Jesus…who…???
Absolute Confirmation of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture
By Pastor F. M. Riley
July 1, 2014
“Would to God ye would bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
For if he that cometh preach another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”
2 Corinthians 11:1-4
Introduction
Does it ever occur to those claiming to be “Christians” today that every Scripture corrupter, every false teacher, and every religious deceiver in the ranks of Christianity today all claim loud and long that they “love the Lord Jesus” and the great truths of His Word? But the claim of these religious apostates is a lie and a Scriptural impossibility! One cannot truly love the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible and outright deny or corrupt the plain statements which came forth from His own Holy Mouth.
While many today “profess” Jesus Christ with their mouth, yet many of these “professors” also corrupt or outright deny His Word. In doing this, they are following the example of the unbelieving religious leaders of Israel at the first coming of Christ, of whom the Lord Jesus Himself explicitly said, “Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men,” Matthew 15:7-9.
What the Lord Jesus said was that the unbelieving religious leaders of Israel who were guilty of such practices were giving mere lip service to the Lord Jesus Christ “in vain” [empty; useless]. The Lord Jesus obviously did not regard such religionists as His covenanted people, and therefore such people had nothing to look forward to except their own damnation. Read it for yourself in Matthew 23:13-33. These hypocritical people were not following the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible, even though they “professed” Him with their mouths. Even so, these religious, Scripture corrupting, false teachers, and deceivers in the ranks of Christianity today, who refuse to believe and receive the actual literal statements of God’s inspired Word, are not following the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible. They are following “another Jesus;” a “Jesus” of their own making. By God’s grace I will prove this statement by the “rightly divided” Word of God. Read on…..
The Plain Statement of the Lord Jesus of the Bible
In Revelation 3:10 the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible plainly stated to His church, “Because thou hast kept the Word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”
Our readers should notice that the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible explicitly promised His church that He would keep them FROM“the hour of temptation.” The Lord Jesus did not say that He would deliver them out of that hour, or protect and preserve them during that hour, but rather that He would keep them FROM that hour. Is this explicit statement of the Lord Jesus just too hard for some to understand? In plain language, the Lord’s church will never enter “the hour of temptation” [peirasmos], because the Lord Jesus of the Bible will keep them FROM entering it. This is a highly important statement made by the Lord Jesus of the Bible, so let’s examine it carefully.
The Hour of Peirasmos
The Greek word translated as “temptation” in Revelation 3:10 is the word, “peirasmos.” This Greek word literally means, “testing; trial; to test or try; experiment; prove; by adversity, affliction, trial, trouble, tribulation.” See Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, pages 498-499, Strong’s No. 3986. This Greek word occurs exactly 21 times in the New Testament. Significantly, “21” is the Bible number signifying “the exceeding sinfulness of sin; repeatedly connected with the 21 judgments of the Tribulation period.” Then is it just “coincidence” that in the statement made by the Lord Jesus of the Bible and the context in which this word is used in that statement, the word clearly refers to the coming Tribulation period? Well…??
The Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible explicitly prophesied and promised that He would keep His church and people “FROM the hour of temptation” [peirasmos]. Now any reader is free to believe or refuse to believe this statement of the Lord Jesus Himself. But no reader is free to outright deny that the Lord Jesus made this statement, or to ignore the statement, or to attempt to explain it away, while trying to promote the dumb theory of a pre-wrath rapture, a partial rapture, or a post-trib rapture. To do so is the very epitome of wicked pride and arrogance!
No reader needs to bother trying to convince me of how much they “love the Lord Jesus and His Word” if they refuse to believe this literal statement which came forth from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Himself. Those who attempt to explain away His explicit statement by some opinion or theory or dumb “interpretation,” or those who choose to simply ignore the Lord’s statement when it is right there in the Bible staring every honest reader in the face, are nothing more than religious hypocrites and liars. But even that is not the worst of it!
It ought to be obvious to any honest reader that outright denying or ignoring this statement of the Lord Jesus places the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible in the position of being a liar, and it doesn’t take a great deal of intelligence to come to that conclusion. Is the “Jesus” you are following “the way, the truth, and the life” [John 14:6], or is the “Jesus” you are following “another Jesus?” Who is the “Jesus” that these false teachers, and religious deceivers are following today? Have some readers even bothered to think about this? Well…??
What is meant by “the hour of peirasmos?” I want our readers to carefully notice that there is a difference between the “peirasmos” and “the hour of peirasmos.” The “peirasmos,” as used in the New Testament, most of the time is used in reference to the entire future seven year Tribulation period. But “the hour of peirasmos” is limited to the first half of the Tribulation period. Any serious Bible student can see this for themselves as they study this particular Greek word through the New Testament.
Those readers who want to seriously study this Greek word, “peirasmos,” repeatedly used by the Lord Jesus Himself, and determine how it is used in the Scriptures for themselves, may feel free to order my complete detailed Word study entitled “PEIRASMOS.” It will be sent to any reader upon request.
The Witness of the Heavens
Any of our readers who seriously want to “rightly divide the Word of truth,” [2 Timothy 2:15] should be aware that the inspired Word itself explicitly and repeatedly declares that “in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established,” Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15; Matthew 18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1. Our readers need to remember that the Lord God of the Bible always practices what He preaches. In Revelation 3:10 the Lord Jesus explicitly spoke of “the hour of temptation,” [peirasmos] which refers to the first half of the Tribulation period. Then in Revelation 14:7 the same Lord Jesus inspired John to write about “the hour of judgment,” which from the context quite evidently refers to the last half of the Tribulation. Therefore the entire seven years of the Tribulation, from the Lord’s viewpoint, is regarded as being only two hours in length. The first half of the Tribulation is “the hour of temptation,” and the last half of the Tribulation is “the hour of judgment.” Does the inspired Word contain a second witness that confirms this truth? Ho boy!
From the time I was a small child I heard the expression repeated over and over again, “The darkest hours of the night come just before the dawning of the day.” This was usually in the context of a death, hardship, or other tragedy that had just occurred. I understood what was meant, even though at the time, the expression seemed to be just “folk lore” passed down from generation to generation. But glory to God! It wasn’t just “folk lore!” Guess what?
As I later began to seriously study God’s Word, I found Psalm 19:1 which explicitly states that “The heavens declare [are declaring; present tense] the glory of God; and the firmament [expanse of space; outer space] showeth [displays; is displaying; present tense] His handiwork.” How literal are we to take this statement of the Psalmist?
As it turns out, after the Space Age began in 1957, it was discovered that there is a band of extreme darkness two hours in duration that precedes the dawning of each new day. Every day! And this has been going on for thousands of years, as a type of a Biblical truth later to be revealed. This band of darkness has been photographed and measured many times over these past 57 years by satellites orbiting in space above the earth. Any reader who wants to research NASA’s photo library can see it for themselves. Glory to God! Praise the Lord Jesus!
So when the Lord Jesus divided the terrible Tribulation period into “the hour of temptation” and “the hour of judgment” in God’s Word, He was perfectly confirming that “the two darkest hours of the night do come just before the dawning of the day.” The Tribulation period will be the two darkest hours spiritually [and morally] in all of human history, just before the dawning of the great Millennial Day of the Lord. Glory to God! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Now since “the hour of temptation” [peirasmos] refers to the first half of the Tribulation, and the Lord Jesus of the Bible explicitly promised His church that He would “keep thee FROM the hour of temptation,” then it is glaringly obvious that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself promised a Pre-tribulation Rapture for His church and all true New Covenant believers. Glory to God! Praise the Lord!
Now did the Lord Jesus of the Bible lie when He promised this? Or, is “another Jesus,” whom some clearly appear to be following today, the “Jesus” who is lying? Well…???
If any reader would like a more detailed study on “The Two Hours,” I will be glad to send them my study upon their request.
The Parousia
Another Greek word that is related to this subject is the word “parousia.” This Greek word occurs 24 times in the New Testament and literally means “bodily presence.” See Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, page 490, Strong’s No. 3952. This Greek word is translated as “coming”22 times in the New Testament and as “presence” 2 times. This word is almost always used in reference to the literal, visible, bodily, return of the Lord Jesus Christ. In studying this word Scripture by Scripture throughout the New Testament it can be determined that a minimum of 15 times it directly or indirectly refers to the literal, visible, bodily, coming of the Lord Jesus at the Pre-tribulation Rapture, the very rapture the Lord Jesus of the Bible promised to His church in Revelation 3:10.
Again, those readers who would like to seriously study this truth for themselves may want to order my complete word study entitled “The Parousia.” It will be sent to any reader upon request.
More statements of the Biblical Jesus
We who are true New Covenant believers need to take every statement made in God’s Word seriously and at face value for what it literally and actually says, for the Bible is the supernaturally inspired Word of God, 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21. When giving to mankind His inspired Word, God said what He meant and meant what He said. The God of Heaven is not some bumbling “nerd,” who just rattled on in the Bible to fill up space. The Lord Jesus of the Bible explicitly stated, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” Matthew 4:4. This makes the importance of the inspired Word glaringly obvious, every word in it. However, it appears that some “professing Christians” today have decided that they can live a “good moral life” without seriously studying the Scriptures. Such an attitude is similar to the ignorant superstitious people today who carry a “rabbit’s foot,” or some other equally useless ornament as a good luck charm. Many “professing” Christians today carry their Bible to church services on Sunday and then never open it again until the next Sunday. Yet they “think” they are the best of Christians who really love the Lord! Sic!
Religious men [and women] often corrupt God’s Word, change it to make it say what they want it to say, and even ignore those Scriptures which obviously do not support the position they want to hold. Yet when confronted about their indifference to the Word, or their lack of any really serious study of the Word, they will loudly let everyone within hearing distance know that “they love the Lord” just as much as any other believer and they don’t appreciate being judged. Is their claim true? Well, let’s see what the Lord Jesus of the Bible had to say about it…..
It was the Lord Jesus of the Bible who explicitly stated, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments,” John 14:15.
And again, “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me….,” John 14:21.
And yet again, “If a man love Me, he will keep My words….,” John 14:23.
This is emphatic language on the part of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He didn’t leave it up to men to believe it or not believe it. Listen once again at this emphatic statement with which the Lord Jesus capped each of these preceding statements, “He that loveth Me not keepth not My sayings: and the Word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent Me,” John 14:24.
Now do any of our readers want to argue these statements with the Lord Jesus of the Bible? If so, just have at it. I don’t have to guess WHO is going to win the argument.
Beware! Take heed!
I recently received an email from a fellow believer who explicitly stated that he no longer believes in a Pre-tribulation Rapture. What was his reason for turning his back on this Biblical truth?
This fellow said that for many years “dates” had been set time and again for the coming of the Lord to rapture His church, and not one of them had been correct. Therefore, he concluded that the Pre-Tribulation Rapture simply cannot be Scriptural truth. Sic!
In other words, this brother was saying that the fulfillment of the prophecies of God’s Word now depends solely on the works of men, rather than on the promises of the Lord God. No wonder he is so “mixed up” [confused] about what he claims to believe, 1 Corinthians 14:33. My Bible clearly and explicitly says, “the just shall live by faith,” Romans 1:17. This clearly means “faith” in the life and Word of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible, none of which depends on what men do or do not do!
Folks, it is possible, given the right circumstances, for a false teacher or a religious deceiver, to fool even true believers. We know this to be so, because the Lord and His inspired writers warned us over and over again of the possibility of it happening, Matthew 7:15-20; 24:4-5; 24:11; 24:23-26; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Ephesians 4:14; 5:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2 Timothy 3:12-13; 1 John 3:7; 2 John 1:7. One needs to be very careful who they are listening to and in whom they are placing their confidence. It is because that it is possible for such wicked “religionists” to deceive even true believers, that the churches and the ranks of Christianity today have in their midst such false teachers and deceivers. This is why Jude was inspired of God to exhort true believers living in this end-time [Jude 1:17-19] to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” Jude 1:3-4. By the grace of God, I will do this, whether some like it or not.
However, it is utterly impossible for such religious deceivers to fool Almighty God! The Lord Jesus of the Bible still looks on the hearts of men, and knows exactly their real spiritual condition, Jeremiah 17:9-10.. No man [or woman]is fooling the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible, not even for one minute.
The Pride and Folly of Being Doctrinally Wrong
I sometimes receive emails or even letters castigating me for not seriously studying the Pre-wrath, Partial, or Post-Trib rapture positions. Those doing the castigating assume that I have never really studied their position on the rapture, or I would surely be convinced of the truth of their position. What wicked PRIDE and ARROGANCE! Folks, I carefully studied every doctrinal position on the rapture over 50 years ago. As a young preacher who had surrendered to the Lord’s ministry and dedicated my life to Christ, I fervently wanted to preach the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth of God’s Word. So I seriously studied the Word! By the process of elimination, the Holy Spirit of God [John 16:12-15] enabled me to eliminate every position on the rapture except the Scriptural position; the Pre-Tribulational Rapture position.
For the benefit of our readers, let’s briefly examine each of these rapture positions in view of the Lord’s explicit promise to His church and His people in Revelation 3:10.
The Pre-Wrath Rapture Theory…..It is well known by all serious students of the Bible that 1 Thessalonians 1:10 and 5:9 clearly state and teach that true believers have been “delivered from the wrath to come.” But the Pre-wrath Rapturists don’t appear to be capable of harmonizing these statements with the whole revelation of God’s Word. They want to confine the “wrath of God” to the last half of the Tribulation, and have the rapture occurring at or just before the middle of the Tribulation period so as to escape the “great day of God’s wrath.”
But since the inspired Word clearly teaches that the “the hour of peirasmos” refers to the first half of the Tribulation period, and the Lord Jesus of the Bible clearly promised to keep His church and His people “FROM the hour of peirasmos,” Revelation 3:10, then any rapture position which has New Covenant believers going into any part of the seven year Tribulation period is wrong. DEAD WRONG!
Who is this “Jesus” that is leading these false teachers to teach such unscriptural rot? Certainly it is not the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible. Therefore it must be “another Jesus!” Take heed!
The Partial or Split Rapture Theory…..This position on the rapture has some believers taken in the rapture, and other believers left behind at the rapture, based on our present “faithful” service to the Lord, or our lack of “faithfully” serving the Lord. The followers of this false teaching claim that the rapture is “a reward” for faithfully serving the Lord during this present life. Those left behind, of course, since they have not been “faithful,” [according to whose standards?] have to go through the Tribulation, or at least part of it, in order to be “purified” before they enter God’s Kingdom. Sic!
Once more this is requiring the fulfillment of the Word of God to depend upon the works of men. Such ignorance! Folks, the Lord Jesus of the Bible is not bound by our faithfulness, or our lack of being faithful. Silliness! The believer’s faithfulness or lack of it will be the determining factor at the “bema” seat of Christ where we believers will receive our rewards, 2 Corinthians 5:10. Our faithfulness or lack of it has nothing to do with our being raptured or not raptured. Some need to study more and run their mouth less!
Plus the fact that this dumb theory is expressly refuted by God’s inspired Word, not once, but twice! In 1 Corinthians 15:23 the inspired Word, in referring to the resurrection and rapture of God’s people, explicitly states, “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” The word “coming” in this Scripture is translated from the Greek word, “parousia,” which refers to the rapture of New Covenant believers. Further, this Scripture indicates that every person who belongs to Christ, “they that are Christ’s,” will be taken in the rapture. Not one saved person will be left behind! None! Glory to God!
Oh, about that “purifying” of the unfaithful during the Tribulation to make them ready to enter the kingdom of the Lord….. It is expressly stated in Ephesians 5:26-27 that the Lord’s church is “sanctified and cleansed…..with the washing of water by the Word.” The Lord’s New Covenant church is not “purified” by the fires and judgments of the Tribulation, but rather by the serious study and belief of the Word of God. The process of being “washed by the Word” is going on RIGHT NOW! Are you listening? Hello!
I have an in-depth study on the “Partial Rapture Theory” in print, which I will be glad to send to any reader upon request.
There is no partial or split rapture for true believers found anywhere in God’s Word. So WHO is the “Jesus” who is convincing these “partial rapturists” to believe such a dumb theory? It is not the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible, so it must be “another Jesus.” Are our readers listening?
The Post-Tribulationist Rapture Theory…..I don’t mean to be deliberately offensive, but this has to be the dumbest theory of all the rapture positions.
The inspired Word of God explicitly teaches that all of the raptured saints [raptured at the Pre-tribulation Rapture] are going to come back to this earth with the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the seven year Tribulation, to rule and reign over the earth a thousand years with Christ. Read it for yourself in Revelation 19:14-16; 20:4; 1:4-6; 5:8-10; Zechariah 14:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:13. Now it doesn’t take a lot of brain power to figure out that the saints cannot return with Christ at the end of the Tribulation, unless they are already in Heaven with Him at that time. D-u-h-h!
Since Christ is coming back to this earth “with all His saints” to rule and reign a thousand years, then why would there even be a Post-Tribulation Rapture? The inspired Word explicitly states that at the rapture the Lord’s people shall be “caught up,” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:50-52.
So since the Lord Jesus of the Bible is returning to the earth with “all His saints” to rule and reign on the earth, then why would the saints be “caught up” at that time? Where would they be “caught up” to, since they are to reign with Christ on the earth? This sounds like a theory invented by an imbecile, with no real thought or serious Bible study given to the theory whatsoever. More “Ignorance gone to seed!” Sic!
Quite obviously, it was not the Lord Jesus of the Bible who came up and taught this dumb theory. It is also glaringly obvious that in Revelation 3:10 the Lord Jesus of the Bible promised His church and people that He would “keep thee FROM the hour of temptation.” Therefore the Lord Jesus of the Bible has nothing to do with the teaching of this super dumb Post-Tribulation Rapture theory. So since the Lord Jesus of the Bible had nothing to do with this dumb theory, then it must have been “another Jesus” who invented the theory and is promoting it among all the “false teachers” today who are dumb enough to swallow it. Hello!
Scriptural and Logical Conclusions
In this study we have examined each of the doctrinal positions on the rapture by book, chapter, and verse in God’s inspired Word. The ONLY rapture position which harmonizes perfectly with the statement made by the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible in Revelation 3:10 is the Pre-Tribulation Rapture position. PERIOD! Every honest reader of this study and God’s Word can see this truth for themselves.
Every doctrinal position on the rapture except the Pre-Tribulation Rapture position, totally ignores the Lord’s statement in Revelation 3:10, and in doing so, places the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible in the position of being A LIAR. The Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible IS NOT A LIAR. He clearly and obviously promised a Pre-Tribulation Rapture, and such a rapture will occur whether some want to believe it or not. The Pre-Tribulation Rapture is “the blessed hope” of every true believer, whether some have received it or not, Titus 2:11-15. I say without hesitation or apology to every reader, the man [or woman] hasn’t been born yet who is going to steal my “blessed hope.” When my precious Lord Jesus of the Bible comes “in the air” to receive His New Covenant people to Himself [John 14:1-3] I will be “caught up…..to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we [every true New Covenant believer] ever be with the Lord,” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.
If the “Jesus” any reader is following, is not teaching this truth, then you are following “another Jesus.” I urgently suggest that you find out WHO the “Jesus” is you are following, before it is eternally too late! Remember, the real Lord Jesus of the Bible is not a liar! Revelation 3:10 is still in the Bible! Only the Lord Jesus of the Bible can save and deliver you to glory, John 14:6; Acts 4:12. Glory to God! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
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Permission is granted to any true believer or Bible believing ministry to reproduce this study to share with others.
My heartfelt thanks to all who have supported this ministry with your prayers and your gifts. Your prayers and gifts are our sole means of support. Thank you so very much.
Please address all questions, comments, and correspondence to: Pastor F. M. Riley, Last Call Gospel Ministry, 184 County Road 108, Harrisburg, Missouri 65256, or I can be contacted by email at:
fmr7sngn@centurylink.net
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