Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19981213.htm

1 THESSALONIANS: HELPING CONVERTS FROM PAGANISM
Part VII: Comforting Converts From Paganism Over Concerns About Facing The Tribulation
(1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)
  1. Introduction
    1. Some believers called Posttribulationists think Christians will go through the Tribulation and be raptured at its end. Others say the rapture occurs in the middle of the Tribulation (Midtribulationists) while others think Christians will be raptured throughout the Tribulation as they become godly (Partial Rapturists).
    2. The problem with thinking the believer will experience the tribulation is that it unsettles one's walk with great fear, leading to faithless and spiritually unproductive living, compare 2 Thess. 2:1-2, 16-17 implied.
    3. Paul wrote about the rapture in connection to the Tribulation in 1 Thessalonians, and we examine the passage to see just when the rapture occurs in relation to the Tribulation so we know how to live well:
  2. Comforting Converts From Paganism Over Concerns About Facing The Tribulation, 1 Thess. 5:1-11.
    1. After Paul told the new Thessalonian converts (1 Thess. 3:1-8) about the rapture of the Church in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, he told them about the "day of the Lord," 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2.
    2. This "day of the Lord" will catch people Paul called "them" and folk who were "of the night" unawares in contrast to catching him or other Christians off-guard, 1 Thess. 5:3-5. This can be true only if the RAPTURE occurs BEFORE the Tribulation so even CARNAL believers won't be caught off-guard!
    3. Paul ordered believers to live godly lives unlike those who are of the "night" as believers were of the "day", 1 Thess. 5:6-8. This condition exists only if God has not appointed believers for the "night" of the "day of the Lord," but for the "rapture", 1 Thess. 5:4, 9. Thus, the rapture occurs BEFORE the Tribulation in order for believers not to fail God's appointing them NOT for the Tribulation, but for glory!
    4. Paul stated that whether the believer "wakes" or "sleeps", he will live with Christ, 1 Thess. 5:10. Now, he defined these "wake" and "sleep" states in verses 6-7, 8 as living righteously ("wake") or sinfully "sleep"). Thus, there is no reason to believe that a Christian gets raptured in the Tribulation if he becomes righteous: if we will be raptured whether we live righteously in being "awake" or whether we live sinfully as "asleep", there can be no Partial Rapture position where only the "awake" ones are raptured!
    5. Last, Paul told the new Thessalonian converts to "comfort" and "edify" one another with his words about the "day of the Lord" and the "rapture" in 1 Thess. 4:18 and 5:11. This exhortation makes sense only if believers escape the Tribulation by a Pretribulational rapture: were they not to escape this Tribulation, Paul would be left undermining his call to new believers to be comforted after also telling them they would suffer what Jesus called history's worst era (Mtt. 24:21) and then give them no insight on how to face it!
Lesson: In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11, Paul taught a Pretribulation Rapture position due to these evidences: (a) The Tribulation's "day of the Lord" catches unbelievers off-guard unlike Christians (5:2-3), and this can happen only if even CARNAL Ch ristians who act and think like the lost (1 Cor. 3:3) are raptured before those events occur. (b) Believers are not appointed for God's wrath TIME expressed in the Tribulation, but for obtaining God's glory, 1 Thess. 5:4, 9. Thus, believers can only fit this appointment to MISS God's wrath era if the rapture occurs before the Tribulation. (c) Whether believers live godly or ungodly lives, they are raptured according to 1 Thess. 4:10. Thus, there can be no partial rapture of only godly believers. With the other information a bove, the Rapture must then be Pretribulational. (d) Paul's call for NEW converts to comfort each other over the Rapture doctrine (4:18) AS WELL as over his Tribulation era discussion (5:11) with NO explanation on how to suffer that horrible era all app ly well ONLY if the Rapture comes before the Tribulation. Otherwise, contrary to the evidence in 1 Thess. 3:1-8, Paul would be a heartless teacher toward his NEW converts in telling them they would face history's most horrible era (Mtt. 24:21) with out his teaching them how to face it!

Application: The Rapture occurs BEFORE the Tribulation BEGINS, so the believer can afford to be settled, comforted and thus equipped to abound in his service for God, 2 Thess. 2:1-2, 16-17.