*For a more in-depth sermon on the Rapture, go to www.deanodle.org and listen to the message The Pre-Trib Rapture Myth
I. Matthew 24 is chronological outline of the signs of the end of the age and the return of Jesus Christ.
A. We know that Matthew 24 is chronological because Jesus said "these are the beginning of sorrows" and proceeded to use the word "then" (which means after this) several times.
B. The Rapture is not mentioned in Matthew 24 until after the "abomination of desolation stands in the holy place" (which is a direct reference to the Antichrist in the rebuilt Jewish Temple) and AFTER verse 29 which says "immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days..." and talks about the angels gathering together God's elect with the sound of a trumpet from one end of heaven to the other."
II. 2 Thessalonians 2 Paul speaking of the coming of the Lord and OUR gathering together to Him (the rapture) said that day will NOT come until the falling away and the MAN of SIN be revealed.
A. 2 Thessalonians 2 goes on to say that the man of sin will be fully known or revealed when he sits in the temple in some way taking the place of God.
B. We know this happens at the midpoint of the last seven years because of Daniel 9 and Rev. 13. This also agrees with Jesus' time line in Matthew 24.
III. Revelation 20:1-6 says that those who resisted the mark of the beast and died for their faithfulness to Jesus Christ will be part of the FIRST resurrection (of which there are only two resurrections). So, if people who face the mark are going to be in the FIRST resurrection and the second resurrection is ONLY the wicked dead, then how can there be a rapture i.e. resurrection before the mark is instituted?
IV. In 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 Paul states that the rapture is at the "last trumpet." How could that fit the pre-trib view when they believe that seven more trumpets have to blow in the seven years that follow a pre-trib rapture? It is the LAST trumpet, not first of eight.
V. In Matthew 13 the harvest is at the "end of the world" not seven years before the end. However, one could try to argue that the phrase "end of the world" might be a general term referring to all of the last days, but it fits the last trumpet verse and Jesus' Matthew 24 timeline.
VI. The Parable of the Ten Virgins which is about the marriage of Jesus the Bridegroom to the Bride shows the separation of the wise and foolish virgins at His second coming. This is confirmed by Revelation 19 which is the account of the second coming of Christ at Armageddon. This is when the Bible says that the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready...not seven years or 3 1/2 years before.
VII. Did the children of Israel leave Egypt before the plagues of God's wrath or after?
VIII. Revelation 3:10 is not a proof text for a pre-trib rapture. "Kept from" does not mean to take out of in the Greek...it means to guard or protect. And this is exactly what God did for His people that remained in Egypt while He was judging Egypt with terrible plagues of wrath.