understanding the pre trib rapture enhanced my faith. I was already saved but in an amillenial church I was taught that Christ would return someday. it Revelation was poetic language and unknowable.
Studying prophecy and understanding that most of what is shown in revelation pulls from and enhances the OT prophets has added a level of excitement and anticipation to my faith that wasn’t there before. Like most I was uneasy to afraid of the end times and the prophecies in revelation. Now that I understand more I can’t wait! Remember Paul said comfort one another with these words not scare the living stink out of each other with these words.
Seeing prophecy fulfilled in current times (ezekiel’s dry bones etc) and Israel back in the land is an amazing experience . I totally trust God and His plan but it is wonderful that He has told us ahead of time what will happen. If i am wrong and the rapture is not pre trib it will not shake my faith, God is in control. But meanwhile the sense of anticipation and excitement over the skin return of Jesus Christ is what keeps me going some days. And yes i think it will be soon but even if not remember that all if us will meet Jesus in the next 80 years or so no matter when He returns.
At almost 60 I have maybe 30-40 years max til I meet my savior face to face no matter what. Until then I will be looking up with great anticipation!
Maranatha
The book of the Apocalypse is not poetic language - that’s in the Song of Songs.
The book of the Apocalypse is in the vein of other apocalyptic writing - most notably Daniel and a few verses in Matthew, but then also Jeremiah, Hosea, etc.
It uses dramatic imagery of cataclysmic disruptions to describe changes within the human political sphere - like Isaiah 30:26 promises that “the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the hurt of His people and heals the wounds inflicted by His bloe”
notice how the number Seven is used symbolically?
we notice this again in Isaiah 60:19-20 “Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself”
So to sum up - not poetry, rather part of apocalyptic literature is the vision of John of Patmos.