Both preterists and futurists alike are forced to logically admit that the “mystery of God,” what some call the “rapture,” is necessarily linked to the 7th trumpet. That means it’s necessarily linked to the 7-year tribulation. More specifically, it’s linked to the latter half of the 7-year tribulation known as the Great Tribulation.
Futurists will try to use this to say that “since Jesus’ 2nd coming hasn’t occurred yet, preterists are wrong.” The problem is this: if Jesus’ 2nd coming hasn’t occurred yet, then JESUS was wrong. Indeed, this is the logically sound argument of atheists, Jews, and Muslims – many of whom know more Bible than Christians, unfortunately. Why? Check out what Jesus said:
Matthew 10:23
When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
Mark 9:1
And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
Matthew 24:34
Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
John 21:20-22
Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”
But what if Jesus DID return in judgment, within the timeframe that He said He would? When you study the apocalyptic language prevalent throughout the Old Testament, and properly date Revelation according to its internal text, you realize that Jesus came in judgment exactly when, where, and how He said He would.
Futurists, however, claim that the “rapture” didn’t happen in AD 70, so preterists are wrong. Well, the first question for the rapture crowd should be “what is the rapture?” … since the word never appears in the Bible. A careful reading of Thessalonians shows the order of the resurrection – death, and therefore resurrection of the dead, happens first. Those that survived the coming of Christ’s judgment, would join Him later.
Here’s what they will tell us: the rapture is when both the dead, in their perfected but physical bodies, and the living, in their perfected physical bodies, are caught up to meet Jesus in the air. Most of them will tell you this happens before the tribulation even begins. (even though the scripture is quite clear that saints will die during it … they’ll even reference verses in which Jesus clearly says the “taken” are slaughtered and thrown into the dead body pile!) The ones that read scripture attentively will at least admit that it’s at the last trumpet … the 7th trumpet.
At that 7th trumpet, here’s what is/was supposed to happen:
“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Daniel 12:2)
The first thing that should jump out at you here is that there is a single judgment of all dead who are separated into two categories. What you DON’T see is a raising of the good, followed by a raising of the bad … hundreds, thousands, or millions of years later. I will release another article later on the reign of martyred saints WITH Christ, which is often mistaken for the reign of Christ, whose reign has no end … but I digress.
Futurists often point to the examples of the dead being raised as proof that the promised resurrection at Jesus’ coming will entail physical flesh. However, when Jesus and the apostles raised the dead, they weren’t raised into their immortal, spiritual form. If they were, those raised would still be “with us” today. No … instead they were raised back into their physical form. They were still able to marry, get sick, and guess what … they died again too. The resurrection of the dead was not an example of glorified spiritual immortal forms. It was a sign of God’s power over death. Even Jesus’ body retained holes in His hands and side. Why? I propose to make His sign of power over death abundantly clear. Those who saw Him would know who it was, and He did what He said He was going to do. Speaking of, do you know where they saw Him? On this earth! Once He ascended to heaven, He was no longer visible, but glorified like the “immortal, invisible God.” (I Timothy 1:17)
The point is that God doesn’t need your body to resurrect your soul. That’s the same fallacy leading some to believe that cremation is morally wrong. It’s also a similar misconception that caused so many ancients to work so hard to preserve their bones. Indeed, there will be souls in heaven who barely ever had a body. (Think of all the conceived but aborted babies).
In Revelation, John sees “souls,” not bodies.
“Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God” (Revelation 20:4)
In Corinthians, Paul told us that his audience must exit their bodies to enter God’s presence:
“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8)
In his first letter to the same, Paul had already said:
“It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” (1 Corinthians 15)
Paul continues to drive home the point, saying:
“I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” (I Corinthians 15:50)
Last but not least, consider the words of Jesus when the Sadducees tried to trap Him and disprove the possibility of a resurrection, much like futurists try to trap preterists today … even though Jesus said this would happen within 40 years of His Olivet discourse and before all of His disciples would die. Jesus says this to those who thought they had a point:
“But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” (Matthew 22:29-30)
That sounds spiritual to me. I believe Hades was emptied by the deadline Jesus gave, and the dead were separated into either Heaven with God or the Lake of Fire. Those of us who die today do not pass go, do not collect $200, do not spend any time in Hades, but go straight to our eternal states, 100% dependent upon what we have done … with Jesus.