The Book of Revelation is not an Outlier - By Elizabeth Prata

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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Our interest in end-times folly has been re-aroused recently, and today's post is pursuant to that. Elizabeth Prata makes some astonishing claims about the end times.
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People think the Bible is the Bible, except for that weird book at the end, Revelation. (?? No, they don't. Everyone acknowledges the presence of Revelation in the Bible.)

Admittedly, Revelation (not ‘Revelations) is a highly symbolic book in places. But it isn’t totally filled with symbolism as people think. People avoid the book anyway, which is a shame…because:

In Revelation 1:3, right off the bat, it begins with a blessing!

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

If you read the book, you receive a blessing. If you hear what is in the book, you receive a blessing. If you keep what is in the book, you receive a blessing. Keep means to guard what is in the book or heed what is in the book. That means, be involved with what is in the book of Revelation. It’s not an outlier, it’s integral to God’s plan, so much so, He blesses those who take time to learn its message. (We are happy indeed that the author explained the Greek meaning of "keep." Now she should consider explaining "near." John tells us the time is near. "Near" is 

ἐγγύς (eggus), concerning things imminent and soon to come to pass... 

It's the same word used in Jn. 7:2: 

But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near...

John repeats the word at the end of Revelation. Re. 22:10:

Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near." 

It seems to us that if the author believes that Revelation ...isn’t totally filled with symbolism as people think..., then the meaning of "near" isn't also symbolic of something happening 2000 years later, either. If it does mean a tribulation to come, then she needs to explain why this one word is symbolic in an otherwise literal sentence.)

For all the chaos the book depicts, it’s actually very orderly. Rather than obscuring the truth, the book itself is a revealing of it! Take comfort in that. The very word apokalupsis used 18 times means an unveiling or a revealing. Then it begins with an announcement of blessing. It continues by three times using the phrase “who was, who Is, and who is to come” referring to Jesus but also the chronology of the book. It’s chronological throughout. (Again we call the author to task. She will not explain why she thinks it is chronological. 

To demonstrate our objection, let's review the appearances of Christians in Revelation. Our first passage is Re. 18:20, late in the book: 

Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.

This is referring to Babylon the Great, the great prostitute [Rev. 17:1], who has committed great sins with the nations. She persecuted the saints, apostles, and prophets, which means her appearance here in the narrative is not chronological. She has been at work throughout the history of Israel and also the Church.

We also would suggest as evidence of of a non-chronological order the 144,000. 

Re. 7:4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

Re. 7:13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes — who are they, and where did they come from?” 14 I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Re. 14:3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No-one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. 5 No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.

Who is in which of the twelve tribes is not known today. Their appearance in Revelation is early. These these were picked out for their purity and blamelessness from the "great tribulation." 

Other mentions of Christians in Revelation:

Re. 9:4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

Re. 11:3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 

Re. 12:11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

Re. 13:7 He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them.

Re. 14:12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.

Re. 14:13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

Re. 15:2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name.

Re. 16:15 “Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

Re. 18:4-5 Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; 5 for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.

These numerous references at various times in the narrative suggest quite clearly the book of Revelation is not entirely chronological.)

Its theme is Jesus Christ, as He is now in heaven. It is a message from Jesus but it is also a message about Jesus. In this way, it is thrilling to see the revealed glimpses of Him as He goes about His work in heaven, resurrected and in complete power and majesty. For that alone the book is worth reading.

I’d said in the title of this essay that the book of Revelation is not an outlier. There are many prophetic passages in the entire Bible, and once you read the Bible (including the Old Testament) you begin to see just how many. Zechariah, pound-for-pound, contains almost as many prophetic passages as does Revelation, and is a mini-apocalypse of its own.

As Roy Gingrich explains of Zechariah’s prophecies,

“they all have a double fulfillment—They had a near and a partial fulfillment in or soon after Zechariah’s day and they will have a distant and a complete fulfillment in “The Day of the Lord”; (5) they all require the services of an angelic interpreter—This is a feature of apocalyptic visions; and (6) they for the most part follow the same pattern—A symbol is presented, a question is asked, and an interpretation is given.) Gingrich, R. E. (1999). The Books of Haggai and Zechariah (p. 17).

As you read Zechariah 1:8 you will notice that there are 4 horses of various colors with riders going out among the earth, just as there are in Revelation 6. You will notice that the visions all deal with Jesus and His plans for Israel, as does Revelation (which also includes wrath upon unbelievers). Zechariah has the pattern of showing the initiative is from Jesus, He calls His people to repentance (in Zechariah, He calls the Israelites to repentance, in Revelation he calls 5 of His 7 churches to repentance), He delivers visions to his designated agent (to Zechariah, to John), visions which include symbols, and then visions & symbols are explained. If the vision isn’t explained immediately within the book, its symbol is explained elsewhere in the Bible. That is why it’s important to read the Old Testament as well as the New. You see this pattern with the book of Daniel as well.

Don’t be afraid to read Revelation. The ‘weird’ parts don’t even begin until chapter 6. If you’ve ever hiked in snow and been the person to break the trail, you know that the next time you walk that trail it’s easier because the snow has been beaten down. It’s the same with reading prophetic passages. The first time it might not make as much sense, but you pray and the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit in you flattens the trail so going over that path the next time is easier. Then easier, and so on. Pray, think, read, pray some more, and like any book of the Bible, Revelation or the prophetic passages in the OT books, will be “revealed” to you. See what I did there? (What the author advocates is that we would come into agreement with the last days scenario popular with many Christians, which is known as pre-trib dispensationalism. She thinks that these disparate Bible references all collate into an intricate picture of a future period of time where there is a pre-tribulation rapture of the Church, followed by a seven year period known as the great tribulation, where a subsequent group of post-trib Christians will experience the wrath of God.

We do not agree. The fact is, there is no rapture at all mentioned in Revelation, and there is no verse that tells us the rapture will occur prior to the Tribulation. Let's list the rapture verses:

Jn. 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Mt. 24:30-31 At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

1Th. 4:15-17 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever.

Lk. 17:34-37 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left. 36 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 37 “Where, Lord?” they asked. He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”

Mk. 13:24-27 “But in those days, following that distress, “`the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; 25 the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ [Isaiah 13:10; 34:4] 26 “At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

There are two verses that imply a pre-trib rapture. 

Re. 3:10

Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.

This is contained in one of seven letters Jesus wrote to seven churches. The church in Philadelphia was one of only two churches who were not subject to correction (the other was the church in Smyrna [Rev. 2:8]). Jesus promises the church in Philadelphia that they will be kept from the hour of trial. Jesus is clear that this is trouble is not some sort of local persecution. 

"World" is οἰκουμένη, ης, ἡ (oikoumené), properly: the land that is being inhabited, the land in a state of habitation), the inhabited world, that is, the Roman world, for all outside it was regarded as of no account. The "whole world" was the world at that time. This would suggest that this tribulation is not the day of the Lord, but rather a judgment of the known world at that time.

"Earth" is γῆ, γῆς, ἡ (gé) the earth, soil, land, region, country, inhabitants of a region. Again this suggests that this a judgment regarding those who lived during that time.

"Keep" is τηρέω (téreó), I keep, guard, observe, watch over... (from tēros, "a guard") – properly, maintain (preserve); (figuratively) spiritually guard (watch), keep intact. We should not assume that this means this church will be raptured, or that Jesus is referring to present-day Christians. Jesus is speaking to the patient endurance of this particular church, and promises them they will be guarded, preserved, kept intact through that trouble.

If this were the pre-trib rapture, why did Jesus previously (non-chronologically) tell the church in Smyrna that they will suffer? Re. 2:9-10: 

Re. 2:9-10 I know your afflictions and your poverty — yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Note the specificity of both of these passages. Because the church in Philadelphia patiently endured, Jesus will preserve them through a great trouble. And because Jesus knows the afflictions of the church in Smyrna, He tells them not to be afraid when they are put in prison for ten days. 

We would suggest that Rev. 3:10 is not a rapture verse. Nor does it bolster the pre-trib scenario. In fact, it clearly suggests that there will be a tribulation, but not necessarily the great tribulation. 

2Pe. 2:9 

...if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. 

"Trials" is πειρασμός, οῦ, ὁ (peirasmos), (a) trial, probation, testing, being tried, (b) temptation, (c) calamity, affliction. 

"Rescue" is ῥύομαι (rhuomai), I rescue, deliver (from danger or destruction). This is not the same as being spared from or avoiding trials.

We would conclude that the evidence is thin indeed that there would be a pre-trib rapture. We believe there will be a rapture, but not pre-trib. 

Is it possible for there to be two tribulations? This seems possible, because the Bible often presents a limited scenario which is a type for a greater thing. For example:

• Salvation pictured in the sacrifice prescribed to Israel, fulfilled in Jesus
• Physical healing in Jesus' ministry, fulfilled in His stripes for healing of the sick soul
• Prophets speaking prophecies that apply to local circumstance yet speaks to later fulfillment as well
• David's kingship as a type for Jesus

Therefore, we believe there was a first century tribulation which presents a type for the last days tribulation. We also believe the rapture is an event at the Day of the Lord, the last day, after the tribulation, when Jesus comes on the clouds.