We are asking the wrong question

Incorrect prediction of a pre-tribulation rapture in 2019

I was recently watching a YouTube video about the rapture from self-described missionary evangelist, Robert Breaker.  The video was made in early 2019 describing the possibility of a pre-tribulation rapture occurring in 2019.¹  The reasoning was partly because it was then 70 years or a generation since the re-birth of Israel in 1948 as a nation and partly also that in December 2018 the Jews had built an altar and sacrificed a sheep’s leg on this altar. ²  According to the American evangelist this then meant that there was nothing stopping the rapture from taking place because the precursor to the Temple had begun similar to in Ezra and Nehemiah’s day when the altar was built before the Second Temple after the 70 years of the Babylonian captivity.  He was careful to say that he was only speculating and not saying that it would soon definitely take place but he was drawing our attention to the fact that it very well could.  Of course now with hindsight we see that he was incorrect and the rapture has not taken place being some 3 years later.  It is amazing but the timing of the rapture has always been something that has captured the fascination and imagination of Christians during the church age. 

The question should not be “when, Lord?” but “where, Lord?”

Let me say straight up that I do not agree with the pre-tribulation rapture theory so I am not surprised that Robert’s theory proved to be incorrect.  But the main takeaway for me is the fascination that Christians have always had to try and discover the timing of the rapture no matter what eschatological position they have taken.  My contention is that we are asking the wrong question.  When Jesus taught the disciples about the end times and last days the timing of the rapture was not a contentious issue.  Rather after describing the rapture and the gathering of the saints at the end from the four corners of the earth, the disciple’s only question was, “Where, Lord?” rather than “When, Lord?”

And I think that we should be aligning ourselves with the ‘where’ question rather than the ‘when’ question too.  Why is that you might be asking?  Well, it is my understanding in Mark that the timing was already answered by Jesus and this satisfied the disciple’s curiosity of the timing.³  Jesus says that He will send His angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth.⁴  And the timing is evident from a few verses before in Mark 13:24 that this occurs “following” the tribulation because Jesus says “at that time” in Mark 13:26.  In Luke 17:37 following the same description of the rapture that is in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 we see the disciple’s only question in response to this crucial teaching from Jesus.  Their question was, “Where Lord?” because the “When?” question had already been answered in verse 24: “after the distress or tribulation of those days.”⁵  This perfectly describes the post-tribulation view of Jesus’ coming.  Jesus will return to the earth and the angels will gather the elect or saints at the Feast of Trumpets, ten days before the Day of Atonement.

Vultures and eagles give us the clue

The real question, then, like that of the disciples, that should fascinate us is “where, Lord?”  In other words, where are we going to be gathered?  The ‘elect’ from all over the world who have made it through the tribulation period unscathed together with the dead in Christ and those who have been patiently waiting for 1290 days in the wilderness (The woman of Revelation 12) will be caught up in the air together at the very location answered by Jesus’ conundrum in the book of Luke.⁶  He replies, “Where there is the dead body, there the vultures will gather.”  KJV and a few other versions translate this as “eagles” instead of “vultures”.  The NIV translates this incorrectly because it is not “a” dead body but “the” dead body in the Greek.  In other words, it is a known dead body.  One possibility is that Jesus may have been giving a cryptic clue that He was talking about Moses’ dead body.  Remember Moses was permitted to look at the Promised Land but not allowed to enter in due to his sin and he died on the Mt Nebo summit.  And where was Moses’ body buried?  The exact location is not known but the general location is in a valley somewhere in the land of Moab.⁷  No one knows exactly where because it was the Lord Himself who buried Moses.  

Why would Michael and the devil be disputing about the body of Moses?

There is an interesting verse in Jude 9 where we see the devil disputing with Michael the archangel about the body of Moses.  Why would they be disputing over this?  Because God would not permit the devil to have jurisdiction over his body because in the final days it would be a marker for the gathering of all in Christ who would be gathered and resurrected at the final rapture.  If the devil could have jurisdiction then he could possibly obfuscate its location thereby preventing the rapture of the saints.  Do you see why the location is so much more important than when?  We have many precedents in Scripture where we see the devil trying to prevent God’s ultimate plan of saving the world by trying to either physically kill the baby Jesus or trying to mess up the virgin’s bloodline through the Nephilim resulting in the flood and destruction of nearly all flesh on earth or stop the descendant of Abraham by providing a natural son in that of Ishmael.  The devil’s vain attempts appear to be numerous but nothing will stop the return of Jesus.  The land of Moab is also the place of refuge in modern-day Jordan and is one place that the Antichrist will not be able to conquer.  He tries but it is a God-protected place.⁸

The timing of the rapture is post-tribulational

The rapture timing question is a moot point.  It has already been answered by Jesus Himself.  It is post-tribulational at the end of 7 years.  Once we know the starting point of the last 7 year period then we will know when the rapture occurs.  Don’t be concerned with when, my friends, but be concerned that you will be in the mix and that you will be able to persevere until the end–that is the real concern.  The choices are that you either escape and flee to Israel first then Jordan⁹ or you hold on until the end of the tribulation and make it through or more likely refuse to take the devil’s mark and be martyred for your stance.  Up to you.  I’m praying (with humility) that I might be able to escape all these things that are about to occur.¹⁰