John Hart - Evidence for the Rapture: A Biblical Case for Pretribulationism

2015 by
JOHN F. HART

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible, Holman CSB, and HCSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

Scripture quotations marked NET are taken from the NET Bible copyright 19962006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

Edited by Jim Vincent
Interior design: Smartt Guys design and Erik M. Peterson
Cover design: Erik M. Peterson
Cover photo of clouds copyright by Brightside Creative/Lightstock/1947. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Evidence for the rapture : a biblical case for pretribulationism / John F. Hart.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8024-1291-1
1. Rapture (Christian eschatology) I. Hart, John F.
BT887.E95 2015
236.9--dc23

2015008124

Moody Publishers
820 N. LaSalle Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60610

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America

I have chosen to use the outstanding New American Standard Bible as the version for all Scripture citations in this book (unless designated otherwise). One of my purposes for this is to honor the contributions to this translation made by one of our authors, Robert L. Thomas. Dr. Thomas is professor emeritus of The Masters Theological Seminary.

Dr. Thomas was a member of the editorial board of the Lockman Foundation, which produced the New American Standard Bible, and as such participated in the translation of the Greek and Hebrew texts of the NASB. Later, he also became the general editor of the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance. This resource was awarded the Gold Medallion Book Award as the outstanding Bible reference work of 198182 by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

Robert L. Thomas

John F. Hart

Glenn R. Kreider

George A. Gunn

Michael G. Vanlaningham

Kevin D. Zuber

Nathan D. Holsteen

Andrew M. Woods

Michael J. Svigel

Michael A. Rydelnik

Friend,

Thank you for choosing to read this Moody Publishers title. It is our hope and prayer that this book will help you to know Jesus Christ more personally and love Him more deeply.

The proceeds from your purchase help pay the tuition of students attending Moody Bible Institute. These students come from around the globe and graduate better equipped to impact our world for Christ.

Other Moody Ministries that may be of interest to you include Moody Radio and Moody Distance Learning. To learn more visit http://www.moodyradio.org/ and http://www.moody.edu/distance-learning/

To enhance your reading experience weve made it easy to share inspiring passages and thought-provoking quotes with your friends via Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, and other book-sharing sites. To do so, simply highlight and forward. And dont forget to put this book on your Reading Shelf on your book community site.

Thanks again, and may God bless you.

The Moody Publishers Team

If you are using a Nook device, please turn the Publisher Defaults setting ON for the best reading experience.

I want to thank Randall Payleitner, editorial director at Moody Publishers, for being so patient as I brought together these ten authors. I also want to thank Greg Thornton, senior vice president of media at Moody Global Ministries, for seeing a vision for this project, and Jim Vincent, Moody Publishers senior editor, for his skills in making final editing decisions with me.

Special thanks go to my wonderful wife, Cindy, who does freelance proofreading for Moody Publishers and has performed a delightful service for this book. Finally, I wish to thank Noah Debaun, one of my students, who read through most of the manuscripts and offered many valuable suggestions.

GEORGE A. GUNN, Dean of Admissions and Records, Professor of Bible and Theology, Shasta Bible College and Graduate School | BA, Shasta Bible College; MDiv, Northwest Baptist Seminary; PhD, Tyndale Theological Seminary

JOHN F. HART, Professor of Bible, Moody Bible Institute | BS, West ChesterUniversity; ThM, Dallas Theological Seminary; ThD, Grace Theological Seminary

Dr. Hart has written 50 Things You Need to Know about Heaven (Bethany), and John and James in the Moody Bible Commentary (Moody).

NATHAN D. HOLSTEEN, Associate Professor of Theological Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary | BS, Louisiana State University; ThM, Dallas Theological Seminary; PhD, University of Aberdeen

Dr. Holsteen is coeditor with Dr. Michael Svigel (below) of a three-volume series, Exploring Christian Theology (Bethany). He and Dr. Svigel have also coauthored the third volume in the series, The Church, Spiritual Growth, and the End Times.

GLENN R. KREIDER, Professor of Theology, Dallas Theological Seminary | BS, Lancaster Bible College; ThM, PhD, Dallas Theological Seminary

Dr. Kreider has published two books, including God with Us: Exploring Gods Personal Interactions with His People throughout the Bible (P&R), and has contributed to several other books, including The Routledge Encyclopediaof Protestantism (Routledge), and the Exploring Christian Theology series, edited by Dr. Holsteen and Dr. Svigel (two contributors in this book).

MICHAEL A. RYDELNIK, Professor of Jewish Studies, Moody Bible Institute | BA, Azusa Pacific College; ThM, Dallas Theological Seminary; DMiss, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Dr. Rydelnik is coeditor of the Moody Bible Commentary (2014), and has written the Bible commentaries on Daniel, Isaiah, and several others for the MBC. He has also written study notes for the Holman Standard Study Bible (