Greetings to all of my brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. I have enjoyed reading your articles and I am impressed with the unity of thought of most of the writers. We need to be unified about the Pre-Trib Rapture position and boldly teach it as the truth (that it is). Neither the Post-Trib view nor the Mid-Trib view can possibly be true. They are both in error. Mid-Tribbers are, in reality—date setting.
If Jesus and the angels don’t know the day or hour, then neither do any of us know when the Rapture will take place — other than it will occur before the wrath of God descends upon the earth and its’ inhabitants. Mid-Tribbers are specifying the mid-point of the Tribulation (which is a form of date setting). The arguments for these positions are weak at best, and can be refuted with Scripture.
I want to make a couple of points in this article. The first point is that Jesus Himself established the truth of the Rapture of the church although He let Paul give the specific details. It makes perfectly good sense that He didn’t outline the whole process of the Rapture at the time because His discussion with the disciples took place before the church was formed. They were confused and frightened enough without adding more angst to their thoughts.
When those inquiring minds questioned Jesus about the end, He pointed to various signs, beginning with the fig tree (Israel) and talking about wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, etc. Jesus made the statement that no one (not even Himself or the angels) knew the day or hour but the Father only.
By saying this, He established the truth of the Rapture and made the distinction between it and the Second Coming, or the end of the evil world system. Reason with me: Daniel 12:11 reveals the exact day of the end—the Second Coming, when the Lord returns to earth with His church, or more correctly, with His Body and the angels—to uproot evil, at least for a while (1,000 years). Thus, the Rapture and the Second Coming, by definition are two separate events. For us, the Rapture is from the earth to the clouds while the Second Coming is from the clouds to the earth.
The second point I want to make is in reference to the title of this article. I have wrestled with the Lord with this question for years, and graciously, He revealed the answer not long ago. Back to the conversation with the disciples about the end; the Lord said that “this generation” would not pass until all these things have been fulfilled. What could He have meant?
I tell you in no uncertain terms that He was referring to a specific generation somewhere along the corridors of time, and there is only one generation that can fulfill this prophecy. We now have the answer. I saw a pastor the other night hocking his new book basically about this same question. When he was cornered with a hard question he bailed out by saying that he thought that the end was near but it could be another 1,000 years—what a cop out.
I say, “Stand up believers, be bold and confident and trust Jesus. We need another Elijah on the scene today!”
Anyway, back to the answer to the question, “What generation?” According to my calculations, I was conceived around the same date that Israel became a nation (1948). I am 65 years old. My grandparents’ generation saw the first sign—fig tree (Israel) and were able to comprehend that sign but that generation has passed. “This generation” couldn’t be referring to my generation because although some of my generation saw the first sign (Israel), they (we) really didn’t understand what it meant.
Also any generation following my generation (the boomers) weren’t in place to witness and comprehend the first sign (Israel), thus, they are eliminated as “this generation.” Friends, that leaves us with the only possible answer which is, the World War II generation. My parents’ generation witnessed firsthand the hatred of the Jews, the holocaust, and the budding of the fig tree—the formation of the nation of Israel.
This information puts things in perspective, time-wise wouldn’t you agree, especially as we witness “this generation” fading from the scene?
Another fact that further tightens the timeline is that the Tribulation period itself is seven years in length. The World War II generation doesn’t have the luxury of much more delay before it passes away.
“Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay” (Ezekiel 37:22 NIV).
Thomas Blackmon
thomasongs@hotmail.com