In the last post I gave you three reasons for a pre-trib rapture. Here are some more:
4. The parable of the 10 virgins (Matt. 25:1-13)
Five of the virgins were wise and took oil in their vessels with their lamps. They were ready to meet the Bridegroom. The other five were foolish but were also “virgins”, which symbolize being separated from the world (2 Corinthians 11:2). Let’s not forget that. These are not lost or unsaved people. They just didn’t have enough oil in their vessels. If this parable teaches us anything, it is that only a part of the professing Church will be ready at the coming of the Bridegroom. The foolish were virgins, but being unprepared, they could not be included in the bridal party. Nevertheless, the Lord did not say that He never knew them, nor did He cut them asunder and appoint them a portion with the hypocrites as He did the evil servant (Matt. 24:51). The foolish virgins were thoroughly saved people.
5. The out-resurrection of Old Testament saints.
There was a definite resurrection of OT saints, which took place after the Lord’s resurrection (Matt. 27:51-52). We often forget that. This definitely establishes a precedent. The first resurrection is not an event that transpires all at one given moment as certain rapture theories demand. The general resurrection of the righteous takes place at the end of the age. But here was a First-fruit resurrection of OT saints. Not all the saints, but “many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of their graves after His resurrection.”
If there was a First-fruit resurrection of OT saints, then the pattern is set for a First-fruit resurrection of New Testament saints.
6. Paul teaches that there is a certain order to the resurrection.
“For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:21-22)
Christ was the first of the First-fruits of them that slept, but He cannot be all tbe First-fruits. Paul speaks of “every man in his own order.” There is an order. There is a First-fruit resurrection or a pre-trib rapture, also called the Manchild rapture, but there is also a harvest resurrection, or a post-trib rapture. The Lord’s coming is in two phases.
7. Paul sought to attain unto a certain resurrection.
“…if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil. 3:11)
“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:14)
Read the context carefully. Paul was putting forth every effort to be part of a certain First-fruits resurrection. It is the prize that he eagerly reaches for. This is not salvation as Paul was already saved and would therefore already be a participant in the general resurrection of the righteous. But he was after the prize of knowing Christ, which qualifies him to be a part of a First-fruits resurrection.
There is something special here besides salvation. The just shall live by faith, not by strenuous or prolonged effort that Paul exerted. Let the earnest Christian read and consider carefully. What was this special call that Paul heard? Was it not the call of the Bride?
Tomorrow I will share a few more reasons I believe in a pre-trib First-fruits rapture.
Stay tuned…
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