I am aware of Ms. Macdonald, but in my understanding she did not have a vision of total Rapture, only a selected Rapture. John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), who was the leader of the Brethren movement and the “father of modern Dispensationalism,” took Margaret Macdonald’s new teaching on the rapture, made some changes as she taught a partial rapture of believers while he taught that all believers would be raptured and incorporated it into his Dispensational understanding of Scripture and prophecy.
It was originally taught by the apostle Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to the church in Thessalonica. The Thessalonians were the first ones to receive the Holy Spirit inspired teaching of "The Blessed Hope". The Blessed Hope as the teaching was originally called, was taught by the apostle Paul starting in the First century AD. (I Thessalonians 4-5)
Other apostles such as John, Matthew, Luke also made reference to "The Blessed Hope". Also see: (I Cor. 15:52)
The other references to "The Blessed Hope" are referred to in: (cf: Matt. 24:42, Matt. 25:13, Luke 12:36-48, Acts 1:11, Phil. 3:20-21, Titus. 2:11-13)
The Teaching of "The Blessed Hope" was deeply entrenched and taught in the early Church, for the first two centuries, starting with the apostle Paul, and referenced to also by Matthew, John, and Luke.
What happened then to the teaching of the "BLESSED HOPE".????????
Well in the last ten years of the second century and all through out the third century, We had the rise of a heretical church and the heretical school of theology at Alexandria, Egypt. They advanced the erroneous principle that the Bible should be interpreted in a nonliteral or allegorical sense. The result of their heresy was that the original teaching of "The Blessed Hope" was done away with because they couldn't understand or visualize it. They just didn't want to believe it.
Now As to grace and salvation I would tend to agree but we could say the same thing about the Rapture in that it was written of and spoken to by Jesus, Paul and others others almost 2000 years ago and was left behind and NOW has been resurrected just as has the doctrine of salvation by only grace.
IT was right there in the Scriptures for any and all to read and grasp, BUT IMO the time of the end that we are now in, did not lead to the revelation of the Rapture.
2 Thess. 2:1-8...............
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
Step # 1...( Latin Word "Rapio or rapturo" which means a "snatching away or to be Caught up and taken away quickly").
2That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
(Step #2...Apostsy, "falling away")
4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
*********(TEACHING ON THE RAPTURE!!!!)*******
6And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
(Step #3....Rapture removes the Holy Spirit who holds back evil)
7For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
(Step #4.....The Anti-christ is revealed after the church/Holy Spirit is removed).
The New Testament clearly teaches (IMHO) that Jesus Christ will "come again"(John 14:3) and "appear the second time" (Hebrews 9:28) for His own.
He promised this to His disciples in the upper room.
"I go to prepare a place for you," the Lord said, "and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also."(John 14:23) This is our Lord's first indication that He will return specifically given to comfort the disciples the time of His absence.
Many believe this is the first clear reference in our Lord's teaching of the rapture of the believers. In Hebrews 9:28, he has believers in view when he states: "So Christ was once offered to the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."
Again, the promise of our Lord's return for His own is sounded loud and clear.
"And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." (I Thessalonians 1:10)
Before anything else, we need to establish what is in dispute here, and what is not.
NOT IN DISPUTE: At the end of the age Jesus Christ will return in power and glory to establish His millennial kingdom on earth. Some time before He actually sets foot on earth, His saints who are living at the time will be caught up to meet Him in the air.
IN DISPUTE: The positioning of the "catching up" on the prophetic time line - before, during or after the "tribulation."
I am aware of Ms. Macdonald, but in my understanding she did not have a vision of total Rapture, only a selected Rapture. John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), who was the leader of the Brethren movement and the “father of modern Dispensationalism,” took Margaret Macdonald’s new teaching on the rapture, made some changes as she taught a partial rapture of believers while he taught that all believers would be raptured and incorporated it into his Dispensational understanding of Scripture and prophecy.
Much as I hate to acknowledge that it was a female who started this false teaching (silly girl should have known better!), nonetheless she was the first person who taught that the catching up of the saints would be a separate event from the return of Christ to establish His Kingdom. The fact that a man picked up the teaching and expanded it does not give either the teaching or the man greater credibility.
It was originally taught by the apostle Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to the church in Thessalonica. The Thessalonians were the first ones to receive the Holy Spirit inspired teaching of "The Blessed Hope". The Blessed Hope as the teaching was originally called, was taught by the apostle Paul starting in the First century AD. (I Thessalonians 4-5)
The only time the phrase "blessed hope" appears in the KJV is in Titus:
Tit 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
It refers only to the return of Christ (not in dispute), not to the timing of that return, nor even to the "catching up" in a general sense.
Let's look at the other passages you quote:
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. v:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: v:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Again, this passage only mentions the return of the Lord and the fact that the saints will be caught up to meet Him (both not in dispute) it does not say anything about when the catching up will happen in relation to the tribulation, only that "the dead in Christ shall rise first."
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Again, we have the resurrection of the dead saints and catching up of the living (not in dispute) - but absolutely nothing about the timing!
Mat 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
Mat 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
We agree - the Lord is coming back. But these say nothing about the timing.
Luke 12:36-48 also talks about the Lord's return (not in dispute) but not about the timing.
Act 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Yet again - Jesus is coming back (which we agree on). It tells us how, but nothing about the timing.
Php 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: v:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Same story - Jesus is coming back (we agree); when He does those who are living will be transformed (we agree) - but nothing about the timing.
Joh 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Here again, Jesus is returning (agreed) but no word about timing.
Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Not quite sure how this one fits your argument. A typo maybe?
Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Jesus is coming back for His saints (undisputed) - but again nothing about timing.
1Th 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
Someone who sees the tribulation as "the wrath to come" might interpret this as referring to a pre-trib rapture. However, "delivered" is past tense, indicating that the deliverance has already been achieved, and therefore referring to the wrath of judgement and hell rather than the temporary wrath of the trib.
Not one of these verses that you have used to prove a pre-tribulation rapture does anything other than talk about the return of Christ (on which we agree) and the fact that when He returns the saints will be caught up to meet Him (on which we agree.)
Not one of them places that catching up before the tribulation, nor suggests that it will be a separate event from the actual return of the Lord. In fact the "blessed hope" held dear by the early church was not a pre-trib rapture, but the return of the Lord (still our "blessed hope" today.)
Now lets look at the passage in 2 Thess. The key is this verse:
2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Who is the "Man of Sin"? Most commentators would agree this refers to the Antichrist. But wait ... the Antichrist's rule is
during the tribulation. So this clearly places the return of Christ and the catching up
after the trib.
Then there's 1 Thess 4:16 and 1 Cor 15:52, both of which say that the dead in Christ will rise before the living are caught up. That would make that event the first resurrection. Yet Rev. 20:4-6 says that those who have given their lives for Christ
during the tribulation will take part in the first resurrection - meaning that the first resurrection has to take place
after the tribulation, and since the catching up
follows the first resurrection it must also take place
after the trib.
Scripture makes it clear that there will be believers here on earth during the tribulation:
Rev 7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
To get around this, those who hold to a pre-trib rapture have to teach that some will come to the Lord during the trib. However, two things stand against this:
1) If, as pre-tribers do, we take the "one who letteth" and who must be taken away (2 Thess 2:7) to be the Holy Spirit, how is anyone going to be saved, since it is only through the work of the Holy Spirit that we are brought to Christ?
2) Jesus said that His return would be "as the days of Noah" and "as the days of Lot" (Luke 17:26-28). What happened in the days of Noah? Noah's family were taken into the ark and judgement came. No second chances. No-one able to say, "Oh, now I see what is happening and I know God is real after all. Please pull me up into the ark too." Same in the days of Lot. That tells me that when Jesus Christ returns to this earth, that will be the end of chances for mankind. Those who are saved will be caught up with Him, everyone else will face judgement. No tribulation saints. Therefore, since the Bible clearly says there will be saints during the tribulation, the catching up must happen after it.
blessings,
Lynn