George Mueller was a wonderful man of God. He was an evangelist and Director of the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol, England. He cared for over 10,000 orphans in his life. He also established 117 schools which offered Christian education to over 120,000 children, many of them being orphans. And, of course, there were the Bible and tract distribution societies, etc.He was also a founding member of the Plymouth Brethren movement. As such, he was well acquainted with John Darby.
And, George Mueller was an early opponent of Darby's pre-tribulation Rapture.
When Mueller read the Bible in Revelation 20:4-5, it said that the FIRST resurrection would occur after the Tribulation period, just prior to the thousand year reign of Christ:
"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection."
But Darby's pre-tribulation Rapture had a resurrection of the saints happening before this one!
Mueller asked, "Can there be a resurrection before the first one?"
Also, when Mueller read 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, he saw that the Rapture occurred at the last trump. The last trump mentioned in the Bible is found after the Tribulation!But Darby taught that the last trump of the Bible would occur after the last trump of the Rapture!
Mueller asked, "Can there be a trump after the last one?"
I Corinthians 15:51-52, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
Matthew 24:29-31, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
The pre-tribulation Rapture predicates a last trump before the last trump! It postulates a resurrection of the saints before the first resurrection! It contends for a Second Coming before the Second Coming!
“The Scripture declares plainly that the Lord Jesus will not come until
the apostacy shall have taken place,
and the man of sin … shall have been revealed…”
George Mueller
(Thank you, George. I couldn't have said it better myself!)
Good find, and well presented.
ReplyDeleteCW Steinle
Here is my rebuttal to Mueller's Argument: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=935405956490526&set=gm.928927083797767&type=1
ReplyDeleteHi Christopher, I was surprised to hear this as I just assumed that Mueller was likely pre-trib too! I'd like to see the original article where you found this. Can you give me the particulars? YOu can email me at bwood4d@gmail.com Thanks!
ReplyDeleteRight out the gate he makes a common and fatal mistake. First Resurrection is a classification. Not an order of events. The illustration is simple enough when you think about it. Everyone in the First Resurrection, as we read, is saved. Everyone in the Second Resurrection is raised for judgment in the Great White Throne. If it is a matter of order, why split the two classes? Yes, go to gty dot org and MacArthur has some excellent sermons on the two resurrections.
ReplyDeleteOver many years, I have found that like all the others, Mueller's arguments will all be as weak. Btw, notice in Matthew 25 that both sheep AND goats stand before Christ at the Second Coming. Then there are more people resurrected, according to Revelation 20, after the Millennium. So if more are raised after the Millennium and that is the Second Resurrection and they are all cast into the lake of fire, let's go back to Matthew 25; which would, by their reasoning, be the first resurrection? So that would contradict Revelation 20 which says those of the first resurrection are the redeemed. So then who were the goats in Matthew 25? Why were they cast out?
Then look at 1 Corinthians 15:50ff. What is that describing? When does that happen? Too many holes and scriptures ignored to ignore the 'harpazo' of 1 Thes. 4:17.
We can go on and on... What is happening in Revelation 3:10? If we believers are going to be rescued (Christ's words) yet trouble is coming upon the whole world, how do we escape? The verse says it is going to happen to try (judge) those dwelling on the earth. Do we dwell on the earth or not? So how do we escape? Where do we go where we are not dwelling on the earth? Shuttles to Mars? Get a lexicon and examine the meaning in that verse about 'tereo ek' and what it is saying about that rescue. It is not saved through or whatever. It means to be completely and utterly taken away from any harm whatsoever.
Also, while I am at it; Also, the trumpet issue reveals a naivety that is remarkable for a man who ostensibly has spent so many times in the scriptures. To assume all trumpets are the same is a presupposition that is easily demonstrated as false before you ever get out of the Pentateuch. The term "last trump" refers to the shofar, yet there are also silver trumpets for another purpose. Just to cut to the chase though, had he learned Israelology, he would learn there is a Last Trump called the tekia that happens during the Feast of Trumpets. It is a long and worthwhile study, but Jesus fulfilled the seven Lord's Feast Days of Leviticus 23, in the order listed, up to and including the founding of the church at the Feast of Weeks we know as Pentecost when he gave us the Holy Spirit.
ReplyDeleteThe three Fall Feasts still await a completed fulfillment. Next on the list is the Feast of Trumpets, also known as "the feast that no man knows." Sound familiar? It is the only feast beginning at the New Moon rather than full. These new moons are sighted from a high point by Two Witnesses. During the Autumnal Equinox the new moon briefly rises at the horizon where the sun is setting, making it very difficult to see, so the witnesses may miss it the first night, which means the celebration kicks off the next night where it will be sighted. This is why it is the feast where no man knows the day or the hour and is a two day feast.
Over two days there will be three different types of trumpet blasts, with the tekia gedolah only blasted on the shofar once, at the very end of the two days. It is the Last Trump and is sustained for as long as the trumpeter has breath, for one long blast. The Last Trump. That is why the disciples did not ask Jesus or act confused when Jesus told them it would be at the Last Trump. They did not know the application, of course. It is a lot to process. But they knew the term. Btw, John 14, the first few verses do reveal this, but mostly, it reads just like Revelation 4.
Am I saying the Rapture will be during the Feast of Trumpets? Jesus castigated the Jews for not seeing his day, though they knew the signs and the seasons, in theory. He said we should know the season, but not the day or the hour. Though the Last Trump shofar is at sunset at the end of two days in Jerusalem, we still can't know what year, or what hour. Also, in the ancient Hebrew wedding tradition, part of the fun in that is the coming at midnight for "The Taking" when the bridegroom comes to Take his bride. So will Jesus come at sunset Jerusalem time? Or will he come at midnight?
That is another study. Jesus used Wedding analogies at least.. what. Four times... When telling us about "the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto..." There are all kinds of things to glean from the ancient wedding traditions that are just like the Father sending his son to get his bride, that room addition to the father's house, the timing, what the taking is like, the virgins....