The rapture doesn't happen at the 7th trumpet
because Christ doesn't come at the 7th trumpet.
Christ comes after the 7th vial.
When Christ comes, the Antichrist is destroyed:
2 Thes 2:8
Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the
Lord shall... destroy with the brightness of
his coming...
The Antichrist is destroyed at the 2nd
coming:
Rev 19:20
And the beast was taken, and... cast alive
into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
The Antichrist isn't destroyed at the 7th
trumpet, for he gathers his armies at the
6th vial.
At the 6th vial Jesus says "Behold, I come
as a thief," so He hasn’t come by then.
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The 2 witnesses ascend BEFORE the 7th trumpet
even sounds (Rev 11:12-15). This can’t be the
rapture because the rapture takes place AFTER
the last trump sounds (1 Thes 4:16).
The sequence is clear:
Rev 11:12-15
And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto
them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven
in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. And the same
hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part
of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of
men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted,
and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is
past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. And
the seventh angel sounded...
The 7th angel sounds AFTER the 2 witnesses ascend,
and their ascent is of an entirely different woe than
the sounding of the 7th angel.
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While the people on earth see the 2 witnesses
rise, they don't see anyone else -- not Christ
descending with a shout or ALL the saints
resurrecting, because that isn't the rapture.
Christ isn't seen descending until Rev 19, after
the vials are done (Rev 16).
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The Bible doesn't separate the 7 vials from the
great tribulation.
The coming of Christ and the rapture must bring
all of the tribulation, including the vials, to an end,
so that some flesh might survive on the earth:
Matt 24:21-22
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was
not since the beginning of the world to this
time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those
days should be shortened, there should no flesh
be saved: but for the elect's sake those days
shall be shortened.
This is why we don’t see His coming until Rev 19,
after the 7th vial has already been poured out in Rev 16.
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In Rev 15:1 the Greek word for filled up can mean
executed or accomplished; it can't mean ended forever
because we know there is more wrath to come after the
7 vials: at the second coming, and in the lake of fire:
Rev 19:15
He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath
of Almighty God.
Rev 14:10
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his
indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and
brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the
presence of the Lamb...
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1 Thes 5:9
God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to
obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ...
Here wrath doesn't mean the 7 vials,
and salvation doesn't mean the rapture.
The wrath our salvation delivers us from
is God's eternal wrath:
John 3:36
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life: and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life; but the wrath of God abideth
on him.
There is a wide range to his wrath:
Mark 3:5
He... looked round about on them with anger (orge).
1 Thes 5:9
God hath not appointed us to wrath (orge).
We can be appointed to the 7 vials without
losing our salvation.
We can be appointed to the 7 vials without
being appointed to His eternal wrath in hell.
And if we read through Rev. 16, we see that none of the 7
vials which will come directly from the hand of God will
be directed at Christians. The 1st vial will be directed
only at those who take the mark, the 2nd will be
directed at the sea, the 3rd at the rivers, the 4th at
the sun, the 5th at the kingdom of the beast, the 6th at
the river Euphrates, and the 7th will bring a great
earthquake and huge hailstones.
Even if some Christians can't find any fresh water in
the 3rd vial or are unsheltered from the sun in the 4th,
they won't experience anything much worse than Christians
who have suffered and died in droughts and burning heats
throughout history. Even if they're struck by the stones
that will fall on the earth in the 7th vial, it won't
mean that God directed the stones at them, just as
hurricanes and earthquakes kill faithful Christians today.
We need not fear suffering or dying in the tribulation,
for we will receive great reward for our sufferings
(1 Pet 4:19, Rev 2:10, Heb 11:35), and even death can't
keep us from our salvation.
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Rev 11:15 doesn't require Christ's 2nd coming, for
in one sense He has had all kingdoms since His
resurrection (Mt 28:18).
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If a Christian can make it through the seals and
trumpets without losing his faith, he probably can
make it through the vials -- BUT he still may not,
and that I think is the reason for Rev 16:15.
The vials may last for 75 days.
I believe Rev 11:15 announces the de jure rule of
Christ, but not the de facto rule, for at the 7th
trumpet the 42 months (1260 days) given to the
Antichrist to rule (Rev 13:5) legally end, and the
pouring out of the 6 vials may occur over the next
30 days (Rev 16:1-14). On day 1290, we may receive
a blessing of encouragement from Christ (Dan 12:12
and Rev 16:15 may be the same blessing), so that we
might endure for another 45 days while the armies
gather to Armageddon (Rev 16:16). Christ then
returns on the 1335th day:
Dan 12:11-12
And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be
taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate
set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and
ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh
to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty
days.
Rev 16:15
Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments,
lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
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The judgment of the Church can't come until the 2nd
coming (Rev 19), which is after the 7 vials (Rev 16).
In Rev 11:18 the 7 vials are the "wrath" which comes
after the 7th trumpet, and the "time" could be an entire
year, as in Rev 12:14, and in Dan 7:25 and 12:7. So Christ
may not come up to an entire year after the 7th trumpet,
though I suspect He’ll come only 75 days after it (on the
1335th day), for the reasons given above.
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There's no trumpet mentioned in Rev 19 because
not every element of the 2nd coming is mentioned
in every passage describing it. For example,
while no horse or landing on earth are mentioned
in 1 Thes 4, neither are they mentioned in
Mt 24:29-31, which everyone agrees is the 2nd
coming.
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The great multitude can’t be the entire Church
because later we find other saints dying under
Antichrist's rule (Rev 13:10; 14:12-13), which
comes after the trumpets (Rev 8-11). Also, no
place does it say the great multitude got there by
a rapture. They are Christians who die in the nuclear
war and its aftereffects of the 2nd through 4th seals
(Rev 6:4-8), or through the martyrdom of the 5th
seal (Rev 6:9-11).
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There Christians on the earth even after the
144,000 are in heaven:
Rev 14:3, 12-13
And they sung as it were a new song before the
throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders:
and no man could learn that song but the hundred and
forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from
the earth... Here is the patience of the saints:
here are they that keep the commandments of God,
and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from
heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours;
and their works do follow them.
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We entered God's rest when we believed:
Heb 4:3, 10
For we which have believed do enter into rest...
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath
ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Just as we escaped his eternal wrath when we believed:
John 3:36
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and
he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the
wrath of God abideth on him.
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