Page 147 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

The Rapture Question: Revised and Enlarged Edition
to see the commencement of the seventh vial. DURING THE
OUTPOURING OF WHICH THE LORD WILL
COME!”17
In the light of this statement, how could anyone assert
that Irving was a pretribulationist? It is also worthy of note
that this statement came a year after he was supposedly the
recipient of the pretribulational Rapture. MacPherson’s con­
tention that Irving was a pretribulationist has by his own
research demonstrated exactly the opposite.
Margaret MacDonald, likewise, left behind no clear rec­
ord that she ever held to a pretribulational Rapture. It is
possible from some of her statements to arrive at the conclu­
sion that she was garbled in her view of prophecy and could
possibly be identified with the partial rapture view. None of
her statements, however, placed the Rapture before the
Tribulation begins. At best, it can be demonstrated that the
Rapture would be included in the series of events that climax
the Great Tribulation.
Fourth, the allegation of MacPherson and many others
that Darby derived his views from either Irving or Mac­
Donald is not supported by anv factual evidence. Obviously, if
they were not prctribulationists. how could Darby get his
views from them? Even if they were prctribulationists, there is
no proof linking the two. except that they both lived about the
same time.
Fifth, Darby was an extensive writer and a most effective
Bible teacher and evangelist, leading hundreds of people to
Christ. In his many works, any careful student of Darby soon
discovers that he achieved his eschatological views from the
study of the Bible itself and from his conclusion that
the church is the body of Christ rather than having derived it
from some human source. Darby’s views were only gradually
formed, but they are based on the Bible and his doctrinal
position.
Under the circumstances, it would seem that common
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