Why I don't teach the Pre-Tribulation Rapture? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It can be summed up in what the apostle wrote to the Thessalonians. "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together(1Thes.13-18) ,v.17) unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ isat hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling awayfirst, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth (sits) in the temple of God, shewing (showing) himself that he is God...
"Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?" (The Thessalonians knew this order when they read 1Thes.4:13-18)
...And now ye know what withholdeth that he (the man of sin) might berevealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: (1John.2:16-18; 4:1-4) only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And thenshall that Wicked berevealed,whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming(parousia)." (2Thes.2:1-8)
There were some in the Church (in the 1st. Century) that were scoffing (2Peter.3:1-9) saying "where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (Today they say the same. Every generation has thought their generations is the last one)
I.The apostle Peter's response
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: (Gen.6:1-22) Whereby the world that then (in Noah's generation) was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, (i.e. the one we are living in now) by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and athousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack (tardy / late) concerning his promise. (2Peter.3:7-9)
II. The apostle Paul's response
Then there are those (in the Church world today / 21st. Cent.) that expecting the Second Coming to happen at any minute like the Thessalonian Church. (The Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrine) Jesus said that no man knows the day or the our, but He did say look at the days of Noah. Peter says, "the heavens and the earth, WHICH ARE NOWby the SAME WORD kept in store RESERVED unto fire against the day of judgment" (2Peter.3:7). The
SAME WORD the says build according to the pattern. THE SAME WORD the says there is a time of preparation and waiting. THE SAME WORD that told Noah to come into the Ark before the flood / destruction.
Note: The flood DID NOT happen until the building of the Ark was finished according to the pattern, which points to the Mystery of God being finished. (Noah was not expecting the judgement at any moment, he knew the Ark needed to be finished