Expert: Dr. Tim Gladu - 12/13/2008

Question
Hi, I just read a question about the Pre-tribulation rapture you answered a year ago and what Baptists generally believe about it.  The more and more I read Revelation the more I see the church (being around) but it's prayers actually bringing Jesus to open the Scroll and loose the judgments. I see it in light of Moses releasing the judgments upon Pharoah.  Has that idea been taught before?  Also, do you think a universal church split on it's end-time theology about rapture timing could be harmful?  
Thank you for your time.

Answer
Jeff,

 The church age is from the time that Jesus was resurrected until the Rapture. The time of Tribulation is for the non-believer and the Jews. In Daniel you will find these answers. When we learn about the end-times you have to look at all the books of the Bible that are about the End-times. The book of Revelations is the last book in the Bible but it is not the only book about the End-times. The idea that the church does not go through the Tribulation is in Daniel. In the book of Daniel the Jews suffer and are taken out of suffering before their last 7 years. These 7 years will be the Tribulation. They will be brought back to the level they were at before Christ and given the mark in their hand and their forehead. This will be the sign that they are marked by God. They will spread the gospel to the world during the Tribulation because the church will have been Ruptured. I do not think that a church split would ever be a good thing. The End-times are a subject that I usually will not fight over because there are too many different opinions and there is so much in the Bible about the End-times that even with the amount of study I have done I still could not say I understand even a fraction of what God has in store for the future. If this subject is important to you then get some more information about the other End-time prophecies in the Bible and continue to do more research.