Saturday, March 19, 2022

Where is Christ after the Rapture?

There's a segment of prewrath rapturist thought which insists that, after the rapture, the church is taken to heaven while Christ remains on/above the earth. This could be left-over baggage from wanting to hang onto a Single Future Second Coming, contra pretrib's so-called Two Future Comings.

I've yet to see anyone holding to this premise address the following verses. It doesn't mean they haven't. Note that prewrath assumes the Great Multitude is the raptured church. Who is the Lamb and where is He?

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands. Rev 7:9 

 ...for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes. Rev 7:17 

Then there's this,

And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. Rev 19:11 

Most would see this as Christ's coming. Heaven opens and Christ is revealed....

Yet prewrath (shortened tribulation) asserts that the Great Multitude is raptured at Matt 24:31, before Rev 19; but there's only One Future Coming of Christ. Therefore it must deny that Rev 19 is Christ's coming and avoid any second-coming language for this event. It insists that this is the final stage of Christ's coming (that He has already come), and has somehow had a continuous-presence since Matt 24:30. Thus they want to claim a Single Future Parousia (not allowed for the pretrib model). 

I don't know how that works.

Read Charles Cooper's article HERE. Note especially the last paragraph. See also this article.

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