THE SEVEN SEALED BOOK
and a different pre-trib rapture view
To the Church,
the Body of Christ, of which I am most grateful to be a part.
APPENDIX #7
Consider now the basic chronology of The Revelation. What we find there supports the locating of the section of Jesus' discourse that I have above labeled as HIS SIGN APPEARANCE in accord with the arrow, for when we do, the result fits the order of The Revelation—exactly. Below, notice the new location of the box labeled as HIS SIGN APPEARANCE and the order of the Revelation references. For the sake of simplicity and symmetry, I only show Matthew's account of Jesus' discourse in this illustration:
THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST
Still considering the illustration, notice that the Church Age corresponds to the tribulation of now and the opening of the first five seals (Rev. 6:1-11). Christ's Sign Appearance is the intersecting event (which includes the rapture) and corresponds to the opening of the 6th Seal (Rev. 6:12-7:17). And finally, Daniel's 70th Week corresponds to the tribulation of then, which is not shown to begin or take place until later (Rev. 11:1-19:21)—more precisely, at least five months later (Rev. 9:5, 10), maybe longer (Rev. 9:15).
Tying all of this back in to our verse of question (Matt. 24:29), when it is realized that the celestial signs that Jesus here spoke of are fulfilled at the time of the opening of the 6th Seal (Rev. 6:12), the only tribulation that these signs could be "after" is that of the Church Age, again, as Daniel's 70th Week is not shown to begin until much later (Rev. 11:1-3ff). It takes The Revelation to see this, and with everything else that we have considered, this cannot be dismissed.
It is of great importance to remain mindful that the disciples and the early Church would have had no concept of the Church Age and the tribulation Christ's followers would be subjected to for all of the centuries since their time. The way things have come to pass, from their first century perspective, "those days" would easily be descriptive of all these last days of which we are presently a part. This knowledge fully justifies our seeking of an understanding that factors this in.
A well known example of another phrase (like "those days") for which a different understanding was at another time justifiably sought is in the case of Jesus' words, "this generation," found in Matthew 24:34 (see also Mk. 13:30 and Lk. 21:32). At first glance, it can seem that by these words, Jesus was referring to the generation of His day. But, another valid interpretation is that He was referring to the future generation that would be living when the things of which He had been speaking would actually come to pass. As can be seen, remaining mindful of such a time element is helpful in discovering other possibilities that might not have been considered otherwise.
As I acknowledged in the first paragraph of my book preface (see under ABOUT), I have yet to encounter a view that is without some difficulties, and neither is my own. One of these difficulties concerns how to correctly understand what Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24:29, which is the focus of PROPOSITION V. In addition to what I there point out concerning this verse, it may be wondered how I understand the phrase "those days" in light of Jesus' use of this phrase three times during verses 19-22. It is evident that these three uses of "those days" relate to the time of Daniel's 70th Week and, at first glance, may seem to be what Jesus is referring to later, in verse 29. How then can "the tribulation of those days" that He referred to in this verse be understood as representing anything other than the tribulation of Daniel's 70th Week? On my part, the only reason to even seek another understanding is because of what the Bible reveals or indicates elsewhere and the need to come to an understanding that will better align with all of Scripture.
While I spoke of the chronological order of The Revelation and what this does for our understanding of Jesus' Olivet Discourse my PROPOSITION V, I would like to look at this from a little different angle here and with some further comments.
Consider the illustration below of the three sections of Jesus' discourse and my labeling of these sections. In the Matthew 24 account, He opened by speaking to His disciples about the tribulation they and His future followers would face in what has come to be known as THE CHURCH AGE (vss. 4-14). He then speaks to them about DANIEL'S 70TH WEEK and the event of His Second Advent (vss.15-28). Finally, He turns His attention to the event of HIS SIGN APPEARANCE and the rapture, which remains His focus to the end of the chapter (vss. 29-51).
Understanding Jesus' discourse in light of what we find in The Revelation (the focus of my next three paragraphs), the final days of the Church Age are one day going to converge fairly closely with the time of Daniel's 70th Week, but be separated from it by the appearance of "the sign of the Son of man in heaven" and the rapture (Matt. 24:30-31). This means that this "sign" appearance and the rapture will be like an intersecting event between the Church Age and the later fulfilling of Daniel's 70th Week in "those days" when this convergence takes place, as shown below:
JESUS' OLIVET DISCOURSE
