What About The Rapture?

[Anddra]

Rose, your comments suggest that you hold a Preterist view. If this is not the case, then the following comments will simply serve to show why such a view does not accord with scripture.

The Preterist view that all the prophecies were fulfilled in AD70 conflicts with Revelation. The Preterist view ignores Revelation's claims to be a prophecy (Revelation 1:3; 22:7, 10, 18-19). The second coming of Christ described in chapter 19 has not yet occurred. The Preterist view requires that the words concerning Jesus' second coming as fulfilled in the destruction of the temple in AD70, even although He did not appear on that occasion. Also, Revelation 16:12-16 speaks of the River Euphrates being dried up to make way for the Kings of the East to come against Israel for the Battle of Armageddon. This has not yet happened. One further point, I understand that Revelation was not written until about 95 or 96 AD. Iraneus was a disciple of Polycarp who was a disciple of John who wrote Revelation. Iraneus claimed that Polycarp told him that the book was written in the days of Dometian who left office around 95 or 96 AD.

For myself, as you can no doubt see from my comments, I subscribe to the futurist view of Revelation, understanding Chapters 4-22 to be a prophetic account of actual future events, focussed on the end of this age.