall destroy him by the spirit of his mouth. . . . /Q

[It is noted that no catching up to a meeting in the air is mentioned] . . . .
/QUOTE]

I should qualify that disclaimer which I put in brackets at the end. What is said is

"Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for

the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion,

which overwhelms all the world?

There is thus indicated a meeting with the Lord Jesus (air not mentioned) but "he may draw us," which is close to rapture us.

The Church is to be drawn from the confusion (i.e., the tribulation methinks). Now if the coming of the Lord mentioned later in the sermon has not yet happened, where is the Lord going to be when He draws the Church?

Sophia · Dec 28, 2014

What is the date for this sermon? I can't find it in Google.
(edit) I see now that it is in Roman numerals in the OP.

Sophia · Dec 28, 2014

Just for clarity, this is a standard Amillenialist view. It goes against dispensational premillenialism.
Also, this is teaching a gathering of the saints by death prior to the tribulation, not by rapture: also a mark of amillenialism in the medieval era.
The Latin translations leave some things open to be interpreted as pre trib rapture, but the Syriac manuscript is clearly speaking of death rather than rapture as the means of the gathering of the Saints.

Very cool read. Thanks for posting it. The Latin translations seem to be edited to support Roman Catholicism, but it was a very interesting read regardless.

Atwood · Dec 29, 2014

Sophia said:

Well that is a new one to me. You seem to claim that in the medieval era there was a standard view that before the tribulation all the Church would die! Now what is your proof of that one? Are you sure that in the medieval era, especially following Augustine Bible students usually took the tribulation as future and literal? Is that a hallmark of Amillennialism?

And what is your evidence for the POV that all the saint would die before the tribulation is a mark of amillennialism?

Well, I have not examined any of the original languages, not that I can handle Syriac. What leads you to think that the Syriac ms is speaking of death? Have you mastered Syriac?

[/quote]Very cool read. Thanks for posting it. The Latin translations seem to be edited to support Roman Catholicism, but it was a very interesting read regardless.[/QUOTE]

Interesting that you would say that. Do you think this cycle of thought is RCC instead of Eastern?

I will grant you that I need to investigate this document more.

Atwood · Dec 29, 2014

Sophia said:

Sophia, the translator, I think. is a dispensationalist at Tyndale Seminary in Fort Worth, hardly a RCCist.

Thomas Ice seems to have studied this document quite a bit. I was currently looking at some of his opinion on it.
LINK below:

https://www.raptureready.com/featured/ice/TheRaptureinPseudoEphraem.html

Atwood · Dec 29, 2014

Apparently a scholarly treatise on Ephraem is found in

the July 1995 edition of Bibliotheca Sacra in an article entitled "the Rapture and an Early Medieval Citation."I am pretty sure I have this in my library & intend to look it up.

Sophia · Dec 29, 2014

Atwood said:

I am not reading the originals myself, but English translations of each of the 4 versions.
After reading the 3 Latin translations that I could find, I must admit that someone could read them and come away with a pretrib rapture understanding, but it also seems clear that the authors intent was pretrib gathering by death.

The Syriac manuscript doesn't leave any room for gathering by translation(rapture), but clearly teaches the Church will be utterly destroyed by the sword of the Huns and Ishmael(Muslims) then to be resurrected at the Return of Christ.

Did you read the whole sermon? Did you look at all 4 versions? They are all very different, especially the Syriac version.

Also, amillenialism has a metaphorical Millenium, but not usually a metaphorical tribulation. This sermon has the earth destroyed entirely and reborn as the "new heavens and new earth" occurring with Christ's coming. Standard amillenial view.

As for Catholic vs Eastern Orthodox, it seems that the Latin translators edited from the Greek, which was translated from Syriac, which was the original language. The Latin translations have Catholic influence, and the Syriac seems more in line with Orthodox.

Gathering by "translation" is not expressed or implied in the text. That is modern thought being pushed into the wording, because of how we envision the saints being "gathered", which is influenced by our knowledge of Dispensationalism.

Sophia · Dec 29, 2014

I just read through the article you posted. Seeing as the sermon references Islam as being the Antichrist, one would assume that this sermon was given during or after the Islamic invasion and spread.
Also, the early dates are nonsense, as this was obviously written after the fall of Rome, as it's fall is given as a proof of all the prophecies being fulfilled that are needed before the great tribulation would come, supporting the main point of the sermon which is imminence of judgement.

Atwood · Jan 1, 2015

Sophia said:

Well you are ahead of me on this one. I looked mainly at the Wicked Pedia version. Your idea of a gathering by death is a new concept to me; it seems to me intuitively absurd. And I am not going to believe that in the middle ages there was any such general concept in Christendom until I see some proof. Individually dying & going to Christ doesn't sound like a "gathering," which concept suggests the entire group of the Church.

Thanks for sharing your interp, but I need to see the document.

I don't know what leads you to think there is a standard amil view? How many authors have you consulted (Allis in Wonderland, etc.)? Actually Amilism is a denial of a literal millennium, not really a coherent eschatological system. There must be many variant eschatologies that deny the Mill.

I am at a loss to understand how you could say that as a faculty member of the disp school Tyndale Sem translated it.

I think that the translation is implied by gathered TO CHRIST, as in the sermon Christ's return to earth is post-trib. If anyone is gathered to Christ before the Trib, what else could it be but translation? You don't think Christ is in Heaven at the time of this gathering?

But you do have the advantage over me in having read more.

Perhaps you can do us all a service & post your links to the documents, if you have them.

Perhaps I will post a summary of the Bib-Sac article.

Any way, Happy New Year.

Atwood · Jan 1, 2015

Excerpts < Biblitheca Sacra, 1995, July: Demy & Ice QUOTES

The Rapture and an Early Medieval Citation
Timothy J. Demy and Thomas D. Ice

. . . a sermon by Pseudo-Ephraem known as On the Last Times, the Antichrist, and the End of the World or Sermon on the End of the World (written sometime between the fourth and seventh centuries).1 This sermon, . . . includes a statement of a concept similar to the rapture. . . .

Rapture critic William Bell has formulated three criteria for establishing the validity of a historical citation regarding the rapture. If any of his three criteria are met, then he acknowledges such a reference is “of crucial importance, if found, whether by direct statement or clear inference.” As will be seen, the Pseudo-Ephraem sermon meets not one, but two of Bell’s canons, namely, “Any mention that Christ’s second coming was to consist of more than one phase, separated by an interval of years,” and “any mention that Christ was to remove the church from the earth before the tribulation period.”7

. . .

Pseudo-Ephraem’s “Proto-Rapture” Statement

All the saints and elect of God are gathered together before the tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord, in order that they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelms the world because of our sins.22
[Omnes enim sancti et
electi Dei ante tribulationem, quae uentura est, colliguntur et ad Dominum adsumuntur, ne quando uideant confusionem, quae uniuersum propter peccata nostra obruet mundum (. . . ).]
[οἱ ἐκλεκτοὶ συνάγονται πρὸ τῆς θλίψεως (πρὸ θλίψεως) τοῦ μὴ ἰδεῖν τὴν σύγχυσιν καὶ τὴν θλίψιν τὴν μεγάλην τὴν ἐρχομένην (μεγάλην ἐρχομένην) εἰς τὸν ἄδικον κόσμον (τὸν κόσμον τὸν ἄδικον)]

In these words Pseudo-Ephraem, early in his sermon, proclaimed that God would intervene on behalf of believers before a yet-to-come time of great calamity. Alexander understands this citation to refer to God’s promise of deliverance of believers from the great tribulation. It announces “another measure taken by God in order to alleviate the period of tribulation for his saints and for the Elect.”23. . . .

Pseudo-Ephraem as a Historical Source

The most important and prolific of the Syrian church fathers and a witness to Christianity on the fringes of the Roman Empire was Ephraem of Nisibis (306–373).. . . .

While there is little support for Ephraem as the author of the Sermon on the End of the World, Caspari and Alexander have demonstrated that Pseudo-Ephraem was “heavily influenced by the genuine works of Ephraem.”24 What is more difficult, . . . , is determining the exact date, purpose, location, and extent of subsequent editorial changes to the sermon. . . .

Suggestions on the date of the writing of the original sermon range from as early as 37326 to Caspari’s estimation of sometime between 565 and 627.27 Alexander, after reviewing all the argumentation, favors a date for the final form similar to that suggested by Caspari,28 but Alexander also states simply, “It will indeed not be easy to decide on the matter.”29

Pseudo-Ephraem and Its Variants

The sermon, . . . , consists of about 150 lines of text (just under 1,500 words) and has been preserved in four Latin manuscripts. Three of these date from eighth century and ascribe the sermon to Ephraem. A fourth manuscript, from the ninth century, claims not Ephraem, but Isidore of Seville (d. 636) as author.31 Subsequent Greek and Syriac versions of the sermon have raised questions about the language of the original manuscript. . . . Caspari concluded that the text . . . was translated from a Greek original. However, Alexander, . . . studying additional sources, believed it most probable that the homily was composed in Syriac, translated first into Greek, and then into Latin from the Greek.32 . . . , the vocabulary and style of the extant copies are consistent with the writings of Ephraem and his era.
. . . . the sermon was popular enough to be translated into several languages fairly soon after its composition. . . . .

Pseudo-Ephraem in Summary

The sermon begins . . . with a warning to believers that the end of the world is near and with a list of the present signs of the end of the Roman Empire and the consummation of time.33 Immorality, war, crime, and sin will be rampant at that time, in which two brothers will arise to rule the Roman Empire. Conflict will develop between the brothers, and “wars and rumors of wars” will proliferate. Pseudo-Ephraem stated that all the signs of the end time predicted by Jesus in Matthew 24 have been fulfilled and that the coming of the evil one at the end of the empire was all that remained. “Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms the world?”34 This question, which implies a gathering of believers before the tribulation, precedes the longer and clearer proto-rapture statement found a few lines later.
Those who refuse this plea, according to Pseudo-Ephraem, are foolish and will bring on themselves the condemnation foretold in Amos 5:18. “‘Woe to those who wish to see the day of the Lord!’ Because all the saints and elect of God are gathered together before the tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord, in order that they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelms the world because of our sins.”35
In sections 3–5 the sermon states that after this time and the gathering of the saints, the world will be deluged by war, natural disasters, panic, plagues, and fear. . . . people will flee to the mountains and caves, will drink the blood of beasts, and will trust no one. At that time, the Roman Empire will be eradicated and the Antichrist, “that worthless and abominable dragon, shall appear.”36
Sections 6–7 tell of the Antichrist’s birth. . . . People will flock to him for a time and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations for three and one-half years.
During these 1,260 days there will be draught, famine, and “a time of great tribulation”37 unsurpassed in history . . . and the righteous will “flee the face of the serpent” while “being sustained by the salvation of the Lord.”38
In this period of tribulation God will send the prophets Enoch and Elijah, . . . announcing the Second Coming of Christ and denouncing the Antichrist (section 9).. . . . After the 42 months the time of the Antichrist will come to an end and in an hour which the world does not know, the cross, which is the “sign” of the Son of Man, will appear, followed shortly thereafter by the coming of the Lord, along with a host of angels. A trumpet will sound, calling forth the dead to judgment and Christ will slay the Antichrist, binding him and casting him into everlasting fire where he will remain alongside Satan. “But the righteous ones shall inherit everlasting life with the Lord forever and ever.”39

Pseudo-Ephraem and Its Eschatology

. . .
Pseudo-Ephraem believed Christians were living in the last days and would soon experience a gathering or rapture of believers before the 42–month period in which the Antichrist would reign. These months would culminate in the return of Christ, final judgment, and the eternal punishment of the Antichrist and Satan. Since Pseudo-Ephraem’s sequence of events in the sermon seems to be chronological in its development, it is significant that the proto-rapture statement occurs early in the text (section 2), while the Second Coming of Christ is near the end (section 10). This chronology meets the criterion of the two-phase return of Christ suggested by Bell (see p. 307). The sermon clearly presents a distinction between the removal of believers before the great tribulation (section 2), which will last for three and one-half years (sections 7–8) followed by the Second Advent (section 10).
. . . , this sermon has Christians being removed before the time of tribulation. . . . While it is uncertain which biblical text or texts Pseudo-Ephraem had in mind as the foundation for this sermon, it is interesting to note that some terms used in the Greek variants of the proto-rapture passage in the sermon are similar to the biblical text: “The elect ones are gathered together before the tribulation in order that they might not see the confusion and the great tribulation which is coming upon the unrighteous world.”45
Pseudo-Ephraem understood the entirety of the tribulation to be a three-and-one-half-year period rather than seven years. However, he believed the tribulation will be preceded by the rapture . . . Although the sermon has some ambiguities, it, like pretribulationalism, clearly emphasizes imminence, two comings separated by the tribulation, and the promise of deliverance of believers from the tribulation.

Conclusion

. . . Pseudo-Ephraem clearly presents at least three important features found in modern pretribulationalism: (1) there are two distinct comings: the return of Christ to rapture the saints, followed later by Christ’s Second Advent to the earth, (2) a defined interval between the two comings, in this case three and one-half years, and (3) a clear statement that Christ will remove the church from the world before the tribulation.
. . . the sermon proclaimed elements similar to present-day pretribulationalism. One notable example is the sermon’s clear usage of a vocabulary of imminence (section 2). . . .

Foot notes posted separately:

The Rapture and an Early Medieval Citation
Timothy J. Demy and Thomas D. Ice

. . . a sermon by Pseudo-Ephraem known as On the Last Times, the Antichrist, and the End of the World or Sermon on the End of the World (written sometime between the fourth and seventh centuries).1 This sermon, . . . includes a statement of a concept similar to the rapture. . . .

Rapture critic William Bell has formulated three criteria for establishing the validity of a historical citation regarding the rapture. If any of his three criteria are met, then he acknowledges such a reference is “of crucial importance, if found, whether by direct statement or clear inference.” As will be seen, the Pseudo-Ephraem sermon meets not one, but two of Bell’s canons, namely, “Any mention that Christ’s second coming was to consist of more than one phase, separated by an interval of years,” and “any mention that Christ was to remove the church from the earth before the tribulation period.”7

. . .

Pseudo-Ephraem’s “Proto-Rapture” Statement

All the saints and elect of God are gathered together before the tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord, in order that they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelms the world because of our sins.22
[Omnes enim sancti et
electi Dei ante tribulationem, quae uentura est, colliguntur et ad Dominum adsumuntur, ne quando uideant confusionem, quae uniuersum propter peccata nostra obruet mundum (. . . ).]
[οἱ ἐκλεκτοὶ συνάγονται πρὸ τῆς θλίψεως (πρὸ θλίψεως) τοῦ μὴ ἰδεῖν τὴν σύγχυσιν καὶ τὴν θλίψιν τὴν μεγάλην τὴν ἐρχομένην (μεγάλην ἐρχομένην) εἰς τὸν ἄδικον κόσμον (τὸν κόσμον τὸν ἄδικον)]

In these words Pseudo-Ephraem, early in his sermon, proclaimed that God would intervene on behalf of believers before a yet-to-come time of great calamity. Alexander understands this citation to refer to God’s promise of deliverance of believers from the great tribulation. It announces “another measure taken by God in order to alleviate the period of tribulation for his saints and for the Elect.”23. . . .

Pseudo-Ephraem as a Historical Source

The most important and prolific of the Syrian church fathers and a witness to Christianity on the fringes of the Roman Empire was Ephraem of Nisibis (306–373).. . . .

While there is little support for Ephraem as the author of the Sermon on the End of the World, Caspari and Alexander have demonstrated that Pseudo-Ephraem was “heavily influenced by the genuine works of Ephraem.”24 What is more difficult, . . . , is determining the exact date, purpose, location, and extent of subsequent editorial changes to the sermon. . . .

Suggestions on the date of the writing of the original sermon range from as early as 37326 to Caspari’s estimation of sometime between 565 and 627.27 Alexander, after reviewing all the argumentation, favors a date for the final form similar to that suggested by Caspari,28 but Alexander also states simply, “It will indeed not be easy to decide on the matter.”29

Pseudo-Ephraem and Its Variants

The sermon, . . . , consists of about 150 lines of text (just under 1,500 words) and has been preserved in four Latin manuscripts. Three of these date from eighth century and ascribe the sermon to Ephraem. A fourth manuscript, from the ninth century, claims not Ephraem, but Isidore of Seville (d. 636) as author.31 Subsequent Greek and Syriac versions of the sermon have raised questions about the language of the original manuscript. . . . Caspari concluded that the text . . . was translated from a Greek original. However, Alexander, . . . studying additional sources, believed it most probable that the homily was composed in Syriac, translated first into Greek, and then into Latin from the Greek.32 . . . , the vocabulary and style of the extant copies are consistent with the writings of Ephraem and his era.
. . . . the sermon was popular enough to be translated into several languages fairly soon after its composition. . . . .

Pseudo-Ephraem in Summary

The sermon begins . . . with a warning to believers that the end of the world is near and with a list of the present signs of the end of the Roman Empire and the consummation of time.33 Immorality, war, crime, and sin will be rampant at that time, in which two brothers will arise to rule the Roman Empire. Conflict will develop between the brothers, and “wars and rumors of wars” will proliferate. Pseudo-Ephraem stated that all the signs of the end time predicted by Jesus in Matthew 24 have been fulfilled and that the coming of the evil one at the end of the empire was all that remained. “Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms the world?”34 This question, which implies a gathering of believers before the tribulation, precedes the longer and clearer proto-rapture statement found a few lines later.
Those who refuse this plea, according to Pseudo-Ephraem, are foolish and will bring on themselves the condemnation foretold in Amos 5:18. “‘Woe to those who wish to see the day of the Lord!’ Because all the saints and elect of God are gathered together before the tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord, in order that they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelms the world because of our sins.”35
In sections 3–5 the sermon states that after this time and the gathering of the saints, the world will be deluged by war, natural disasters, panic, plagues, and fear. . . . people will flee to the mountains and caves, will drink the blood of beasts, and will trust no one. At that time, the Roman Empire will be eradicated and the Antichrist, “that worthless and abominable dragon, shall appear.”36
Sections 6–7 tell of the Antichrist’s birth. . . . People will flock to him for a time and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations for three and one-half years.
During these 1,260 days there will be draught, famine, and “a time of great tribulation”37 unsurpassed in history . . . and the righteous will “flee the face of the serpent” while “being sustained by the salvation of the Lord.”38
In this period of tribulation God will send the prophets Enoch and Elijah, . . . announcing the Second Coming of Christ and denouncing the Antichrist (section 9).. . . . After the 42 months the time of the Antichrist will come to an end and in an hour which the world does not know, the cross, which is the “sign” of the Son of Man, will appear, followed shortly thereafter by the coming of the Lord, along with a host of angels. A trumpet will sound, calling forth the dead to judgment and Christ will slay the Antichrist, binding him and casting him into everlasting fire where he will remain alongside Satan. “But the righteous ones shall inherit everlasting life with the Lord forever and ever.”39

Pseudo-Ephraem and Its Eschatology

. . .
Pseudo-Ephraem believed Christians were living in the last days and would soon experience a gathering or rapture of believers before the 42–month period in which the Antichrist would reign. These months would culminate in the return of Christ, final judgment, and the eternal punishment of the Antichrist and Satan. Since Pseudo-Ephraem’s sequence of events in the sermon seems to be chronological in its development, it is significant that the proto-rapture statement occurs early in the text (section 2), while the Second Coming of Christ is near the end (section 10). This chronology meets the criterion of the two-phase return of Christ suggested by Bell (see p. 307). The sermon clearly presents a distinction between the removal of believers before the great tribulation (section 2), which will last for three and one-half years (sections 7–8) followed by the Second Advent (section 10).
. . . , this sermon has Christians being removed before the time of tribulation. . . . While it is uncertain which biblical text or texts Pseudo-Ephraem had in mind as the foundation for this sermon, it is interesting to note that some terms used in the Greek variants of the proto-rapture passage in the sermon are similar to the biblical text: “The elect ones are gathered together before the tribulation in order that they might not see the confusion and the great tribulation which is coming upon the unrighteous world.”45
Pseudo-Ephraem understood the entirety of the tribulation to be a three-and-one-half-year period rather than seven years. However, he believed the tribulation will be preceded by the rapture . . . Although the sermon has some ambiguities, it, like pretribulationalism, clearly emphasizes imminence, two comings separated by the tribulation, and the promise of deliverance of believers from the tribulation.

Conclusion

. . . Pseudo-Ephraem clearly presents at least three important features found in modern pretribulationalism: (1) there are two distinct comings: the return of Christ to rapture the saints, followed later by Christ’s Second Advent to the earth, (2) a defined interval between the two comings, in this case three and one-half years, and (3) a clear statement that Christ will remove the church from the world before the tribulation.
. . . the sermon proclaimed elements similar to present-day pretribulationalism. One notable example is the sermon’s clear usage of a vocabulary of imminence (section 2). . . .

Atwood · Jan 1, 2015

FOOTNOTES TO THE BIB SAC ARTICLE

18 C. P. Caspari, ed., Briefe, Abhandlungen und Predigten aus den zwei letzten Jahrhunderten des kirchlichen Altertums und dem Anfang des Mittelaters (Germany: Christiania, 1890).

19 Alexander, The Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition. See also Alexander’s “The Medieval Legend of the Last Roman Emperor and Its Messianic Origin,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 41 (1978): 1–15, and The Oracle of Baalbek (Washington, DC: Center for Byzantine Studies, 1967). . . .

21 . . . Many texts are yet to be translated, studied, and incorporated into the study of the history of doctrine. Pseudo-Ephraem is one such example, and it is not unlikely that other texts of significant eschatological importance may emerge, . . . . Portions of some of the later apocalyptic texts have been compiled in Bernard McGinn’s introductory anthology, Visions of the End: Apocalyptic Traditions in the Middle Ages (New York: Columbia University Press, 1979). McGinn also provides an excellent introduction and historical summary of the genre.

22 . . . (Caspari, Briefe, Abhandlungen und Predigten aus den zwei letzten Jahrhunderten des kirchlichen Altertums und dem Anfang des Mittelaters, 211.4) The entire text is found on pages 208–20, and the German commentary on pages 429–72. A copy of the Latin text, selected Greek variants, and an English translation are available from The Pre-Trib Research Center, 370 L’Enfant Promenade, S.W., Suite 801, Washington, DC 20024.

. . .
26 Wilhelm Bousset, The Antichrist Legend, trans. A. H. Keane (London: Hutchinson, 1896), 33–41. An early date is also accepted by Andrew R. Anderson, Alexander’s Gate: Gog and Magog and the Enclosed Nations, Monographs of the Mediaeval Academy of America, no. 5 (Cambridge, MA.: Mediaeval Academy of America, 1932): 16–18.

27 Caspari, Briefe, Abhandlungen und Predigten aus den zwei letzten Jahrhunderten des kirchlichen Altertums und dem Anfang des Mittelaters, 437–42. Caspari evaluated both the 373 date and a 565–627 date, ultimately settling on 627, which was the date of Heraclius’ victory over the Persians. Alexander addresses all the historical intricacies surrounding the dating of the text and whether the text contains a vaticinium ex eventu (prophecy after the event) in relation to two emperors alluded to in the text who were brothers (Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition, 144–47). These brothers are understood to be Valentinian and Valens, who reigned from 364 to 375. If there is no vaticinium ex eventu, then an early date such as Bousset’s proposal of 373 is likely.

. . .
29 Ibid., 145. Earlier, Alexander wrote, “All that is certain is, as Caspari pointed out, that it must have been written [before] Heraclius’ victories over Sassanid Persia, for the author talks repeatedly of wars between Rome and Persia and such discussions do not make sense after Heraclius’ victories and the beginning of the Arab invasions” (ibid., 144).
. . .

31 Ibid., 136–37, and D. Verhlest, “La préhistoire des conceptions d’Adson concernant l’Antichrist,” Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale (1973): 97–98. The only critical edition is Caspari’s, which is weakened by the fact that he relied on only two of the four extant manuscripts.

. . .
33 English citations are taken from a translation of the sermon provided by Cameron Rhoades, instructor of Latin at Tyndale Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.

34 “Quid ergo non proicimus a nobis omnem actuum terrenorum sollicitudinem et nosmet ipsos praeparamus in occursum domini Christi, ut nos eruat a confusione, quae uniuersum obruet mundum?” (Caspari, Briefe, Abhandlungen und Predigten aus den zwei letzten Jahrhunderten des kirchlichen Altertums und dem Anfang des Mittelalters, 210.17–20) . . .

40 Alexander, The Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition, 187. He notes that Pseudo-Ephraem is the only Byzantine text that does not mention the last Roman emperor. . . .

45 Caspari, Briefe, Abhandlungen und Predigten aus den zwei letzten Jahrhunderten des kirchlichen Altertums und dem Anfang des Mittelalters, 447. In his discussion of the variants, Caspari gives the majority Greek reading as follows: οἱ ἐκλεκτοὶ συνάγονται πρὸ τῆς θλίψεως (πρὸ θλίψεως) τοῦ μὴ ἰδεῖν τὴν σύγχυσιν καὶ τὴν θλίψιν τὴν μεγάλην τὴν ἐρχομένην (μεγάλην ἐρχομένην) εἰς τὸν ἄδικον κόσμον (τὸν κόσμον τὸν ἄδικον).

Atwood · Jan 1, 2015

THE GREEK STATEMENT

I haven't yet seen the Syriac (in translation), & I don't read Syriac. But from everything thus far I have seen, it seems nonsense to try to make the gathering together before the Tribulation to mean that all the Christians are going to be killed. That idea seems to me to be an exegetical straw to grasp to try to eliminate the Pre-Trib rapture in Ephraem.

Here is the Greek:

οἱ ἐκλεκτοὶ συνάγονται πρὸ τῆς θλίψεως (πρὸ θλίψεως) τοῦ μὴ ἰδεῖν τὴν σύγχυσιν καὶ τὴν θλίψιν τὴν μεγάλην τὴν ἐρχομένην (μεγάλην ἐρχομένην) εἰς τὸν ἄδικον κόσμον (τὸν κόσμον τὸν ἄδικον)

οἱ ἐκλεκτοὶ συνάγονται = the elect are gathered together
πρὸ τῆς θλίψεως (πρὸ θλίψεως) = before the Tribulation (before Tribulation)

τοῦ μὴ ἰδεῖν = not to see
τὴν σύγχυσιν καὶ = the confusion and
τὴν θλίψιν τὴν μεγάλην τὴν ἐρχομένην = the coming great Tribulation
(the Tribulation the Great the coming)

(μεγάλην ἐρχομένην) = (great coming)

εἰς τὸν ἄδικον κόσμον = into the unrighteous world
(τὸν κόσμον τὸν ἄδικον) = (the unrighteous world = the world the unrighteous)

It is a stretch to try to make this mean that the elect will be slaughtered. It is a deliverance of the elect, not a slaughter of the elect. Could this really mean that the elect are slaughtered, cut down by the sword in a sudden gathering of them all, so that they will NOT have tribulation?

Death is not mentioned here. And I see no warrant whatsoever to invent "death" and import it into ol' Ephraem's sermon. Had he wanted to say all the elect will be slaughtered & died & call that a gathering to the Lord, He surely could have done it (while ducking from tomatoes from the audience?)

Atwood · Jan 1, 2015

A SYRIAC VERSION TOO LONG FOR ONE POST

I paste this version from a site that apparently very much does not want an early ref to the Pre-Trib Rapture. The site claims it is a Syriac Version of Ephraem. A comparison of the two texts (in translation) indicates that this "Syriac Sermon" is not the same sermon at all. One may have borrowed material or been inspired by the other; they they are quite different. And the existence of this other sermon does not negate the apparent implication of an ancient sermon which implies a Pre-Trib Rapture.

THEY ARE NOT THE SAME SERMON. USING THIS ONE TO EXPLAIN THE OTHER IS UNWARRANTED. MY GUESS IS THAT THIS ONE BORROWED SOME FROM THE OTHER.

I insert spacing to make this readable.]

Translated from the text in Edmund Beck, ed., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Sermones III (CSCO 320; Louvain: Secrétariat du Corpus SCO, 1972), 60-71; see also 79-94 for Beck's translation. The text is based on two manuscripts: (1) Codex Vaticanus Sir. 566, and (2) Codex Dublinensis (Trinity College) B 5.19. Editio princeps: Thomas Josephus Lamy, ed., Sancti Ephraem Syri Hymni et Sermones (4 vols.; Mechliniae: H. Dessain, 1882-1902), 3:187-212.

This Syriac text discusses the Islamic slaughter of Christians by Muhammed and is thus later than 700 AD. [As opposed to the other sermon.]

Sermon Of Pseudo-Ephrem On The End Of The World [Syriac text]

A discourse (memra) of the holy saint Ephrem, the Syraic teacher, concerning the end, (final) consummation, judgment, and punishment; on the people of Gog and Magog; and about the Antichrist. O Son who by His grace humbled Himself And who was pleased to make Himself a human being; Who willingly experienced death At the top of the wood(en cross) on Golgotha:

Grant me, my Lord, (the ability) to speak about The struggles which will take place in the created order; For peoples will fall upon each other And nations will destroy one another, Evil will fortify itself on the earth And iniquity will increase throughout creation. Righteous rulers will perish And lawless ones will arise on the earth. Then a judgment will arise, And a weighing on the scale for those humans: The side (containing) the wicked will sink down; And that for the elect will rise up.

Then spiritual entities will go forth And destroy the ends of the created order. It will happen, my brethren, just as it is written: A plague in a number of places, And a famine will occur in the created order; Terrible struggles and conflicts. Dust will be saturated with blood; The created order will be polluted from iniquity. Regions will be ravaged, And cities will be consumed by Sheol; Nation will rise up against nation And kingdom against kingdom. Lawlessness will be sovereign on earth And the defiled will pursue after the saints. People will openly apostatize And augment the left side;The righteous ones will suffer indignities From those who belong to the side of the sinners.

It is due to this, my beloved ones That the final age has arrived. Lo, we have observed the signs, Just as Christ inscribed for us: Rulers will arise, one against another; There will be suffering on earth; Nations will contend with nations And armies will fall upon one another. When the Nile, the river of Egypt, Overflows (and) floods part of the land, Certain regions will prepare themselves Against the country of the Romans. Nations will contend with nations, And a kingdom with a kingdom. They will depart, moving from one land to another; Those Romans who are put to flight.

And the AsSyraics will gain authority Over the region of the Romans. The fruit of their loins they will subjugate And they will also ravish their women; They will be sowing and also reaping They will plant fruits in the ground; They will acquire vast riches And hoard treasures underground. But just as the Nile, the river of Egypt Recedes again from what it flooded; So too will Assyria recede Back to their own country. For the Romans once again will be found In their ancestral land (i.e., the AsSyraics'). Then evil will increase on the earth And the land will be defiled with fornication. The cry of the persecuted and the wretched Will rise up to heaven.

[Historical account of the Islamic slaughter of Christians in the 7[SUP]th[/SUP] century by Muhammad ]
[Bracketed material by anti-pre-trib site in blue; comments not about the other sermon.]

Then a judgment will arise To cast them out of the land. The holy covenant will complain; A cry will rise up to heaven. A people will emerge from the wilderness, The progeny of Hagar, the handmaid of Sarah; Who hold fast to the covenant with Abraham, The husband of Sarah and Hagar. Set in motion, he (Ishmael) comes in the name of the ram, The herald of the Son of Destruction.

A sign will appear in the heavens, The one our Lord spoke of in His gospel: Luminaries will shine among the stars And the light of His face will gleam. Rulers will quake and tremble; The forces arrayed by them will fall. The peoples of the earth will be terrified When they behold the sign set in the heavens. They will prepare for battle and come together, All peoples and nationalities. They will wage war there And the ground will be drenched with blood. The nations will suffer defeat there, A marauding nation will prevail. The marauders will fly over the landscape, Across plains and over the peaks of mountains.

They will take women and children as captives, Also men both elderly and young. The best of the males will be destroyed; The most desirable women will be removed. With strong spears and lances They will impale elderly men. They will separate a son from his father, A daughter from the side of her mother; They will separate a brother from his brethren, A sister from the side of her sisters. They will slay the bridegroom in his bedroom And expel the bride from her bridal chamber. They will take a wife away from her husband, And slaughter her as if she were a sheep;
They will cast an infant away from its mother And drive the mother into captivity.

The child will scream out on the ground: Its mother hears, but what can she do? For it will be trampled by the hooves Of horses, camels, and infantry! She (tries to) turn toward it, (but) they will not allow her; The child remains within the wild (?). They separate children from their mother As the soul (is separated) from the body. She watches while they divide them up, Her beloved ones (taken from) the embrace of her bosom; Two of her children to two (different) masters, Her own self to still another master; She has been allocated, and her children with her; For they are now slaves to robbers.

Her children cry out with laments, Their eyes burning with tears; She turns toward her beloved ones, The milk flowing forth from her breast: 'Farewell, my beloved ones! May God go with you! The one who accompanied Joseph In (his) servitude among foreigners: May He accompany you, my children Into the captivity where you are going!' 'Farewell, our mother! May God go with you! The one who accompanied Sarah Into the palace of Abimelech the Gadarite: May He accompany your own self Until the Day of Resurrection!'

The son will stand and watch while his father Is sold into slavery. The eyes of both of them will burn with tears While they groan, one in front of the other. A brother will watch while his brother Is killed and cast down on the ground, Whereas he they drive off into captivity In order to serve among foreigners as a slave. They even put to death mothers Who are holding their children to their breasts. Bitter is the sound of the infants Who are groaning to satisfy their desire (for milk).

They will prepare roads in the mountains, Highways in the middle of the plains; They will maraud until the very ends of the created order. They will establish rule over the urban centers. The provinces will suffer destruction, And they will multiply corpses on the earth. All peoples will be brought low Before the marauder nation. And once the peoples have endured much on earth And hope that now peace has arrived, They (the Ishmaelites) start exacting tribute And everyone will be fearful of them. Lawlessness will intensify on the earth And even obscure the clouds; Wickedness will enclose the created order And waft up like smoke to the heavens.

Then since wickedness will be rampant upon the earth, The Lord's wrath will then stir up Kings and mighty armies. For when He seeks to expunge it from earth, He sends out humans against humans To annihilate one another. Truly at that time He will summon The kings and mighty armies Who are behind those gates Which Alexander fashioned. Many rulers and peoples Remain behind the gates. They look toward heaven And call on the name of God, That the Lord send His sign From within His heaven of glory And the Divine Voice Summon them who are by those gates; So that they suddenly break down and collapse At the command of the Divinity.

Numerous armies issue forth, As many as the stars which cannot be counted. As multitudinous as the sand by the sea, And exceeding (the number of) the stars in the sky.

A full span was consumed From the lower crossbar; And from the upper crossbar Another full span was consumed On account of the great quantity of their sharp spears With which they lacerated it. They issued forth, Moving, spilling forth from there; Kings and large armies And every people and language group Emerging from (behind) those gates. Gog and Magog and Nūl and Agag, Kings and mighty armies! Togarmah and Ashkenaz and Daypar, Pūìayē with Lūbayē. Amzartayē and Garmēdō', ¬alab with helmet-covered heads, Azmurtayē and Kūshayē, Hunayē and Parzayē, Diqlayē and Tūbalayē, Mūshkayē with Kūshayē. Allied to and coming with them Were both the Medes and the Persians, Armenians and Turks And NamrūÐayē and MūshÐayē; The descendants of Ke'wan and Serug; The progeny of Yaqìan and the MaÐūnayē; Numerous armies and nations Whose number cannot be calculated. They will burst forth and flood the earth, Shaking the walls of the created order.

A dust cloud will rise up over the earth, Obscuring the sun above And covering creation With clouds and dark fogs, In accordance with what Ezekiel prophesied, The son of Buzi in his prophecy. For when the Huns [450 AD]come forth To wage war and to do battle, They will take hold of pregnant women And heap fire on top of them; They will come closer and mutter incantations over them, While roasting their children inside them! Splitting them open, they extract their fetuses When they are finished cooking inside of them. They draw near: then place them in basins, And pour water over them And dissolve their corpses there In those enchanted waters. They immediately take their swords And their bows with their spears And dip them in those waters For their arrows and their weapons.

Every weapon to which are applied Those magical potions Appears as if there are hundreds, even thousands Of cavalrymen who wield them. Moreover those hundreds of horsemen Who set out (and) traverse the whole of the earth Appear as if they are accompanied By six thousand myriads. If one of them should fall off during battle While engaging in the fight, Wherever he extends his hand Suddenly a knife emerges! They eat the flesh of children And also drink the blood of women. Clothed in tanned skins, They mount the winds and tempests; And rapidly, in the blink of an eye, They lay waste to cities, Topple their walls to the ground, And destroy the strong citadels. Moving quickly, they bind the swift And slaughter the vigorous men. They are quicker in motion Than winds and tempests. Whenever news of them is heard on earth (to wit)

'The Huns have set out (and) are coming!' They blanket the whole of creation. Because they are sorcerers, They fly between heaven and earth. Their chariots are like the winds, And their swords and their lances Are like terrifying bolts of lightning. Holding straps in their hands And two or three horses, Each one of them leads with him Some fifty or sixty men, Traveling behind and in front of him Like winds and tempests. The sound of the battle-cry of just one of them Is like the roaring of lions. Indeed dread of the Huns [450 AD] Will overpower the entire earth; They will cover the whole earth Like the waters during the days of Noah, And they will overwhelm the edges of the created order: There is no one who can withstand them.

These are the 'numerous peoples' About whom Ezekiel spoke Who will cover the whole earth As if they were clouds. 'Fish will shudder before them, (As will) the birds of the sky And wild beasts and vermin of the earth And every species in creation; High mountains will be thrust down And fortified towers will collapse, Even the walls of the cities.' On the earth will be a wasteland. For Ezekiel has prophesied That it will come to pass in the End of Days: They will burst out (and) come up from the land And cover the created order; Gog and Magog will prepare itself And arrive at the 'hill country of Israel.'

Between the sea and Jerusalem He will place his encampment. Riders will fly off, descending Upon Egypt and opposite India; Leading away so many captives they cannot be numbered. People and riches, Cattle and property Which have now become his prey. Then Righteousness will summon Michael, the one who is leader of the host, To come down (and) destroy his encampment Just as (he destroyed) the encampment of Sennacherib. The angel, receiving the command, will draw The terrible and powerful sword, And departing, he will destroy his force In the twinkling of an eye! Righteousness will pick up and hurl Stones of fire upon the encampment. The slain on the ground will be as numerous As the (particles of) sand which cannot be counted; People and pack-animals will perish, The entire encampment will be consumed. The blaze will extend Unto the sea and to the islands. The bow will swerve from the hands Of Gog, the wicked ruler; Also his arrows (will drop) from his left hand: His entire encampment will be consumed.

The inhabitants of Judaea will go out And loot his whole encampment. They will collect and pick up armament: Lances, arrows, and bows. For seven years within a fire They will burn them, as it is written: 'They will not need to gather Wood from the field or thickets.' Seven years they will throw in the fire Shields and clubs, Arrows, spears, and bows. They will prove sufficient for fueling the fire for seven years. Then the Lord will bring in His peace, Which attests His glorification among the heavens. And once more the empire of the Romans Will spring up and flourish in its place. It will possess the earth and its extremities, And no one will exist who opposes it. And when iniquity has become rife on earth And has polluted the whole of creation, Then a judgment will arise Which will entirely obliterate the people.

The Son of Destruction, the Evil One, Will emerge and come upon the earth. A deceiver of humanity, An instigator of trouble over the whole earth. On the day when he comes to it, (when) the Son of Destruction arrives on earth, The created order will be thrown into commotion, And terror will engulf the earth. The sun will become dark in its place, And the stars will fall from the height; All the luminaries will be quenched, Darkness will cover the created order. The earth with its inhabitants will shake, And mountains and heights will quake; Springs and fountains will dry up, And the waves in the sea will abate And the fish therein grow still. Rulers will stop rendering judgment And priests will tremble in the sanctuary And military power will collapse. Confusion will be on the earth And all human powers will be paralyzed, For the Evil One will be ready. He will come to and enter Jerusalem. He will rebuild and establish himself in Zion, And will make himself to be God And enter into the sanctuary to take a seat In accordance with what the Apostle wrote to us.

The Jews will take pride in him; They will prepare themselves and come to him. And he moreover will blaspheme when he says: 'I, even I, am the Father and the Son! The First and the Last! There is no other god apart from me!' But at that time ten thousand Jews will denounce him: They will answer him in truth: 'You are a deceiver for (all) creatures! For the one whom our ancestors restrained At the top of the wood(en cross) on Golgotha Is (actually) the redeemer of (all) creatures, And he was raised up to the One Who sent him!' Then the Evil One will be enraged And he will issue a command regarding those who denounced him That they should immediately die by the sword, And everyone will be too afraid to renounce him.

Then he will begin to display Wonders through deception In the heavens and on the earth, Within the sea and on the dry land. He will summon the rain and it will fall; He will command the seed and it will sprout However he will not actually perform (miracles); He will be employing magic. He will command the waves and they will cease, And the winds will be obedient to him. He will suspend fruits on the trees And cause water to gush from the ground. He will address the leprous and they will become clean, (Speak to) the blind, and they will see light, He will call to the deaf and they will hear him, (Address) even the mute and they will speak. He will effect all the wonders Which Our Lord performed within the created order, Except that he will not be able to resurrect the dead, For he will not have authority over (the) spirits (of the dead).

Lightening-flashes will be his messengers, And are the sign of his advent; Demons are his armies And the commanders of the devils are his pupils; He will dispatch the heads of his legions To distant lands Where they will display marvelous powers and healings And mislead the whole of creation. Behold, the Apostle has penned a warning for us In his epistle to the Thessalonians: 'Let no word or no letter Trouble you that is not from us. For the rebellion comes first, Also the Man of Sin And he will exalt himself over God, Making himself to be God.' And when the Accursed One comes And displays his mighty works and wonders, The nations will gather together and come As (if) they were going to see God. Groups and nations will join him, And every person will renounce their deity; Everyone will say of him to their fellow That they should acknowledge him, the Son of Destruction! Peoples will fall upon one another, Slaying each other with swords.

The elect will flee from his presence To the peaks of mountains and hills, And there will be calamity on earth Unlike any that came before. Fear will fall upon all people And they will be overcome with terror. Children will renounce their father And follow after the Evil One; Priests will abandon their altars To serve as his heralds. People will flee to cemeteries And hide themselves among the dead, Pronouncing the good fortune of the deceased Who had avoided the calamity: 'Blessed are you for you were borne away (to the grave) And hence you escaped from the afflictions! But as for us, woe is us! For when we die, Vultures will serve as escort for us!'

Atwood · Jan 1, 2015

SYRIAC VERSION, DIFFERENT SERMON, 2ND PART

PART 2

And if the days of that time were not shortened, The elect would never survive The calamities and afflictions.

[This motif seems conspicuously absent from the other sermon.]

For Our Lord revealed (and) disclosed to us In his Gospel when He said: 'Those days will be shortened For the sake of the elect and the saints.' And when he has harassed the whole of creation, (When) the Son of Destruction (has bent it) to his will, Enoch and Elijah will be sent That they might persuade the Evil One. With a gentle question The saints will come before him, In order to expose the Son of Destruction Before the assemblies surrounding him: 'If you are indeed God, Tell us what we ask of you: Where is the place that you have hidden The elders Elijah and Enoch?' The Evil One will respond and say To the saints at that time: 'When I wish (it), they are in the height(s), Or again should I choose, they are within the sea; For I have authority over habitations, Since there is no other god apart from me And I can make anything On earth (and) also in heaven!'

They will answer The Son of Destruction as follows: 'If you are truly God, Call out to the deceased so that they will rise! For it is written within the books Of the prophets and the apostles That when the Messiah reveals Himself, He will resurrect the dead from the graves. If you cannot show us this (sign), Then the One who was crucified is greater than you! For he roused and resurrected those who were dead, And was exalted in great splendor.' Then the Evil One will become enraged With the saints at that time; He will draw his terrible sword And sever the necks of the righteous ones.

But Gabriel will arise (and) descend (With) Michael (as) military commanders; They will resurrect those saints While the Evil One stands confused with his servants. They will approach and seize that Accursed One And the Lord will rebuke (him) from heaven; Then He will destroy the Accursed One And all of his forces. Angels will suddenly approach And cast him into Gehenna, And all of those who believed in him Will be thrust into the flame(s). Then the Lord will come from above In splendor and with a company of His angels, And between earth and heaven A throne-chariot will be fixed there. He will admonish the sea and it will dry up; The fish within it will perish. He will dissolve the heavens and the earth, And there will be (only) darkness and gloom.

He will dispatch fire upon the earth, And it will burn there for forty <days> Purifying it of iniquity And of pollution and of sins. A great throne will be adorned And the Son will be seated on the right; Seats will be positioned For the twelve apostles of the Son; And couches will be decorated for the martyrs And a royal chamber for the righteous ones. The Watchers will blow trumpets And the dead will arise from the dust; Fiery entities will suddenly go forth And assemble all the descendants of Adam. They will gather the wheat in a storehouse And throw the straw into the fire; The good will go forth into the Kingdom, And the bad will remain in Gehenna; The righteous will fly up to the height, And the sinners will burn in fire. The martyrs will float to the couch; The wicked will go out into darkness. And Christ will reign forever, He will be sovereign over each generation. To Him be the glory, and His mercy is over us For all time, amen, amen!'

This document is so obviously not the same sermon at all. So whatever it teaches, it does not negate the message of the other sermon at all.

Atwood · Jan 1, 2015

Re: Excerpts < Biblitheca Sacra, 1995, July: Demy & Ice QUOTES

Atwood said:

I see that somehow I ended up with double of the quotation from Demy & Ice.

One thing is certain, the Syriac Ephraem document is not at all the same sermon as the one in Latin, translated by the faculty of Tyndale Seminary. It confuses the issue to bring in this Syriac sermon also attributed to Ephraem.

The contention is that the Latin sermon has pre-trib implications at the least. The other one is a bunch of lurid garbage, quite different from the Latin sermon. My guess is that the Syriac was inspired by the sermon preserved in Latin or that both go back to an earlier document. But whatever the case may be, these documents are so radically different that one cannot be used to interpret the other.

Butch5 · Jan 1, 2015

Atwood said:

EPHRAEM'S SERMON, WITH DISPUTED DATE IN THE RANGE IV-VIII AD,
& some claim it is a pseudo-Ephraem

But it is not really important who gave the sermon, but the earliness of the document tosses out the dogmatic dismissal of pre-trib rapture as invented by some Jesuit or crazy Scottish girl late in history. Also in Ephraem, it appears that the rapture or removal of the saints is an event distinguished from Christ's return to destroy the Antichrist.

It may be that the Shepherd of Hermas is the most ancient (readily available) document which indicates that the Church is not on earth during the tribulation. But after the New Testament, the first document I know of that speaks of a pre-tribulation rapture/removal is a document attributed to one Ephraem (possibly in collaboration with one Isidor of Seville?), a document of disputed date, but dated IV-VIII AD. The Title is (In English) On the Last Times, the Anti-Christ, and the End of the World A Sermon. I don't know how or why the Wickedpedia connects Isidor with this. Further investigation is in order.

The Wikipedia has an article on it from which the following is an excerpt:
[spacing and emphasis mine]

Q:
Section I

There will be stirrings of nations and evil reports, pestilences, famines, and earth quakes in various places. All nations will receive captives; there will be wars and rumors of wars. . . .

Section II
We ought to understand thoroughly therefore, my brothers, what is imminent or overhanging. Already there have been hunger and plagues, violent movements of nations and signs, which have been predicted by the Lord, they have already been fulfilled (consummated), and there is not other which remains, except the advent of the wicked one in the completion of the Roman kingdom. . . .

[Newspaper Exegesis is nothing new!]

Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms all the world? Believe you me, dearest brother, because the coming (advent) of the Lord is nigh, believe you me, because the end of the world is at hand, believe me, because it is the very last time. Or do you not believe unless you see with your eyes? See to it that this sentence be not fulfilled among you of the prophet who declares: "Woe to those who desire to see the day of the Lord!" For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins. And so, brothers most dear to me, it is the eleventh hour, and the end of the world comes to the harvest, and angels, armed and prepared, hold sickles in their hands, awaiting the empire of the Lord. And we think that the earth exists with blind infidelity, arriving at its downfall early. Commotions are brought forth, wars of diverse peoples and battles and incursions of the barbarians threaten, and our regions shall be desolated, and we neither become very much afraid of the report nor of the appearance, in order that we may at least do penance; because they hurl fear at us, and we do not wish to be changed, although we at least stand in need of penance for our actions!

Section III

When therefore the end of the world comes, there arise diverse wars, commotions on all sides, horrible earthquakes, perturbations of nations, tempests throughout the lands, plagues, famine, drought throughout the thoroughfares, great danger throughout the sea and dry land, constant persecutions, slaughters and massacres everywhere, fear in the homes, panic in the cities, quaking in the thoroughfares, suspicions in the male, anxiety in the streets. . . .

Section IV

Whenever therefore the earth is agitated by the nations, people will hide themselves from the wars in the mountains and rocks, by caves and caverns of the earth, by graves and memorials of the dead, and there, as they waste away gradually by fear, they draw breath, because there is not any place at all to flee, but there will be concession and intolerable pressure. . . .

Section V

Whenever the days of the times of those nations have been fulfilled, after they have destroyed the earth, it shall rest; and now the kingdom of the Romans is removed from everyday life, and the empire of the Christians is handed down by God and Peter; and then the consummation comes, when the kingdom of the Romans begins to be fulfilled, and all dominions and powers have been fulfilled. Then that worthless and abominable dragon shall appear, he, whom Moses named in Deuteronomy, saying:-Dan is a young lion, reclining and leaping from Basan. . . .

Section VI

When therefore the end of the world comes, that abominable, lying and murderous one is born from the tribe of Dan. He is conceived from the seed of a man and from an unclean or most vile virgin, mixed with an evil or worthless spirit. . . .

Section VII

But when the time of the abomination of his desolation begins to approach, having been made legal, he takes the empire, and, just as it is said in the Psalm:-They have been made for the undertaking for the sons of Loth, the Moabites and the Ammanites shall meet him first as their king. Therefore, when he receives the kingdom, he orders the temple of God to be rebuilt for himself, which is in Jerusalem; who, after coming into it, he shall sit as God and order that he be adored by all nations, since he is carnal and filthy and mixed with worthless spirit and flesh. Then that eloquence shall be fulfilled of Daniel the prophet:-And he shall not know the God of their fathers, and he shall not know the desires of women. Because the very wicked serpent shall direct every worship to himself. . . .

Section VIII

In these three years and a half the heaven shall suspend its dew; because there will be no rain upon the earth, and the clouds shall cease to pass through the air, and the stars shall be seen with difficulty in the sky because of the excessive dryness, which happens in the time of the very fierce dragon. Because all great rivers and very powerful fountains that overflow with themselves shall be dried up, torrents shall dry up their water-courses because of the intolerable age, and there will be a great tribulation, as there has not been, since people began to be upon the earth, and there will be famine and an insufferable thirst. . . .

Section IX

. . . as God beholds the human race in danger and being tossed about by the breath of the horrible dragon, he sends to them consolatory proclamation by his attendants, the prophets Enoch and Elijah, who, while not yet tasting death, are the servants for the heralding of the second coming of Christ, and in order to accuse the enemy. . . .

Section X

And when the three and a half years have been completed, the time of the Antichrist, through which he will have seduced the world, after the resurrection of the two prophets, in the hour which the world does not know, and on the day which the enemy of son of perdition does not know, will come the sign of the Son of Man, and coming forward the Lord shall appear with great power and much majesty, with the sign of the wood of salvation going before him, and also even with all the powers of the heavens with the whole chorus of the saints, with those who bear the sign of the holy cross upon their shoulders, as the angelic trumpet precedes him, which shall sound and declare: Arise, O sleeping ones, arise, meet Christ, because his hour of judgment has come! Then Christ shall come and the enemy shall be thrown into confusion, and the Lord shall destroy him by the spirit of his mouth. And he shall be bound and shall be plunged into the abyss of everlasting fire alive with his father Satan; and all people, who do his wishes, shall perish with him forever; but the righteous ones shall inherit everlasting life with the Lord forever and ever. /Q

[It is noted that no catching up to a meeting in the air is mentioned]

Bibliographic data below:

There seems to be a problem here. If the paper is dated 4-8 AD, how does anyone know of the AntiChrist as there wasn't even a Christian religion at this time. If you are referring to the Sheppard of Hermas it's dated around 150 AD.

EARLIEST REF TO PRE-TRIB RAPTURE/REMOVAL AFTER NT: EPHRAEM'S SERMON

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