Demystifying the ‘Mystery’ of the Rapture
Oct. 21, 2026
Host: Hon. Sam Rohrer
Guest: Dr. Carl Broggi
Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 10/21/26 To listen to the podcast, click HERE.
Disclaimer: While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning the following dialogue.
Sam Rohrer:
Hello and welcome to this Wednesday edition of Stand and the Gap Today, and it’s also our bimonthly focus on Israel, the Middle East and biblical prophecy. And today, we’re once again joined by Pastor Carl Broggi as we continue our vital conversations regarding, well, the return of our Lord, and specifically the rapture we’re talking about today. When Pastor Broggi and I were together last, it was September 23rd, about a month ago, we examined then the overarching reality and the purpose of the rapture and the biblical call to holy living in anticipation of Christ’s return. Now, today, we’re going to want to take a more closely look at the specifics of the rapture, its timing, and why our understanding of its timing and purpose matters, particularly as it relates to the coming seven year tribulation. The title I’ve chosen to frame today’s conversation is this, Demystifying the Mystery of the Rapture.
And I chose that title not only because there’s a considerable controversy surrounding this biblical reality, but because the Apostle Paul himself describes it as a mystery. In one Corinthians 15:51, he says, “Behold, I show you a mystery,” referring to a sacred Old Testament truth previously hidden, but now unveiled through divine revelation. Yet, despite the Apostle Paul’s clear teaching about the rapture of the church, surveys, modern surveys reveal significant disagreement among American pastors in particular about a literal physical rapture and its timing. So pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, post-tribulation, and I’m going to put in there, non-literal views can all be found across denominational lines. I checked some recent studies. Here’s what some of it shows, professing Christian pastors, including up to 60% of Lutherans, nearly half of Methodists and Presbyterians, and roughly a quarter of Protestant pastors themselves do not even hold to a literal physical rapture. But as with all Bible doctrines, truth is not a smorgasbord of options from which we simply choose what we prefer.
This is what the Bible teaches and the truth becomes then clear when we consider the whole council of God, which is what every pastor and a pulpit is supposed to do and all of us as believers when we read. So today we’re going to define the rapture, its purpose, and then examine the biblical arguments surrounding the three primary views of its timing, pre-tribulation, pre-trib, mid-tribulation and post-trib. And with that, Dr. Carl Broggi, Karl, thanks for being back with me.
Carl Broggi:
Sam, it’s great. What a great topic we have today to cover. There’s a lot of controversy around it, but there shouldn’t be if we are committed to studying God’s word.
Sam Rohrer:
No, and I pray that the balance of the program, that’ll be laid out. Let’s begin right here by doing this. Could you lay a brief foundation for why the Apostle Paul first referred to it as the rapture of a church as a mystery before then proceeding to explain it and tie into this as well the definition of the word rapture and why a literal rapture and then we’ll build off of that.
Carl Broggi:
Yeah. So the term mystery is a little bit different from our English word. Musterion refers not to a hudanic, something that’s mysterious or impossible to understand, but it actually means just the opposite, a truth that had not previously been revealed, but has now been made known. And even if someone didn’t know Greek, they could figure that out from passages like Ephesians three where Paul is saying, “By revelation, by new information you could say, there was made known to me the mystery as I wrote before in brief.” And he goes on to describe that there would be a new body of believers made up of Jew and Gentile on equal ground with the dividing wall removed. So what was new was not that Gentiles could be saved, they were to be a light to the Gentiles, Israel, but that they would come together as a singular people known as the church.
Well, the same way Paul will say, “Behold, I tell you a mystery, something new that has been hidden that we shall not all die, but we shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye.” And in passages like one Thessalonians four, he details that there’ll be a generation of believers who are caught up in the moment in the twinkling of an eye and they’re going to be transformed. So what’s new is not the doctrine of resurrection. That goes all the way back to the first five books of the Bible where Jesus makes an argument to the Sadducees from Moses for the doctrine of the resurrection. But what’s new is that this group is going to be living believers caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And that’s a previously unrevealed truth that God has now revealed at this time in human history.
Sam Rohrer:
Okay. Very quickly, why literal? And then we’ll get more into that in the next segment. Why literal?
Carl Broggi:
Well, when you mentioned in the introduction this percentage of Lutherans or Methodists who don’t even believe in a rapture, that’s just really, I hate to say without being unkind, a statement of ignorance. That’s like saying, I don’t believe in the doctrine of election. Well, every Christian believes in the doctrine of election. God says he chose us before the foundation of the world. The question is not does God elect, but how does he elect and what basis does he elect? Now some say he indiscriminately elects. He chooses some to go to heaven, some to go to hell. I would base election on his foreknowledge, his omniscient knowledge, knowing how man would respond to the gospel such that he can write our name before the foundation of the world and the Lamb’s Book of Life. Well, the rapture just means we’re going to be caught up. We’re going to meet the Lord in the air.
And unless you deny the bodily resurrection of the Lord, then you don’t believe in a rapture and some don’t for that reason. But to say, well, the rapture’s not taught in the Bible. Well, the catching up of the church is taught in the Bible. It’s plainly revealed and it’s going to happen. Now there’s debate over the timing, the incidences surrounding it, but every true Christian believes that we’ll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
Sam Rohrer:
Okay. And that doesn’t give us much time here. So I’m just going to hold on that. Ladies and gentlemen, stay with us because we’re looking today here. The theme is demystifying the mystery of the rapture. And Dr. Carl Broggi is my guest today, has a website at searchthescriptures.org where you can find sermons, a lot of things on that site. And we’ll be saying more about that through the program and then onto the future here. But searchthescriptures.org, encourage you to go there. But this theme today of dealing with the rapture is something that’s important because if you are looking around and observing what’s happening around the world, you will find that people are talking about this over and over and over again. I’ve said that, Carl. I was looking at my time. I was off a little bit. I’m going to give you one minute right now.
Give the strongest argument that you could lay out for the pre-tribulation rapture and then we’ll continue on that in the next segment.
Carl Broggi:
Well, God makes a distinction between his coming for his church and his coming for his kingdom. And so when you think of pre, mid, post, partial rapture, partial rapture, there are five views if you delineate them all. It starts with an acknowledgement that when Christ comes to the earth, he’ll rule and reign for a thousand years. Now some dismiss that. They don’t even see a future literal reign of Christ on the earth. They’re called a millennialists. And because of that, they don’t understand these various positions on the rapture. But that’s a good question that we need to really give a little more time and hopefully in the next segment.
Sam Rohrer:
All right. So ladies and gentlemen, stay with us. We will do that in the next segment where we’re going to focus on the timing and give the strongest argument for and political argument and against, if there is one, for pre, and there’s none real good. I’ll tell you about that, but then the mid, the post, and then as we just talked. We’ll be back in just a moment. Well, if you’re just joining us, welcome to Stand in the Gap Today. And my special guest today, recurring guest is Dr. Carl Broggi. He’s a senior pastor of Community Bible Church in Beaufort, South Carolina. And he has a website which I gave and I’ll give again, searchthescriptures.org. Our theme is one that, well, it’s important to everyone who has any eyes to see and that’s the rapture. And we’re calling this today demystifying the mystery of the rapture.
And on the first segment, we established the fact that the biblical reality of the rapture as a divine mystery revealed by the Apostle Paul and where that came from and Dr. Carl Broggi explained that. At the same time, we want to put this in the context that in our day, there’s a very sobering reality that a significant portion of the modern church leadership either rejects a literal catching away rapture harpazo, a word we haven’t introduced yet that is there, either rejecting it entirely or at least is divided over its timing when that event happens. So as we go into this next segment here, I’d like to look a little bit more closely at the exact division. For instance, with pastors and believers holding to pre-tribulation, pre-trib, mid-tribulation, mid-trib, or post-tribulation, post-trib, or non-literal views. And I think it’s essential that we do this to help shape what we think about this to be in alignment, not with what we think or somebody else says, but what Bible truth actually reveals.
Princess, how do different views argue their case? What are their strongest scriptural proofs and how do we weigh these positions against the whole council of God regarding such terms as the wrath, wrath of God, tribulation, post-mid, pre-tribulation, and the glorious return of our savior? Right. So Pastor Carl here, building on our introduction of the major timing views, why don’t you just take all three of these together? What do proponents of the pre-trib, mid-trib, and post-trib positions point to as their strongest biblical texts? And then what is the strongest scriptural counter argument against particularly the two, however you want to lay it out, but come at it from an objective perspective so that our listeners have an understanding of why would anybody believe in any one of those three? And then we’ll go from there, narrow it down.
Carl Broggi:
Yeah. So the pre-tribulational rapture, and again, I know we didn’t hit on the word harpazo, but you’ve got people like Tucker Carlson saying, “The rapture is a manufactured doctrine that didn’t exist until recent times.” Well, it was actually in the Latin Bible for a thousand years, which was the principle translation that was used. So it doesn’t matter what you call it, whether you call it the rapture or the harpazo or the catching up. That’s why I said every believer, if you recognize a resurrection, believes there’s a coming rapture. The debate is over the timing of it. So the pre-tribulational rapture would argue on a number of reasons, primarily a literal interpretation. And that’s what’s critical. If you apply a consistent literal interpretation, by literal, we’re not dismissing figures of speech and the like, but we’re acknowledging that figures of speech need to be interpreted and then literally believed.
So Christ one promises his church a removal from a worldwide testing. He said, “I will keep you from the hour of testing.” This is Revelation 3:10 I’m reading. “That hour, which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. “And of course he says at the conclusion of each of the seven letters to the seven churches,” Let him who has an ear to hear, listen to what the spirit says to the churches, not to the church, but the churches, meaning this is not a truth just for one particular church, but for every local assembly. So he promises to keep us from the hour of testing that’s going to come upon the whole world. There’s never been an hour of testing that has come upon the entire planet in all of recorded human history other than the cataclysmic wrath of the great flood.
But that was a total dismissal of all human population with the exception of eight individuals. So he’s speaking of something that’s never happened. Jesus likewise in Matthew 24 speaks of a time that is so profound upon the whole planet that unless that time had been cut short, nobody could have survived. So the scripture promises in one Thessalonians one that God rescues us from the wrath to come. The scripture presents an imminent hope. We don’t believe that there is like three and a half years or seven years before Jesus can come. When you read the New Testament, there’s a sense of imminency that he could come before this broadcast is over. You can’t acknowledge that if you hold to a mid-trip or a post-tribulational view. You have to acknowledge, oh, there’s at least if you’re mid-trip, three and a half years before Jesus can come back.
Or if you’re post-trip, there’s at least seven years before Jesus can come back. And that really robs the sense of passages like Titus where he says, “We’re looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior Christ Jesus.” So pre-tribulationists would argue that the church is instructed to await Christ himself rather than look for the anti-Christ or some abomination of desolation or some three and a half or seven years of wrath upon the earth. And so the church, as you let scripture interpret scripture, clearly is not here for that coming time. Now, the mid-tribulationists would argue, well, the rapture doesn’t happen until the midyear of this seven year timeframe that the prophet Daniel speaks of that Jesus acknowledges in Matthew 24:15 and that the revelation specifically divides into two halves of 42 months or 1,260 days. And so they say, “Well, Jesus spoke after the abomination of desolation, a time of great tribulation, therefore the rapture must take place midpoint.” But what they failed to acknowledge is that in the first half of the tribulation, there is wrath.
In fact, as you look at the seal judgments, which are the first judgments to come during the tribulation, it says in Revelation 6:15, “Then the kings of the earth and the great man and the commanders and the rich and the strong, every slave and free hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they said in the mountains into the rocks, fall on us, hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb.” And so they’re acknowledging that God’s wrath is here. So what the mid-tribulationist fails to recognize is that the wrath of God during this seven year period is like a restart. It increases and it increases and increases, which is why Jesus can say, when you see the abomination of desolation, and he’s speaking largely to Israel, flee into the wilderness.
I take it’s probably in Jordan and Petra, that’s another argument, but because it’s going to get really super bad. And if you just measure the wrath that comes in 21 judgements, they’re sealed, trumpet, and bold judgments. If you have four fingers up right now, Sam, in your hand, in the sealed judgments, one fourth of the world’s population is dead. One fourth, that leaves three fingers standing. And the trumpet judgments that happen after the abomination of desolation, one third of the planet dies. So that means half of the planet, by the time the trumpet judgments happen, is now dead. So you can see this ratcheting of wrath that is happening, this restart that is increasing, and the bold judgments, which are the very worst, and I take it they happen towards the end of that seven year period because there is such magnitude, life couldn’t even survive for a month on the planet.
And so most of the planet dies during this period of time. Believers and unbelievers alike will experience death, the believers through persecution where they’re slaughtered and murdered for not taking the mark of the beast, but unbelievers who come under the very judgments of God that God wants to use to get their attention. And then of course you have the post-tribulational view. Do I have a minute or two left?
Sam Rohrer:
Yes, you do. Go ahead. Keep going.
Carl Broggi:
So in the post-tribulational view, their mistake is they turn to Matthew 24 where Jesus visibly comes and he gathers his elect and he sends out his angels and they say, “Well, see, there you have it. Jesus doesn’t come for his elect until the end of the seven year tribulation.” Well, context must determine who he means by elect. And so just like the word saints, there’s Old Testament saints, there’s church saints, there’s tribulation saints, there’s millennial saints. You have to look at the timeframe. And what he’s dealing with in Matthew 24 are Jewish people and Gentiles through their testimony who are coming to faith and he’s going to collect them up from across the planet and bring them to Israel where he’s going to rule and reign. And if you hold to the post-tribulational view, you got major problems if you’re going to be consistently literally interpreting the Bible.
And I can give you one or two, but I think we’re about out of time on
Sam Rohrer:
That. Okay. You’ve got about 45 seconds. Let me quick throw this in. Many of those who hold to the mid or post view emphasize the fact to them Christians have never been exempt from suffering and persecution before, so why should they be during the tribulation period? And that it’s necessary to prove that we can endure to the end, which comes out of scripture. And they will say those who hold to the pre-trib are weak or escapist from reality and that kind of thing. So you can begin to respond, but you have about 30 seconds only.
Carl Broggi:
That’s an American church argument. We just took on 25 new missionary families in India and when I see what they’re going through and the pastors who are being beaten, imprisoned, murdered, churches burned, villages destroyed, it’s happening today, tribulation. So God never promises us. He says in the world you will have tribulation, but be of good chair. I’ve overcome it. But that is very, very different from the coming wrath of God. So we can discuss that further.
Sam Rohrer:
Yes, we will. And ladies and gentlemen, stay with us because when we come back, we’ve talked about the timing of the rapture, but it’s all pre-trib, mid trib, post-trib, that’s tribulation. We’re going to focus on the… Well, in our first two segments today, and our focus is the rapture if you’re just joining us, but we discussed briefly the Apostle Paul’s reference to the biblical mystery of the rapture that he refers to in one Corinthians 15. We talked about in the first segment. Presented the fact that there are various views of the rapture that are actually the rapture timing, particularly that’s held across the church today. And that specifically referred to research showing and talking to professing Christian pastors. And most of them would indicate, frankly, that they’re not real believers, but that’s where they are. They’re churches of that type. For instance, a significant percentage is professing pastors up to 60% of Lutherans and nearly 50% of Methodists and Presbyterians, they don’t even hold to a literal physical catching away a rapture.
So we’re all over the board and that’s why it’s important that we’re dealing with this. If we move into this third segment now though, as I said before, we’re going to move into the aspect of the tribulation itself because the rapture, whether it’s pre, trib, mid trib, post trib, is all linked to the tribulation. So that period of time is worth looking at a little bit more. So we’re going to do that in this segment. Yet there is often considerable confusion among believers regarding what the tribulation actually is, what’s it designed for, what its purpose is, who is it designed for, what are God’s purposes ultimately for it? And how will it unfold upon the earth? And Dr. Broggi in the last segment gave a quick look ahead to that period of time and what a contemporary… But we’re going to focus more on that as we go into this.
And here’s a question we want to answer in this part. Is the tribulation period just a distinct period of divine judgment? How does it differ from other past ones as an example? Is it called Jacob’s trouble because it deals with Israel only or tribulation in the Gentile world? A little bit of both. And what about the church and what’s happening to the church in this period of time? So Carl, let’s get into this. Let’s start by defining the tribulation specifically. You’ve already given the overview. Go more specifically into, if you could, how scripture specifically sets it apart. I’m going to say from the normal earthly experience of, well, regional or local wars or famines, because Matthew talks about that, but there have always been wars and always been famines and that type of thing or the normal ebbs and flows of cold winters and hot summers as an example.
What makes this tribulation period different than all these other things? Even like we’re seeing right now, floods all over the world and volcanoes. What’s different about the tribulation and these things?
Carl Broggi:
Well, it’s a divinely appointed expression of wrath. And so we see a lot of things because we live in a fallen world and we see things too that I think are increasing, not because we’re in the tribulation period, but because God is removing his hand of protection as the nations rebel and we’re seeing increased problems across the planet. But that’s not the seven year tribulation. It starts with a covenant that a one world ruler will make with Israel, and that hasn’t happened. So when you see these internet theologians who say, “I think the second seal judgment is being released.” And I think, “Wait a minute. The antichrist is not on the scene yet. It doesn’t matter if you’re pre, mid, post, partial rapture, pre-wrath rapture, doesn’t matter what your position is on that. The antichrist hasn’t come. Signed a covenant with Israel and that marks the start of this seven year period of
Sam Rohrer:
Divine. Okay. Carl, just throw in that real quickly. That comes from the book of Daniel, correct? That’s where you get that, that seven year, because a lot of people don’t even tie that in. That comes from Daniel, correct?
Carl Broggi:
That’s correct. In Daniel 9:27, there’s this 70 weeks prophecy and the first 69 weeks are fulfilled with the coming of the Messiah presenting himself in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. And then after that, there’s some events that are going to happen. And then the 70th week starts when the prince of the people, in other words, from the Roman Empire contextually, there’s going to be a man from the former Roman empire who’s going to come on the scene. He’s going to present himself as a world leader. The world will buy into him because of the signs, wonders, and miracles that Satan will do through him. He’ll be Mr. Wonderful and that will be the man who will sign a covenant and that seven year clock will begin ticking, culminating with Christ’s second coming to the earth.
Sam Rohrer:
Okay. Then let’s go into that then now by defining it in this perspective here, the purposes. All right. Now that’s the period of time. 70th week of Daniel, you cited the passage, begins with this man of sin, ultimately the antichrist, who signs a seven year peace deal, none of which has happened, but certainly a lot of things that we’re seeing appears to getting closer and closer. But let’s move to the purpose of that because we know from scripture that tribulation as it relates to the Gentile nations of the world, it’s referenced throughout scripture, but there’s also a purpose for Israel, time of Jacob’s trouble. We’ve talked about that before, that’s another name. It’s the same period of time, but different purpose. And then you’ve got the church, which in the pre-tribulational view, the church is not here. So take those three things, gentile world, Israel world, and the church, and put them together as to God’s purposes and for what’s taking place during these seven years.
Carl Broggi:
Okay, let’s start with Israel. The function of the tribulation period, this unprecedented time of distress and judgment is to bring Israel to faith. There’s always been a remnant of Jewish believers. The church on the day of Pentecost was 100% Jewish, but there came a time when he went to his own, his own didn’t receive him. Overall, they rejected him. That is going to change and God is going to use the tribulation period to do that. One of the great untils in the Bible is found in Matthew chapter 23 where Jesus is dealing with Israel and their unbelief. And he says, “For I say to you from now on, you will not see me until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” It’s a Messianic Psalm speaking of the Messiah’s coming. So he says, “I’m not going to come back at the second coming until you, the Jewish people acknowledge me.” And then Matthew 24 describes what God is going to use.
It’s called, as you mentioned in Jeremiah 30, the time of Jacob’s trouble. We call it the time of tribulation. And so Zechariah 12 describes the fact of this outpouring of grace during this time. They’re going to realize that this guy who they put their hope in is a fraud. He’s going to commit an act of idolatry, which they know can’t be consistent with the decalogue. You don’t worship an idol. He’s going to ask people to worship him. They know at that point he’s a fraud when he commits the abomination of desolation and believing Jews will flee into the wilderness and God will protect them. Zechariah 13 speaks of this fountain that is open for sin and impurity that the Jews will recognize comes through the Lord Jesus. And Paul in Romans 11:25 through 27, if I remember, he underscores that it’s during this time that the Jews holistically are going to come to faith.
So God is going to demonstrate his faithfulness to some unconditional covenants. That’s what I’m preaching on tonight, the unconditional covenants that God made to Abraham. He made an unconditional covenant concerning a land, a seed, and a blessing. And they’re unfulfilled, which means God is not a liar, but he still has a future for Israel. Even the land they’re on today is about the size of New Jersey. The land that he promised that I’m going to show on a map tonight is about the size of the state of Texas. God is also going to use the tribulation period for the Gentile nations of the world. He’s going to remind them, “You’ve been persecuting my people, Israel, and you’re going to hear from heaven, but God in doing that wants to bring these Gentiles to faith in himself.” And so in Revelation seven, John describes a great multitude which no one could count from every nation and tribe and people in tongues standing before the throne and before the lamb.
And these are people in Revelation seven who are Gentiles, who are slaughtered for believing that Jesus is Lord and they’re in heaven and they have this glorious picture before the throne of God. When is this going to happen? During the tribulation period, Jesus said it in this fashion. He said, “This gospel of the kingdom, Matthew 24:14, shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come.” So Jesus is affirming the fulfillment of the great commission during this seven year period. Every once in a while we hear about 10 new unreached peoples and then we reach five more and then we got 20 more. It’s going to be fulfilled during the time of Jacob’s trouble or the great commission. There’s a third purpose and it’s in reference to the church. God will use the timeframe to bring Israel to faith.
Sadly, two thirds of the Jews will be slaughtered during this time. Zechariah 13: eight affirms. He’s going to use it for Gentile conversion, but he’s also going to use this time for the church because we won’t be here. We’ll be in heaven at the judgment seat of Christ where God will evaluate the things that we did for him, the things we attempted to do for him, and the motive by which we did it and he’ll reward us accordingly. Then we’ll come back with him to the earth. That’s the second coming to the earth, and we’ll rule and reign with him for a thousand years. Part of our eternal reward will be indexed to how we rule during that thousand year period. There’s purposes for all three groups.
Sam Rohrer:
I didn’t know if you want to get that all in, Carl, but that’s tremendous. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that that was helpful to you. I know that what we just went through there is unclear to many people, but the tribulation period is of God’s doing, his wrath, the purposes for the Gentile world, purposes for his covenant promise to Israel, and there’s a purpose for the church that has been raptured before at the judgment seat of Christ will all come back. We’re not even going to get into the millennial kingdom, but that will come next all according to biblical prophecy and it will be accomplished.
Well, as we go into our final segment, we’re going to get right into it here now and not going to go back and review what we’ve done. I would just encourage you to go to our website, standinthegapradio.com or our app, Stand in the Gap. Get this program again, access the transcript, which is there, read through that while you listen to the program again, and then hopefully if you’ve been blessed by it, then forward it to a friend. I was just talking with someone the other day who came up to me and was being very, very thankful for a number of the programs and said how he has been forward them on to his nephews and nieces and grandchildren and how he’s listened to it three or four times on that one program in particular. That is what I pray and hope that you’ll consider doing because the information that is given here is focused in the one hour we take a topic and with God’s help, bring it to completion and we’re going to end up like we’re going to do right now and that is a practical application.
Dr. Carl Brogi, who is with me, my guest today, and you all know him, his website is searchthescriptures.org. I’ll just give that to you and then I want to move right into the conclusion because as we arrive as that final segment here, now I want to bring to that the fact that significant theological truths such as what we have discussed today, they are significant. This is theological and it is truth because it’s all out of God’s word. When we approach those kind of things, and as we do on this every other Wednesday, focus on biblical prophecy, Israel in the Middle East, there’s an aspect about it that needs to move it from the heady academic exercise and that’s not what we’ve really done today, but some people keep it in that area, but bring it down to the very practical level of daily Christian living.
Every truth in the word of God is profound, but it must be made practical and that’s the purpose for it. The Apostle Paul wrote that everyone who has this hope, this hope of Christ’s return, purifies himself just as he, Christ is pure. Prophecy was never given to satisfy our curiosity about future headlines, but to transform our hearts. I’m going to say fuel our urgency as we’ve talked many times together, Carl and I have in this program for evangelism and to steady our faith in turbulent times which we certainly are in. With global events converging, I’m going to say at a breathtaking pace in the Middle East and worldwide today as we speak, the question is what difference does what we just talked about make? What difference does one’s view of the rapture actually make or should it make? Carl, what difference does it truly make whether a believer understands and holds to a biblical literal view of the rapture in terms of, well, daily discipleship, personal holiness and our urgency for sharing the gospel?
Carl Broggi:
Well, certainly Sam, you and I would agree that those who hold to a mid-trib or post-trib or they don’t even believe that there’s a coming millennial reign, they’re a millennial, it’s just that Christ is coming back, that they can still live in personal holiness, but there is a heightened, I think, motivation for personal evangelism, for holiness and the like if you do affirm what I think the scripture clearly teaches a pre-tribulational, pre-millennial return, pre-pre. First he comes before the tribulation and then his second coming happens before his thousand year reign on the earth. So you’re able to put some things together and a lot of pastors right now, because they don’t have any kind of developed doctrine on end things, they can’t put together what’s happening in their world and their people are confused and there’s a sense of tension and I don’t know, just even apathy in some cases concerning what’s happening in our world.
But if you see that there’s a convergence of events that are taking place, because just as God used Israel to bring the first coming, Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem, he had to live in Nazareth, he had to be crucified in Jerusalem, raised from the dead, ascended to heaven from that city. God had to have that nation in place in which to pull these things off. Well, now God has put Israel back in the land after 1900 years. There’s more Jews living in Israel than all the nations combined. They’re not all going to come back, but the majority will so that God can fulfill his plan. We see this growing opposition in this hatred towards the Jewish people. We should wake up because that’s what is going to come to its fullest expression during the seven year tribulation. We know the catching up of the church is that much closer.
We recognize, look, our citizenship is in heaven from which we eagerly await for a savior, the Lord Jesus, who’s going to transform this body into the likeness of his own. We’re living with an expectation that we’re not in despair. We’re with a sense of assurance that God is in control and that he has things in his hands. It’s not an invitation, the doctrine of the pre-tribulational rapture, to withdraw from life, but to invest our lives in things that really matter. It’s a great incentive for holiness. You quoted one John three a moment ago that everyone who has this hope fixed on him, that he’s going to come back, purifies himself as he’s pure. That’s what Paul says in Titus. He tells us that the grace of God that has appeared, it brings salvation, provides salvation, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us. So the death of Christ is good for all, but it is only applied to those who believe.
It instructs us to deny ungodliness, worldly desires, to live sensibly, righteously, godly in this present age as we’re looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of our great God and savior Christ Jesus. We’re anticipating his return, the judgment seat of Christ when we’re going to be evaluated. We want to be pleasing to him. We want to hear well done thy good and faithful servant. There is an intensity and urgency to share the gospel. It’s not like Jesus isn’t coming back for seven years. That’s post-tribulation. That’s the quickest timeframe that they can put together. Now he could come back today and this person that I’m standing in front of, it could happen in his life before this hour is over. If he doesn’t know the Lord Jesus, then he is going to be left behind for the worst time in all of human history. Today is the acceptable time and we should be sharing the gospel today.
The rapture reminds us that our labor is not in vain, God’s in control, and so we’re to look for this literal pre-tribulational rapture because it makes a practical everyday difference in our life.
Sam Rohrer:
Carl, and I’m going to ask you to pray here in just a second. It’s pretty tough to do what the Apostle Paul says in Thessalonians about this reality is comfort one another with these things. As we see the day approach, if we don’t really believe it’s real, and if we don’t believe the things we just talked about, I guess almost like why would someone find comfort? Yet ladies and gentlemen, if you don’t have the hope and the comfort of the Lord’s return as we’ve talked about, then look carefully on whether or not you know the Lord. Carl, we’re just about out of time. I’d like you to close in prayer. So many different places, things we’ve talked about, but bring our listening audience before the Lord in prayer, please.
Carl Broggi:
Our father, I’m thinking right now of someone who is really not sure that if the rapture took place in the next 10 seconds, that they would be caught up to meet you in the air. Thank you that you promise because of a finished work at Golgotha that whoever, anyone, no matter what they’ve been like or whatever they had done, if they call upon the Lord Jesus in faith, they’ll instantly be sealed. Help someone to do that, to be saved, to say, Lord Jesus, save me by the gospel of your son. For those of us who have been saved, Father, help us to focus on the things above, not the things on the earth, to make a difference until Jesus comes. We ask it in his holy name. Amen.
Sam Rohrer:
Amen and amen. Dr. Carl Broggi, thanks for being with me again, ladies and gentlemen, his website, searchthescriptures.org. You’ll find a lot of good, good information there. Then this program again on our website, on our Stand in the Gap app, and listen to it, encourage you strongly. Really listen to it. If you’re benefited by it, share it with a friend, a family member, someone else, because this issue, this topic today, it should within us bring great comfort and hope for all of us in these times. I pray that that is the case. All right, well thank you for being with me and us today, and the Lord willing, we’ll see you back here tomorrow. Hopefully David new will be me and we’re going to cover…
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