EVIDENCE #3 - REVELATION 4:1

From: http://www.geocities.com/stat23mj/prophecy/pretrib.html

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." (REVELATION 4:1)

This is probably the best evidence for the Rapture since John is the best example of the Church. The Tribulation starts in Revelation 6 with the first seal. So John's rapture is probably symbolic and prophetic of the Church's rapture. Notice how in Revelation 2 and 3 focus on the Church. The seven churches in Asia were in fact symbolic of the church age; each church were symbolic of actual church phases throughout the CHURCH AGE. Tim La Haye in his book REVELATION UNVEILED tells about these phases:

Church______ Nickname_______ Period

Ephesus_______ Apostolic Church____ A.D. 30 - 100

Smyrna_______ Persecuted Church___ A.D. 100 - 313

Pergamos______State Church_______ A.D. 313 - 590

Thyatira______ Papal Church_______ A.D. 590 - 1517

Sardis________ Reformed Church____ A.D. 1517 - 1790

Philadelphia____ Missionary Church___ A.D. 1730 - 1900

Laodicea_______ Apostate Church____ A.D. 1900 - ?

Immediately after the final letter to the Laodicea church, the scene shifts from the earth to heaven so this implies that John represented the rapture of the Church Why? Because Laodicea is the final phase of the church age and after the CHURCH DISPENSATION is finished the Rapture occurs. Earth to Heaven. The Church is on earth then IN THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE (1 CORINTHIANS 15:52), we are with the Lord Jesus Christ in the air (1 THESSALONIANS 4:17).