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I Only Have One Watch

I Only Have One Watch
By Jack Kinsella

Saturday’s Omega Letter Briefing “In Which Day?…” raised quite an uproar in my email box as well as in the forums.

It led to speculation that Saturday’s column was written to rebut another thread in the forums. It wasn’t. From their emails, several thought the column was written to rebut arguments they had advanced to me privately. It wasn’t.

Several others have suggested that the idea was to stir up a hornet’s nest in the forums. That’s not it, either. My intention isn’t to provoke. It is to lay the groundwork for teaching what I believe the Holy Spirit is leading me to teach.

And finally, there were at least two comments suggesting I’m really teaching a ‘Great Escape’ primarily to those who are fearful of facing martyrdom at the hands of the Beast.

The ‘Great Escape’ criticism is the least accurate and most insulting of all. It insinuates that pre-tribbers didn’t reach that conclusion following careful, contemplative prayer and study.

Instead, they are pretribulational because they are too cowardly to contemplate facing the first six Seal Judgments or martyrdom for refusing to take the Mark of the Beast.

Saturday’s OL was not even the OL I had begun to write. I usually compose the OL in Microsoft Word, but for some reason, on Saturday I found myself writing it directly online.

I was all finished and was editing and formatting the piece when my browser froze. When I restarted it, I discovered to my horror that I hadn’t saved it since beginning the assessment section. And since I was composing live online, there was no clipboard buffer or recovery feature.

It was gone, replaced by a blinking cursor. (No, not me. Another blinking cursor – but I was pretty mad, too).

Clearly what I had planned for the OL wasn’t what the Holy Spirit had in mind. He led me off in another direction, so that instead the focus I had first intended, the final OL ended up focusing on the subject that it did.

I think part of the reason there is so much debate and misunderstanding on this topic is because it is so close. It is like trying to get a mental picture of the dimensions of a house when you’re standing two feet away from one wall.

The mere suggestion that the Lord will remove the Church before the unveiling of the antichrist is enough to send some Christians into orbit – but I’ve never been able to figure how why.

The most common answer to my ‘why’ question invariably comes in the form of another question – why should one generation of Christians think they are more special than all the Christians that faced martyrdom in the past?

It’s a good question.

Assessment

While there appears to be no end of objections to a pre-trib Rapture, (not the least of which is the so-called “Great Escape”) not one critic has yet to offer me an alternative explanation for WHY there is a Rapture in the first place.

The Pre-Wrath Rapture Theory is all about a “Great Escape.” There appears to be no systematic or theological reason for Rapturing believers after the breaking of the Sixth Seal Judgment — other than to preserve them from God’s Wrath.

Why Rapture them after the Mark of the Beast? Is it to reward them for being faithful unto death, as one of my critics suggests? Why them? What theological purpose is there for evacuating the Church halfway through the Judgment Period? If they are there for the first half, why take them out at half-time?

To protect them from God’s Wrath? Isn’t that a Great Escape?

I don’t believe that the Tribulation Period will be any worse than the Roman persecution – from the martyr’s perspective, that is.

A 1st century believer who chose to be thrown to the lions or boiled alive rather than deny his faith is no less deserving than a 21st century martyr that chooses decapitation. If there was no Great Escape then, why should there be a Great Escape now?

It’s not like the last days’ Church of Laodicea is more deserving of mercy than the 1st century Church at Ephesus. Is it?

So what is the purpose for Rapturing the Church after the Sixth Seal Judgment? It can’t be to preserve the Bride of Christ from judgment – the Bride is already being judged — for a second time— along with the Christ-rejecting world.

That would mean the judgment for sin rendered at the Cross applies to all believers — except this generation’s, since we must undergo the first six Divine judgments for sin before the Rapture.

Previous generations of believers were not under judgment for sin. Were they?

What systematic reason does the Scripture offer for removing the Bride after the judgments have begun? The pre-Wrath argument posits that it is to preserve the Bride from God’s Wrath. (But not from God’s judgment?)

By the time the Fifth Seal judgment has been broken, a quarter of the earth’s population – perhaps two billion people are dead. They don’t all die nobly, bravely standing up to the antichrist and boldly proclaiming Christ.

They die by the sword, by hunger, by the beasts of the earth — but not by boldly facing down the antichrist. The Mark of the Beast doesn’t happen until AFTER the Fifth Seal is broken – by which time those billions (presumably including believers) are already dead.

I’m ok with the argument that the Rapture is in keeping with God’s promise, but why did He make that promise in the first place?

What is the purpose of the Rapture? Is it to keep us from ‘the hour of temptation that will try the whole earth’ as Jesus said in Revelation 3:10? What IS that temptation?

In English, temptation has only one meaning. Not so in Greek. The word translated temptation in this verse is pierasmos, meaning primarily, “discipline (by provocation); adversity, temptation.”

“Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of pierasmos,(discipline, adversity) which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”

My intent and purpose is not to provoke others to wrath by insisting on a Pretribulation Rapture. It doesn’t even matter if you agree with me – but if you don’t, my job is to make sure you know why you don’t agree with me.

It isn’t because a Pre-Trib Rapture is a “Great Escape.” A Great Escape is the only reason for the Pre Wrath Rapture. There IS no other discernible, theologically sound reason for Rapturing the Church after the Judgments for sin have already begun.

That is because the Pre-Wrath Rapture, like the mid-Trib and post-Trib views, is independent of any discernible system or purpose, APART from a Great Escape.

There is no other purpose for taking out the Church during the Judgment Period. Is there?

Does it fulfill Jesus’ Promise that “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”? (John 14:18)

Is the Church still indwelt by the Holy Spirit before the Sixth Seal? When does the Holy Spirit’s indwelling ministry come to an end? When Jesus returns at the Pre-Wrath Rapture?

Chronologically, Revelation 7 must take place before the breaking of the 5th Seal since the antichrist’s war on the saints takes place during this time. If the Holy Spirit is still indwelling the Church, then there is little explanation for sealing 12,000 of each of the Twelve Tribes with the Holy Spirit separately.

They would have been indwelt when they got saved, like everybody else before the Rapture did.

Let me say it again. There is no rhyme, no reason, no purpose and no systematic Biblical explanation for evacuating the Church after the Sixth Seal Judgment apart from providing a Great Escape for one select group of Christians.

There is, however, both a systematic explanation and a Biblically-defined purpose for a Pre-Tribulation Rapture that fits the overall theme of Bible prophecy for the last days.

Jesus promised that He would send the Comforter, (which is the Holy Spirit).

Jesus said the Comforter would not come until Jesus ‘went away’ and that the Comforter would abide with us ‘forever’.

Now look at the Comforter’s ministry:

“He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe not on Me; Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”

The word “reprove” elegcho means to convict, rebuke and admonish. That is His ministry to the world. To convict them of sin and to reveal that it has already been judged at the Cross.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit prevents the antichrist from being revealed prematurely. (2nd Thessalonians 2:6) Paul says that until the Holy Spirit’s elegcho ministry is withdrawn, ‘that Wicked’ can’t be revealed.

Paul says the mystery of iniquity (the spirit of antichrist) is already at work in the world, but it is the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit that keeps it at bay.

“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only He who now letteth will let, until He be taken out of the way.” (2nd Thessalonians 2:7)

All this works within a system that is generally understood as the Dispensation of Grace. The system of Grace is unique, having only been extended in the past individually…“Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” but since Pentecost, Grace is now extended to all who choose to accept it.

The Tribulation Period is the Dispensation of Judgment. Judgment is not grace. Grace is withdrawn and replaced by judgment. The first judgment is the 1st Seal Judgment.

If judgment can run concurrent with Grace, then there is no systematic reason for withdrawing the Church at all. There is no logic to the Rapture other than a Great Escape.

The Rapture as a necessary part of the withdrawing of the Holy Spirit’s ministry (together with the vessels He indwells) so that judgment can begin finds Scriptural support within a system of Grace. But a system of Grace operating concurrently with a period of Divine judgment isn’t in there.

“And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” (Romans 11:6)

PreWrath demands that the Church remains to face the antichrist’s Mark of the Beast — but does not explain why, theologically, the Church escapes the remainder of judgment.

Without a systematic theological framework, out go the rules of exegesis. If there is no identifiable system, then the rules of the Law and Grace must both be in simultaneous operation now.

“Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of My counsel: they despised all My reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.” (Proverbs 1:28-31)

“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:” (Revelation 6:15-16)

That doesn’t square with the Dispensation of Grace during which time, “whosover shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved. The purpose for teaching the divisions between the Dispensations is because without a system of interpretation, Revelation can mean whatever somebody wants it to mean.

The reasons for judgment don’t apply to the Church.

“Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.” (Revelation 9:21)

Outside of a system, there are literally hundreds of different Tribulation scenarios of varying lengths, purposes, involving various groups, etc., etc.

Look at the vast difference between the ways the Tribulation is viewed by preTribulationists vs. Catholics vs. Jehovah’s Witnesses vs. Pre Wrath vs. Mid-Trib or Post Trib.

But only one view can be right.

The reason that I can’t simply let go of this subject is because the entire outline of Bible prophecy follows a system of progressive revelation from God, separated by Dispensation.

Without a system, the best one can offer is an opinion — and there are no shortage of those. A systematic view of theology provides a God-given context in which to understand Bible prophecy — and against which to measure opinions.

I don’t defend Dispensationalism because I want everybody to become a Dispensationalist. It is because without that framework as a guide, Bible prophecy means whatever the most convincing speaker says it means.

Paul told Timothy:

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

If there is another way to “rightly divide the word of truth” nobody has yet demonstrated it to me. Many have demonstrated that they believe they have rightly divided the word of truth, but can’t coherently explain why they divided it where they did.

But if the Word is ‘rightly divided’ then where to divide it should be reasonably obvious — it shouldn’t need a lot of explaining. Drawing that line between the periods of Grace and Judgment is both obvious and in keeping with the whole counsel of Scripture.

It is said that a man with one watch always knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never quite sure.

I only have one watch.

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