The Rapture: From the Ground Up by Richard L. Guthrie

Author:Richard L. Guthrie [Guthrie, Richard L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: WestBowPress
Published: 2014-04-10T16:00:00+00:00

White raiment is given to the souls of believers. Even angels have white raiment. The fact that the 24 elders are wearing white raiment (white robes) just shows that they are dead believers in Heaven. It is not a sign that they have been Raptured. The fact that the 24 elders are not wearing the ‘fine linen, clean and white’ that believers receive at the Marriage Supper shows that they have not been Raptured and have not been to the Marriage Supper.

Take note that a physical body is not needed to have white raiment. Angels have white raiment (Revelation 15:6). The souls (not the glorified body of the believers) of believers are given white raiment (Revelation 6:9,11).

Summary of 24 Elders

The things that can be positively determined about these 24 elders include:

1. They are on thrones in anticipation of reigning with Christ.

2. They perform priestly duties.

3. They wear crowns of authority and not crowns of reward.

4. They wear white raiment of the purity of Heaven and not the fine linen, clean and white given at the Marriage Supper.

5. They are men who are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, but not necessarily only from the Church Age.

6. They have not been Raptured.

Any more assumptions regarding these elders would be unsupported by Scripture.

The Holy Spirit is Removed

There is a postulation that John sees and records that the Holy Spirit has been totally removed (at the Rapture) and He now ‘completely’ and totally resides in Heaven. This is based on the fact that John sees the Seven Spirits of God (seven is the number of completion in the Bible).

Revelation 5:6 “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.”

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is what draws men to Christ (Romans 8:10-14; 1 Corinthians 12:3). If the Holy Spirit was totally absent on Earth, then the multitude of new converts (Revelation 7:14) would never happen.

To postulate that the Holy Spirit has been removed is mere speculation that is unsupported in Scripture.

The Church is Not Mentioned

There is a postulation that since the words “church” and “churches” are absent from Revelation Chapters 4 through 18, the Church must be absent from the Earth during that time. In other words, the Rapture would have to have occurred in order to remove the Church from the events that occur during these chapters (i.e. the Tribulation).

However, the Church is also not mentioned in the account John records when he is in Heaven during this vision. John was well aware of the significant role the Church will be playing in the end times as shown by the letters to the seven churches early in the Book of Revelation. He gives minute details regarding the angels he encounters. If the Church was in Heaven (Raptured), John would have directly and specifically mentioned their presence and not used a metaphor or a symbolic reference to such an encounter.

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