The Rapture of the Church Takes Place After the Latter Rain Brings the Harvest to Maturity
We’re all familiar with the verses on the catching up, or the rapture, at the end of the age but the Bible more commonly refers to this momentous event as the ‘harvest’. I want to look at the rapture from the perspective of Jesus reaping the harvest at the end of the age.
This is a continuation of my teaching of the latter rain outpouring on the last day church.
The pattern of the early and latter rain is a recurring pattern in both the Old and New Testaments. The early rain softens the ground for planting and begins the growing season. The latter rain brings the harvest to maturity. Once the harvest is mature, it is harvested.
The early Christian fathers taught that the early rain took place at Pentecost with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This was the planting of the church and the beginning of God’s new covenant work. They continued with the latter rain being the end-time outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church to bring the harvest to maturity.
God begins His work with the early rain and ends it with the latter rain. Planting, growth, and harvest.
This is confirmed in Mark 4:26-29
And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; 27 and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. 28 The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. 29 But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
When the harvest is ripe, he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come. This is a picture of the kingdom of God. When the harvest is mature, Jesus will put in the sickle and reap the harvest, or as we say today, rapture the church.
Revelation chapter 14 describes the harvest in detail.
14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.
When does the harvest take place? Jesus tells us in Matthew.
29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31 And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. Matthew 24:29-31
Both Revelation 14 and Matthew 24 are describing the exact same event. The Son of Man, sitting on the cloud, reaping the harvest. When does this harvest take place? Immediately after the tribulation.
I know all the pre-tribbers say this is talking about the Jews and not the church. They say the book of Matthew is directed to the Jews. However, Mark also says the same thing so that reasoning does not work.
They also say that the elect is the Jews. The word for elect in this verse is Strong’s number 1588. The word rendered “chosen” or “elect” appears twenty-three times in the New Testament. A couple of times it refers to Jesus as the chosen One. All other instances refer to Christians as the chosen.
Of course, the Jews are also the chosen. They are the natural chosen. The Christians are the spiritual chosen. After all Israel gets saved, in Roman’s 11, we will all be the chosen together!
The third problem the pre-tribbers have with saying this is talking about the Jews is that the Jews do not get raptured! Jesus comes down to them on the mount of Olives and establishes His kingdom.
Now let us go back to Revelation 14 and continue with the next verse. The church is not the only harvest that has come to maturity.
17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20 And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles. Revelation 14:17-20
After the harvest or rapture of the church takes place, the enemy’s harvest is reaped. The kingdom of God is likened to a wheat harvest. The kingdom of Satan is likened to a grape harvest. Both come to maturity at the end of the age and both are reaped.
Armageddon takes place after the rapture. This is why Jesus says in Matthew 24, that the rapture takes place immediately after the tribulation. Because the great wine press of the wrath of God is next!
Conclusion
The latter rain brings God’s harvest to maturity. The latter rain begins Daniel’s seventieth week and lasts for seven years. The three-and-a-half-year great tribulation begins at the midpoint of the seven years when Satan is cast out of heaven and thrown to the earth.
Once again, the purpose of the tribulation is to bring the apostate last day, Laodicean church, back to Him. Jesus disciplines those whom He loves. The overcomer church, Philadelphia, is kept from the hour of testing, and they preach the gospel of the kingdom during the tribulation. This is the fulfilment of the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:14.
This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
After God’s harvest is reaped and the enemy’s harvest is reaped, the most amazing event of the last days takes place! Jesus has been waiting for this event for two thousand years! Just as Joseph, after saving the Gentile world, revealed himself to his Hebrew brothers, so will Jesus, after saving the Gentile church, finally reveal Himself to His brothers. All Israel gets saved!