c. Three
and a half years into the seven-year period, the antichrist will turn against
the Jews, desecrate their temple, and destroy the system of animal sacrifices
that had been reestablished in the rebuilt temple at Jerusalem, thus initiating
the Great Tribulation that will occur during the last three and a half
years.
d. All
the as-yet-unfulfilled prophecies in the Bible concerning the Jews will
be literally fulfilled during this seven years, including the conversion
of many Jews to Messiah Jesus.
e. Many
non-Jews, startled into spiritual earnestness by being left behind from
the rapture, will also be converted to Jesus as the true Messiah, their
personal Savior.
3. At the end of the seven-year period, Jesus will return visibly and
gloriously in the clouds of heaven to judge the earth. He will save
those who were converted to Him during the seven-year interim between His
two returns, and assign to hell all who were not.
Five key Bible passages are most often
referred to in support of the rapture theory. But the teaching of
a "secret" coming of Jesus followed seven years later by a "visible and
glorious" coming does not emerge from a natural reading of the Bible.
The way the Bible describes it, Jesus' second coming is anything
but secret. Rather, the history
of the rapture theory traces its roots to the 16th century when this
interpretative template was developed and then branded upon the Bible.
Once the rapture paradigm was accepted, all the texts in the Bible which
refer to the return of Jesus were then divided by those who teach the rapture
into one of two columns–the "second" or "secret" coming (the rapture),
and the third or "visible" coming. But a careful reading of the Bible
proves the rapture theory to be not only unsupported, but even
dangerous.
This study seeks to show how, without discarding the central truth it points
to–Jesus Christ is indeed coming back soon
and we need to prepare for that great event through a relationship with
God!
