Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?Can you think of any place where judgment led to repentance? I don’t believe that tribulation or war will bring the conversion of Israel. If we consider the prophetic character of history in scripture, perhaps we should be looking for an event like Joseph reveling himself to his brothers. The details argue against a mid-tribulation rapture.
Amos 8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:Do you suppose the rapture will cause a spiritual famine?
Can you think of any place where judgment led to repentance? I don’t believe that tribulation or war will bring the conversion of Israel.
It isn't the war itself - It is how they are saved from it. The prophets tell the story of a time when Israel will be overrun by a mighty force, and it will look like there is no hope, but they will be saved out of it miraculously. The Bible hints that this miracle will turn Israel away from its secular self, and back to YHWH. Now, we may argue the timing of that war, and the nature of it, but the time will surely come. And Zechariah ties that time with "And they will look upon me whom they have pierced"... So it is not hard to understand just who it is that goes before Israel in the clouds as of old during that battle... This IS confusing, however - and most folks would say this points to the battle being the Battle of Armageddon, simply BECAUSE Yeshua is revealed - I don't think that is necessarily true.
Why most folks cannot look at it that way is because of a supposed traditional prohibition of Christ coming back at all, other than at the end of time. I don't think He is restricted, except in the ways He pronounced upon Himself. After all, He seems to have taught Paul personally in the desert for 3 years... We ASSUME that was in vision, but that is not said. No doubt His coming in glory, and setting His foot on the Mount of Olives is the appearance that dwarfs any other, but that moment does not have to be the moment He reveals Himself to Israel. I think that YHWH is revealed to the nations BEFORE the bitter end - There is a time when the nations groan in fear when they find out that YHWH LIVES - That cannot be @Armageddon, because there simply isn't any time for it - From the time Christ is revealed there, He enters the Temple through the East Gate, and proceeds immediately to meet His foe... and that is the end of it all right there. So when is this time when the nations KNOW and tremble? I think YHWH will make Himself unequivocally known before the finale - That Yeshua will be made known to Israel before then too, and that is probably going to be the same event.
I struggle with the idea that Israel is left out of the Rapture - Left out of the Bride. It doesn't make sense to me that He would come for His People, and that would not include the physical essence of 'His People' on the earth, and the hallmark promises He has made to them. This, finally, is antisemitism and Replacement Theology all the way to the bitter end. That is what drives me to look at the prophecy somewhat differently than my dispensational brethren.
If we consider the prophetic character of history in scripture, perhaps we should be looking for an event like Joseph reveling himself to his brothers.
It is interesting that you would bring that up, because there certainly is a tie-in: A 'well with no water' is used only in the story of Joseph, and in the capture of Judah and Ephraim during an end times war... It is an interesting tidbit, and it makes me wonder what meaning is there.
The details argue against a mid-tribulation rapture.
In the clinical sense, according to accepted tradition, you are correct. But as I have declared upthread, my view of the tribulation is not conventional.