The Four Views Of The Rapture-Post-Tribulation View
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday September 6, 2009
The Day of the Lord: The Four Views Of The Rapture: Post-Tribulation View
Lesson # 29
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 9:24.
This morning we will study the third view of the rapture, which is the “post-tribulation” position that contends that the rapture will take place at the end of the Tribulation period indicating then that the church would have to go through the Tribulation.
The “post-tribulation” position erroneously considers the prophecy of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks to be completely fulfilled.
A “week” in the prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 refers to 7 prophetic years of 360 days; therefore, the prophecy of the 70 weeks of Daniel refers to 490 prophetic years of Israel’s history.
Daniel 9:24, “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.”
The phrase “your people” indicates that the prophecy deals specifically with the history of the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem.
“To finish the transgression” refers to the fact that the nation of Israel’s apostasy and sin and wandering over the face of the earth will be brought to its consummation within 490 prophetic years at the Second Advent of Christ.
“To bring an end of sin” refers to bringing sin into judgment at the cross, and extending forgiveness for sins already committed through faith in the coming Redeemer, the Messiah.
“To make an atonement for iniquity” refers to the Cross of Christ as it affects the restoration of the nation of Israel at the Second Advent of Christ (See Zechariah 12:10).
In the Hebrew text, the phrase “to bring in everlasting righteousness” literally means “to cause to bring in everlasting righteousness” and refers to the millennial reign which will be characterized by righteousness.
The phrase “to seal up vision and prophecy” refers to the fact that all that God promised to Israel throughout her history by means of the prophets will be fulfilled during Christ’s millennial reign.
The sixth divine objective “to anoint the Most Holy Place” refers to the dedication of the most holy place in the millennial temple which is described in detail in Ezekiel 41-46.
Daniel 9:25, “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.”
“The issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem” refers to Artaxerxes Longimanus’ decree in 444 B.C. (Nehemiah 2:1-8).
Daniel 9:26, “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.”
The statement “after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off” refers to the crucifixion of Christ.
“The people” refers to the Romans who under the general Titus destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and “the prince who is to come” refers to the Antichrist who will make a seven year treaty with Israel to begin Daniel’s 70th week.
Daniel 9:27, “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”
The statement “he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week” refers to antichrist making a covenant with Israel, which actually begins Daniel’s 70th week (See 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4).
“But in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate” refers to the antichrist stopping the sacrifices that will be reestablished in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem in the middle of Daniel’s 70th week.
The statement in Daniel 9:27, “on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate” means that the Antichrist will break his treaty with Israel and proclaim himself as God and seat himself on the mercy seat between the wings of the two cherubim on either the recovered Ark of the Covenant or one built by himself, which will be located in the Holy of Holies in the rebuilt temple.
The phrase “even until a complete destruction, one (Antichrist) that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate” refers to the destruction of antichrist at the Second Advent of Christ when he will be thrown into the lake of fire (See Revelation 19:20; Daniel 7:11, 26).
The seventy weeks of Daniel of 490 prophetic years are divided into three segments: (1) 7 “sevens” (49 years): The decree of Artaxerxes in 444 B.C. (Neh. 2:1-8) to the completion of the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Dan. 9:25). (2) 62 “sevens” (434 years): The completion of the rebuilding of Jerusalem to Christ’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem and crucifixion in 33 A.D. (Dan. 9:25-26) (3) 1 “seven” (7 years): Tribulation period (Dan. 9:27).
None of the events mentioned in Daniel 9:27 have been fulfilled in history, thus refuting the “post-tribulation” position that Daniel’s Seventy Weeks have been fulfilled.
Also, in Matthew 24:15, the Lord Jesus Christ in His Olivet Discourse, in which He addressed the future of Israel, spoke of a yet future fulfillment of the Seventieth Week of Daniel “after” His death.
Proponents of the “post-tribulation” view contend that John the Baptizer began his ministry as the “Seventieth Week” was ushered in and Christ was baptized, tempted and began to preach a few months later.
They also say that the first half of the week was used in preaching the gospel of the kingdom and the middle of the week was reached at Passover, which was exactly in the middle of the seventieth week.
According to this theory Christ becomes the one who confirms the covenant and in the period of His ministry the six great promises of Daniel 9:24 have already been fulfilled.
In response to this, it can be stated that the six areas of promise in Daniel 9:24 are related to Israel and Jerusalem and are the logical outgrowth of the covenant with that nation.
Israel has not experienced her national salvation and the church can not now be fulfilling these promises, thus we can conclude that the six promises in Daniel 9:24 await a future fulfillment.
Christ could not have confirmed the covenant as the “post-tribulation” view holds since the “he” of Daniel 9:27 must have as its antecedent “the prince that shall come” of the preceding verse.
Therefore, because this one is related to the people who destroyed Jerusalem, namely the Romans, the one confirming the covenant can not possibly be Christ but rather Antichrist who will make a treaty with Israel, which he shall break.
The “post-tribulation” position has the church taken off the earth and then immediately placed right back down on it, which obviously leaves no time for the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church to take place (2 Corinthians 5:10) and the Marriage of the Lamb (Revelation 19:1-7).
Also, the “post-tribulation” view like the “mid-tribulation” view argues that the church has been promised tribulation, which indicates then that the church will have to go through the Tribulation period.
However, the term “tribulation” is used in a “non-technical” way in John 16:33, Romans 5:3, 8:35, 12:12, 1 Thessalonians 1:6 and Revelation 1:9, 2:9-10, and it is also used in “technical” way in Matthew 24:9, 21, 29, Mark 13:19, 24 and Revelation 7:8, 14 where it is used with reference to the Tribulation period.
“Post-tribulation” view most strongly depends on the interpretation that the resurrection of all believers whether the church or Old Testaments saints is at the end of the Tribulation period just prior to the millennium.
However, they fail to see that the Scriptures teach that the resurrection of believers throughout history takes place in stages.
The chronological order of events in God’s resurrection program: (1) The humanity of Christ in hypostatic union (Matthew 28; Mark 16:1-14; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-9). (2) The Church at the rapture, which takes place prior to Daniel’s Seventieth Week (1 Cor. 15:51-58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Philippians 3:21). (3) Old Testament believers and Tribulation martyrs at the Second Advent of Jesus Christ, which ends Daniels’ Seventieth Week (Daniel 12:2-3; Revelation 20:4). (4) Every non-believer in human history will be raised from the dead at the Great White Throne Judgment of unbelievers at the end of human history (Daniel 12:2; Revelation 20:11-15).
Lastly, another argument used to support the “post-tribulation” position is that the wheat in our Lord’s parable of the wheat and the tares that appears in Matthew 13 refers to the church being raptured.
This parable of the wheat and the tares depicts the history of the kingdom of God and thus does not refer specifically to the church age but rather the entire age from the rejection of Christ to His Second Advent, which would include the church age.
In the parable, God will be sowing and so will the devil and at the end of the age, God will distinguish those who are His children and those who are the devils’.
The latter will be removed from the earth, which is followed by the establishment of the millennial kingdom on earth.
So the rapture is not in view in the parable and thus the parable cannot be used to support the “post-tribulation” position.
This leads us to the communion service and so therefore, could we have our ushers pass out the communion elements and let us take a few minutes to meditate upon the Lord and prepare ourselves for the Lord’s Supper.
1 Corinthians 11:23, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread.”
1 Corinthians 11:24, “and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’”
1 Corinthians 11:25, “In the same way {He took} the cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink {it} in remembrance of Me.’”
1 Corinthians 11:26, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.”