Updates with new topics will come up later  -  State: December 26, 2024

The Church is not mentioned from Revelation 4 to 18?


Summary

The church is also not mentioned in 7 epistles of the NT and in 4 others only in 1 chapter. The Book of Revelation is written to the church, not to Israel.


According to the pre-tribulation doctrine, the church is no longer mentioned on Earth after the Epistles of Rev 2 and 3, and thus from Revelation 4 onwards the church is already caught up to heaven. Therefore, the church does not come into the great tribulation.



Then this also applies to other books of the Bible?!


By the same argumentation one could also claim that 7 out of a total of 21 letters of the New Testament (NT) are also not about the church, because in these the word "church" is not mentioned. These are:


- 2 Timothy

- Titus

- 1 Peter

- 2 Peter

- 1 John

- 2 John

- Jude


… and yet no one would argue that these letters are not about the church.



In 4 other letters of the NT the church is only mentioned in ONE chapter:

- Romans – chapter 16

- Galatians – chapter 1

- 2 Thessalonians – chapter 1

- James – chapter 5


… and who wants to claim that the other chapters are not about the church?



Now one could object:

Yes, the word "church" does not appear, but other terms are used for the believers, such as "the saints", "the elect" or "chosen ones", etc.


But this reasoning would then also have to be applied to the believers in the Book of Revelation from chapter 4 onwards.



Terms used for Christians from Rev 4 onwards


Rev 6:9 ... I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of God and because of the testimony which they held.
Rev 6:11 ... until ‹the number of› their fellow servants and their brothers... was filled up.
Rev 8:3-4 … the prayers of the saints
Rev 11:18 … You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name,
Rev 12:11 And they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb and through the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives unto death.
Rev 12:17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Rev 13:7 And it was granted to him to make war with the saints
Rev 13:8 … all..., whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 13:10 … Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints
Rev 14:12 Here is the perseverance of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Rev 15:2 … And I saw... those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name…
Rev 16:6 for they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets,…
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. …
Rev 18:20 Rejoice over her, O Heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets
Rev 18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth.
Rev 20:4 … and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the Word of God, who had not done homage to the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. …



In the New Testament, Christians are often referred to as "the saints".

----> Why should the saints named in the Book of Revelation from chapter 4 onwards (and coming into the great tribulation) not be the saints of the church?



The Book of Revelation is written to the church, not to Israel


Rev 1:4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,


Rev 1:10-11 10 I came to be in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet,

 11 saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last; and, What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.


Rev 22:16 I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify these things to you, to the churches.


----> If Rev 4-18 is supposedly only about Israel, why is Revelation written to the church and not to Israel?

Updates with new topics will come up later  -  State: December 26, 2024