Page 244 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord
P. 244
19
THE RAPTURE IN THE
BOOK OF REVELATION
In no other book of the Bible are end-time events por
trayed in more detail than in the Book of Revelation. Those
who take this book as a serious presentation of the prophetic
future find in it specific details nowhere else given in the Bible
concerning the Great Tribulation and its consummation in the
second coming of Christ. The naming of the book as the Book
of Revelation relates to the fact that at the second coming of
Christ, Christ will be revealed. This is introduced early in the
book itself: “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye
will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples
of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen”
(1:7).
The Book of Revelation, in many respects, is the counter
part of the four Gospels where Christ is presented in His first
coming. In contrast to the Gospels, the Book of Revelation
presents Him in His second coming. Even the great themes of
the Millennium and the eternal state, while presented spe
cifically in chapter 20 and chapters 21-22, serve only as an
epilogue briefly added to a book that has the primary purpose
of presenting end-time events in great detail, climaxing in the
second coming of Christ.
253