The Rapture: Is it Really Biblical? (Part: 4)

"But that which ye have already hold fast till I come."

(Revelation 2: 25, KJV)

 

Here in this concluding blog in this series of blogs on the Rapture, I will deal with the last two passages in Revelation 2: 25 and 3: 10 to see whether it refers to the Rapture or the Second Coming of the Lord.  In Part One of this series I listed all of the primary Scripture passages that Dispensationalists will use to support their view on the Rapture. And so far none of the passages in question even hints at the Rapture. The only passage that seems to support their view on the Rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18. For the Dispensationalist, this is their trump card, their strongest Scripture passage to support their view on the Rapture. So let us consider these verses in Revelations below. 

Revelation 2: 25; 3: 10. "But that which ye have already hold fast till I come...Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." As usual, a simple reading of these verses makes clear that these verses have nothing to do with the Dispensational view of the Rapture. Commenting on these verses Matthew Poole says: 

"2: 25. But that which ye have already; than you already groan under. Or, no other precepts than what you have had from the apostles: the precepts of God are called burdens, Mt 11:30; Ac 15:28.  Hold fast till I come; hold fast your profession, your faith and holiness, till I come to judgment. 

3: 10. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience: the doctrine of the gospel is, unquestionably, the word here called the word of the Lord's patience, because it was that word, that doctrine, which (as those times went) could not he adhered to and observed without much patience in those that adhered to it; both actively, waiting for the promises revealed in it, and passively, enduring all manner of trials and crosses. To keep this word, was to keep close not only to the matters of faith revealed in it, but to the duty imposed by it upon ministers and others in the preaching and propagating of the gospel, and all the duties of a holy life.  

  I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world; for this faithfulness God promises to keep the ministers of this church from those persecutions which raged elsewhere, and were further, in Trajan's time, to come upon all Christians living under the Roman empire.  

  To try them that dwell upon the earth; to try those Christians that lived within that empire, how well they would adhere to Christ, and the profession of the gospel. This I take to be a more proper sense, than theirs who would interpret this hour of temptation of the day of judgment, which is never so called."[1] 

It is quite apparent from Mr. Poole's comments above that the Rapture is certainly not in view in these verses. Yet, our Dispensationalist friends would have us believe they do. This is a case for reading into the text what isn't there.

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[1] Matthew Poole, Matthew Poole's Commentary, (Power Bible CD, 5.2).