Does It Really Matter?
Does it really matter whether or not we know anything about the Rapture or any other end-times events? After all, our salvation is not affected by our views of end-times prophecies, so what difference does it make if we study those prophecies or not? 

Consider that out of every 3 or 4 passages in the Bible is prophetic in nature, according to Bible scholars. This means that a huge portion of Scripture, roughly one-third of the Bible, deals with prophecy! Prophecy is obviously very important to God, and therefore it should be important to us as well. Notice some of the things that God tells us

Revelation 1:3: "Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near"
Revelation 22:7: "Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."

Thessalonians 5:20: "do not treat prophecies with contempt"

The book of Revelation is the only book in the entire Bible which pronounces a special blessing on those who read it and take it to heart, and we can see in the passages above that this blessing is given at the beginning and at the end of the book of Revelation. Again, prophecy is very important to God, and Thessalonians 5:20 (above) says that we must not treat prophecies with contempt. Therefore, let us be careful not to dishonor God by considering Bible prophecy to be a waste of time or impossible to understand.

Terminology
The remainder of this article will be devoted to providing Scriptural explanations for some terms which will be used throughout this series of articles on Bible prophecy:

"The Rapture"
According to the Bible, Jesus will one day come down out of heaven and then He will "snatch up" all Christians (living and dead) off of the earth to meet Him in the clouds. This "snatching up" of Christians is often referred to as "the Rapture of the Church." Here are two of the main passages which describe the Rapture:

"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words." (Thessalonians 4:16-18)
declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep [die], but we will all be changed--in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality." ( Corinthians 15:50-53)

These passages tell us that Jesus will come down from heaven (with a loud command and the trumpet call of God), and then everyone who had died in Christ will be physically resurrected from the dead and will rise to meet the Lord in the air, and then all living Christians will rise to meet the Lord in the air. In "the twinkling of an eye" our physical, mortal bodies will be transformed into immortal bodies, and we will be with the Lord forever.

The Greek word harpazo means "to seize ... catch (away, up), pluck, pull, take (by force)" (Strong's Greek Dictionary), and it is translated as "caught up" in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17:

"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up [harpazo] together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." Thessalonians 4:16-17)
In the Latin Vulgate Bible (see the Latin Vulgate), the Greek word harpazo is translated as rapiemur, which comes from the same Latin verb as raptus, which means "to seize, snatch; to carry off" (for example, scroll down to "raptus" at Latin Derivatives). This Latin word is where we get the English word "Rapture."

Some people do not believe in the Rapture because they say that the word "Rapture" does not appear anywhere in Scripture. However, the words "Trinity" and "Second Coming" (for example) never appear in the Bible either, yet all of these concepts are taught quite clearly in Scripture even if those specific terms are not used. Strictly speaking, though, the word "Rapture" does appear in the Bible, just not in any English translation. Again, the English word "Rapture" comes from the Latin word raptus, which appears in the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible (using the rapiemur form of the verb).

Throughout this series of articles we will discover when the Rapture will happen (in relation to other end-times events), what will happen after the Rapture, and so on.

2. "The Second Coming"
The Bible says that Jesus will one day physically return to the earth and set up His government, and then He will reign on earth for one thousand years, as in these examples:

"Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him."" (Jude 1:14-15)
"They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years." (Revelation 20:4)

Jesus' return to the earth is often referred to as "the Second Coming of Christ."

Here are the basic differences between the Rapture and the Second Coming:

At the Rapture, Jesus will only come down as far as the clouds (but not all the way down to the earth), and then He will "snatch up" all Christians (living or dead). Our mortal bodies will be transformed into immortal bodies, and then Jesus will take us up into heaven where He will judge us according to our deeds (as we will see later). All saved mortals on the earth (i.e. all Christians) will be "taken" up in the Rapture to meet Jesus in the clouds, and all unsaved mortals on the earth will remain on the earth.
At the Second Coming, Jesus will return all the way down to the earth, and all of us Christians who had been raptured will return to the earth with Him (as we will see later). No-one will be transformed from mortality to immortality, and no-one will go up into heaven. All unsaved mortals on the earth will be "taken" in judgment by being killed, and all saved mortals on the earth will remain on the earth.
Notice that the events which will happen at the Rapture are essentially the exact opposite of the events which will take place at the Second Coming. They are two different events which will take place at two different times.

Throughout this series of articles we will discover when the Second Coming will happen (in relation to other end-times events), what will happen at the Second Coming, and what events will follow the Second Coming.

3. "The Antichrist"
In the future there will be a "ruler" who will take over the entire world and who will carry out a horrific persecution of saints and the nation of Israel. The Bible refers to this ruler as "the man of lawlessness," "the antichrist," "the beast," and so on:

"After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He [the future ruler] will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." (Daniel 9:26-27)
"The king [the future ruler] will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place. He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all." (Daniel 11:36-37)

"Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved." (2 Thessalonians 2:3-10)1

"Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour." ( John 2:18)

"And the dragon [the devil, see Revelation 20:2] stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast [the future ruler] coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?" The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast--all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world." (Revelation 13:1-8)

In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10 (above) and Revelation 13:1-8 (above) we can see that this future ruler will be controlled by the devil, and the name that we usually use for this ruler is "the Antichrist." As we will see, the Antichrist will proclaim himself to be God, and he will take over the world for the final three and a half years before the Second Coming of Christ.

In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel was monotheistic, meaning that the Jews believed in one God. The Gentile nations, on the other hand, believed in many pagan gods. In Daniel 11:36-37 (above), we see that the Antichrist will show no regard for "the gods of his fathers." The word "gods" is plural in the Hebrew in that passage, and this is an indication that the Antichrist will be a Gentile (not a Jew). In addition, Revelation 13:1-8 (above) describes the Antichrist coming out of "the sea," which often represents the Gentile nations in Biblical symbology. For example, an angel told the apostle John that "the waters" which John saw were "peoples, multitudes, nations and languages" (Revelation 17:15), which is a reference to the Gentile nations (not to the single nation of Israel). Also, the prophet Daniel was given a vision in which "Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea" (Daniel 7:3), and Daniel was told that "The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth" (Daniel 7:17). Again, this describes four Gentile kingdoms, not the single nation of Israel. This evidence indicates that the Antichrist will be a Gentile. In addition, the Antichrist will somehow be of Roman origin. Daniel 9:26-27 (above) says that "The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary." In the context of that verse, "the ruler who will come" is the Antichrist, and that verse says that the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish temple ("the sanctuary") will be destroyed by the people from whom the future Antichrist will come. In 70 A.D., the Romans attacked the city of Jerusalem (see the Historical Highlights at Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and destroyed the Jewish temple (which has never been rebuilt), which means that the Romans are "the people" from whom the future Antichrist will come. Therefore, the Antichrist is likely to be a Gentile of Roman origin.

4. "The Tribulation"
The Bible describes a future seven-year period of unprecedented suffering and distress during which God will pour out His wrath on the earth. It will begin when Israel signs a treaty with the Antichrist, and it will end at the Second Coming. This seven-year period of time is often referred to as "the Tribulation."

In Part Three of this Rapture series we will look at Revelation 6:9-11 (below), and we will see that it describes a persecution and martyrdom of saints during the first half of the seven-year Tribulation:

"When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed." (Revelation 6:9-11)
This persecution of the saints during the first half of the Tribulation will be carried out by "Mystery Babylon," which will be a one-world religious system during the first half of the seven-year Tribulation period:

"One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries." Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished." (Revelation 17:1-6)
The above passage tells us that the kings of the earth will commit "spiritual adultery" with this "prostitute" (for more examples of adultery in a spiritual sense, see Jeremiah chapter 3 and Ezekiel chapter 16), which indicates that this will be a one-world religious system. This false religious system will be "drunk with the blood of the saints," which tells us that it will be responsible for a massive persecution of Christians.

As we will see later, the Antichrist will break his treaty with Israel at the mid-point of the seven-year Tribulation period, and then he will begin a terrible persecution of the nation of Israel (as well as the Christians).

According to the pre-tribulational view of the Rapture, the Rapture of the Church will happen before the seven-year Tribulation begins. According to the mid-tribulational view (and other views such as the pre-wrath and mid-wrath views), the Rapture will happen during the seven-year Tribulation period. According to the post-tribulational view, the Rapture will happen at the end of the seven-year Tribulation period as Jesus is returning to the earth at the Second Coming. In this series of articles we will see why many people believe that the weight of Scriptural evidence supports the pre-trib view of the Rapture.

Consider that all Christians will be "snatched up" to meet the Lord in the air when He comes for us at the Rapture, and therefore those who are "left behind" will all be unsaved. During the seven-year Tribulation there will be multitudes of people who will receive salvation, and they are all referred to as "saints" in the book of Revelation, just as Christians are referred to as "saints" (as in Ephesians 1:1), and just as all of the righteous people in Old Testament times are called "saints" (as in Psalm 30:4). Since there will be "a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language" (Revelation 7:9) who will receive salvation after the Rapture (according to the pre-trib view), how likely is it that not a single one of them had ever heard the Gospel message before the Rapture? It is more probable that many of them had rejected the Gospel before the Rapture, but then they received salvation after the Rapture. This would mean that people will have a "second chance" to receive salvation after being left behind when Jesus came back for the Church. However, those who are so hardened to the Gospel that they "refused to love the truth and so be saved" will be under a powerful delusion which will cause them to believe the Antichrist's lies (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11).

Again, the Tribulation will be a seven-year period of time during which God will pour out His wrath on the earth. Multitudes of people will receive salvation during the Tribulation, but they will be persecuted by the "Mystery Babylon" religious system during the first half of the Tribulation. In addition, the Christians and the nation of Israel will be persecuted by the Antichrist during the second half of the Tribulation (as we will see).

5. "The Great Tribulation"
5a. What is the Great Tribulation, and when will it begin?
The following prophecy describes a period of time which is called a "seven," and when we examine this prophecy in Part Two of this series we will see that the "seven" is referring to the seven-year Tribulation period. According to this prophecy, the Antichrist will desecrate the Jewish temple at the mid-point of the seven-year Tribulation by setting up "an abomination that causes desolation":

"He [the Antichrist] will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." (Daniel 9:27)
In the next passage, Jesus said that when this "abomination that causes desolation" (Daniel 9:27, above) is standing in the Jewish temple, this will signal the beginning of a time of "great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again":

"So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel--let the reader understand--then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again." (Matthew 24:15-21)
The words "great distress" in the above passage are translated as "great tribulation" in some versions of the Bible. Therefore, the mid-point of the seven-year Tribulation is often referred to as the beginning of "the Great Tribulation," which will be a time of unprecedented "distress" on the earth.

5b. How long will the Great Tribulation last?
In order to determine how long the Great Tribulation will last, a little background information is needed. In Daniel 4:23-25, the prophet Daniel interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar's dream by saying that the king would live with the wild animals until "seven times" had passed by. Daniel 4:32-33 says that when this prophecy came true, King Nebuchadnezzar lived with the wild animals for "seven times," and his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his fingernails became like the claws of a bird. Notice that seven hours or seven days would not be long enough for the king's hair and nails to grow so long. The "seven times" refers to seven years, and in fact the NIV footnote for Daniel 4:16 says that "seven times" can be translated as "seven years." In addition, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary says that the Hebrew word for "times" in these verses means "a set time; techn. a year:--time."

So depending on the context, this Hebrew word for "time" can have the meaning of "year." Three chapters later in the book of Daniel, Daniel recorded a prophecy concerning the Antichrist, and he used that same Hebrew word again:

"He [the Antichrist] will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time." (Daniel 7:25)
We will look at this prophecy in more detail later, but for now let's look at the expression "a time, times and half a time." In this context, "time" refers to one year, "times" refers to two years, and "half a time" refers to half a year, so the total time period here is three and a half years. For example, here are some things that Bible scholars say about this expression:

"Or a year, two years and half a year" (alternate translation in the NIV footnote for Daniel 7:25, above)
"In a prophetic style as used for a year (Rev. 12:14, three and one-half years [cf. Rev. 12:6 in allusion to Dan. 7:25, where kairoi, times, also stands for two years])." (The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, Spiros Zodhiates, p.806, emphasis added)

"a time, times, and half a time. This refers to the three and one-half years of the Great Tribulation with "a time" equaling one year, "times" equaling two years, and "half a time" indicating 6 months (cf. Dan. 7:25; 12:7 with the 42 months referred to in Rev. 11:2; 13:5). References to these specific time periods show that the Great Tribulation is not the entire present Age but the three and one-half years preceding the second coming of Christ." (The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Walvoord and Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary, p.959, emphasis added)


1--2--3-4

To be continued