We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum. A.W. Tozer
Therefore let God-inspired Scripture decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the word of God, in favor of that side will be cast the vote of truth. --Basil of Caesarea
Once you learn to discern, there's no going back. You will begin to spot the lie everywhere it appears.

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service. 1 Timothy 1:12

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

1 Thessalonians and the Rapture


In adult Bible class this past Sunday I learned an interesting observation.  Every chapter of 1 Thessalonians ends, either in the last sentence or last paragraph, with a statement about the Rapture.

Here are the passages in the Holman Christian Standard Bible:

1: 10:  …and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

2:19:  For who is our hope, or joy, or crown of boasting in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?

3:13:  May He make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Amen.

4:17:  Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will always be with the Lord.

5:23b:  And may your spirit, soul and body be kept sound and blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Just thought I’d share this!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

God's Word says that the rapture will be pre-trib. So if you do not believe that teaching, you are not believing in God's Word. Get it right or get left behind. The tribulation is only for those who are under God's wrath. Why would a loving God put us through all sense? The post tri view makes no sense!

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Anonymous,

God's Word, the Bible, states plainly that the Rapture will be after the Tribulation. Pre-trib was not taught until the early 1800s, so I guess Christians had it wrong for 1800 years!

Try finding pre-trib in the writings of the ante-Nicene Fathers.

Dan said...

Sir, it is great to see you reject the pre-tribulation rapture but do you believe in the teaching of once saved always saved (eternal security)? Thanks.

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Hi Dan,

Yes, I believe that once a person is truly saved, he is always saved. Here is my post on the topic:
https://watchmansbagpipes.blogspot.com/2017/12/once-saved-always-saved.html

Anonymous said...

I graduated from The Master's Seminary, one of the leading Dispensationalist seminaries of our day. It's a fine school, I received a good education there, and I love John MacArthur and the other professors. But as I continued to study theology and the Scriptures after graduating (I was still a Dispensationalist for four years after finishing my studies), I began to see some big problems with the overall system, which left me concluding that Dispensationalism is based on a biblically and theologically unsound method reading of the Bible. I left Dispensationalism behind, and here are some of the more significant reasons why I did:

1. In the way it develops and systematizes its eschatology, Dispensationalism often a) utilizes a wooden and arbitrarily-applied literalism; b) does not adhere to the Reformed hermeneutic of the analogy of faith; and c) often misses how all the Bible points to Christ (promise and fulfillment). Because of these significant hermeneutical errors, Dispensationalism gets bogged down with an obscure, disjointed apprehension of redemptive history, and a faulty understanding of how OT prophecy is fulfilled in Christ (e.g., teaching that there will be bloody animal sacrifices in a future millennium; concern about "unfulfilled land promises;" general lack of Christological focus that leaves Dispensationalists baffled with verses like Matt. 2:15).

2. Dispensationalism artificially organizes redemptive history around dispensations instead of the biblical covenants, which is how the Bible does things.

3. Dispensationalism denies (at least selectively) that the shadows, types, and figures of the Old Testament must be interpreted in the greater light of the New Testament. At times this is flipped on its head, and (according to Dispensationalists) the NT is to be interpreted in light of the OT.

4. Dispensationalism teaches that the Church and Israel are separate and distinct entities, rather than the Church being the global expansion of Israel and of the Abrahamic Covenant (1 Pet. 2:9, compared with Exod. 19:6; Rom. 11:16-18; Eph. 2:12-13; Gal. 3:7-8, etc.). Ironically, Dispensationalism advocates a form of Replacement theology, even as it wrongly accuses Covenant theology of promoting the same.

5. Dispensationalism denies that Christ's coming is a single event. According to Dispensationalist teachers, Christ will descend from Heaven to earth, gathers His people in the Rapture, then return to Heaven, then descend back to Earth again in judgment seven years later.

6. Dispensationalism denies that the resurrection of the dead is a single event. Dispensationalist teachers separate the general resurrection of all the dead into two or three separate events, contra John 5:28-29 and Daniel 12:1-2, and contra the universal creeds of the church.


7. Dispensationalism teaches that there is a time coming after Christ's return when sinners will still be present on the Earth. On the contrary, the Bible teaches that the Final Judgment of all men will happen when Christ appears in glory (Acts 17:31; Jude 1:14-15, 2 Thess. 1:6-7, etc.).

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Anonymous,

While I disagree with a lot of Dispensationalism, I also disagree with "Reformed" theology. You are both wrong.