September 24, 2006

Consistency Between Jesus and Paul:
The Singular Future Parousia of Christ

Alan Kurschner

In the comparative chart below I list about 20 reasons why Jesus and Paul teach on the same, singular future Parousia (Coming). This is the position of the Prewrath Rapture. There is coherence and consistency between these two pivotal teachings on the Second Coming. But first a couple of preliminary remarks.

This article will perform a double duty. Both pretribulationists and many preterists have something in common: They do not believe that Jesus in Matthew 24 and Paul in 1&2 Thessalonians are teaching on the same "Coming." Pretribs believe that when Jesus refers to the Parousia he is talking about "Armageddon." In contrast, many Preterists believe that Jesus was prophesying the judgment on Jerusalem and Israel that would occur in AD 70; and other "Hyper" Preterists believe that Jesus came back in some spiritual sense in the 1st Century.

A note on the term and usage of "Parousia."

The Greek word for "Coming" is Parousia. In the New Testament it is mentioned 17 times prophetically of our Lord Jesus' Second Coming. It means "presence" and also carries the meaning of an "arrival and a continuing presence." It is not an instantaneous event but rather it will occur over an unknown duration of time. The term is a noun, not a verb. The Lord's Coming (Parousia) is a comprehensive whole.

The first Coming of Christ was not instantaneous. Rather, it was initiated by the virgin birth. But the birth of Christ was not the whole, but a part of his Coming. During the first Coming, God fulfilled certain Divine purposes: Jesus' birth, ministry of teaching, healing, the cross, burial, and resurrection.

So will the Second Coming of Christ be a comprehensive whole in which God will fulfill certain Divine purposes and events. We are informed that God's first Divine purposes will be to raise the dead in the resurrection and rapture those believers who are remaining on earth at that time. Then the Coming will continue to include the Day of the Lord's wrath, consumation of the Kingdom, Israel's salvation, Armageddon, and the ushering in of the Millennial age.

The term is always stated in the singular, not Comings.There is only one Second Coming (Parousia). Further, it is reading one's tradition in this term when it is suggested that there are "two stages of Comings." It is common to hear that Christ will come first for his Church secretly, then return seven years later with his Church. This notion is foreign to any Parousia text. There is only one future Coming (Parousia), in which God will fulfill certain Divine purposes.

In his book, The Rapture Question: Answered Plain and Simple, Robert Van Kampen recognized about ten parallels between these two passages below. In the chart, however, I have listed, in addition to his ten parallels, about ten more important parallels that should not be overlooked.

As an exercise, I would suggest starting with the first topic and looking up its comparative texts to discover for yourself the parallels and the consistency between Jesus and Paul.

September 5, 2006

A Case for the Prewrath Rapture: the "Cosmic Disturbances"

By Alan Kurschner

First, an Outline of the Prewrath Rapture

In this article I would like to make a case for the Prewrath Rapture and trust that you, the reader, will consider it thoughtfully and Biblically. I will be making my case by examining what are called the "Cosmic Disturbance" passages, which will be explained below. It is my contention that tracing this pivotal eschatological theme, the student of prophecy should grasp coherence and consistency of the key "end-time" Scriptural texts, as well as the events surrounding the immediate framework of our Lord�s Coming.

But in this first part, I want to say something about the Prewrath Rapture as a whole. The reason why this position is called "prewrath" is to stress the truth that believers are promised deliverance from the eschatological Day of the Lord's wrath (1Thess 5, 1Thess1:10). But this is not the point of contention. This blessed promise is agreed by all viewpoints.

How is the Prewrath position distinctive vis-à-vis the traditional premillennial views such as pre-trib, mid-trib, and post-trib?

First, it begins with the fundamental truth that the "Great Tribulation" is initiated at the midpoint of the 7 year period, or what is commonly called the "70th week of Daniel" (Dan. 9:27, Matt. 24:15, 21-22). The Great Tribulation is in no way to be viewed as "God's wrath," but rather "Antichrist's" wrath. The object of persecution during this time of great distress are believers--not unbelievers (Matt. 24:22).

In addition Jesus informs us that the Great Tribulation is "cut short" with his Coming. The "70th week of Daniel" is not cut short, but rather the persecution is cut short. When will this "cutting short" occur? We don't know. Jesus says that no one knows the day or hour; but Jesus does place it after the midpoint after an unknown duration of time.

So to understand the distinctive position of the Prewrath rapture, it is important to distinguish two events:

1) The "Great Tribulation" which begins at the midpoint (the object of wrath are believers, the persecutor is an "Antichrist" figure); and after an unknown duration of time those days will be 'cut short" with his Coming (Parousia).

2) The "Day of the Lord's wrath" which will commence when Christ returns (the object of wrath will be the ungodly). After the Great Tribluation is cut short, the Day of the Lord's wrath will be poured out for what remains left of the 70th week of Daniel.

One other point should be noted. Most would agree that on the same day when the Lord comes back and raptures the church and resurrects the dead, he immediately begins to pour out his Day of the Lord's wrath. Just so that we do not make any unwarranted assumptions the following texts demonstrate this truth in which deliverance/judgment occur back-to-back on the same day (Luke 17:22-35, 2 Thess. 1:6-10, 2 Peter 3:12)

To recap, the Prewrath rapture view teaches that at the midpoint of the "70th week of Daniel" the "abomination of desolation" will initiate the Antichrist's Great Tribulation (this is not God's wrath; rather the object of persecution during this time will be the church, not the ungodly). Then according to Jesus, at some unknown duration or time (no one knows the day or hour) the Great Tribulation will be cut short (not the 70th week cut short, rather the Great Tribulation is cut short) with the Coming of Christ to deliver the righteous (rapture) and resurrection, then the subsequent Day of the Lord's wrath against the ungodly will follow for what remains left of the 7 year period. (Click here for a comparison chart)

That is the contour of the Prewrath Rapture. Let us now consider if the Biblical evidence provides us with a strong, viable, defense for this perspective.

The Day of the Lord's wrath

In most studies on end times and the rapture question, the default or the presupposition is to simply assume a timing of the rapture and then attempt to fit all the events (no matter how awkward) around that presupposed timing.

This is not fair to Jesus' teaching, and it does not allow a natural reading of the flow of the events--further, it is indicative of someone protecting a traditional view without an openness to challenge one's own viewpoint.

I will argue that the real question to ask is not the timing of the rapture, but the timing of the "Day of the Lord." As will be demonstrated below, once the timing of the Day of the Lord is established, the rapture question is naturally answered.

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