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Well, if Daniel fasted and mourned for three full weeks, and if Gabriel fought for those three weeks with the prince of Persia in order to get the message to Daniel, then there must be something cosmically important about this message. If God arranged for the apostle John to be on the Isle of Patmos, and there while he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day God gave him visions of the future, then would He not also prepare our hearts to hear it? Did these two men waste their time? Daniel is called "greatly beloved." John is the disciple "whom Jesus loved." How can we not read what they wrote?
When Jesus was on earth, He was asked many questions. His longest answer was in response to questions about end time events.
Of all 66 books in the Bible, one book explicitly promises blessing to those who read it, hear it's words, and keep it. Verse one of that book says that God gave the Revelation to Jesus Christ, He in turn entrusted it to his angel, the angel then showed the signs to John, and John passed it on to all of God's servants. After all those handoffs, who would now break that chain of custody? Who would forfeit the blessing?
Genesis and Revelation are the bookends of the Bible, framing everything in between. From these bookends we learn about the creation of the original earth and of the new earth, the war between the serpent and the seed, and the tree of life. Who reads a novel without reading the last chapter? How can we not read both the beginning and the end, as well as everything in between?
Now let me share a tip for reading Revelation. It need not be so mysterious. Revelation is a revealing. To help with that, think of how you read other stories. Usually you identify with a character in the story. Or when you see a play, you identify with someone in that play. Likewise, when I read Revelation I like to identify with the 24 elders. Those are the redeemed ones who appear four times in the book, each time at a strategic spot. Enter into their songs. Enter into their prayers.
Don't despair. Don't let anyone tell you that you cannot understand the Bible. Don't let anyone ever take the Bible out of your hands. Hide His Word deeply within your heart where no one can get at it.
God provided apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Why? Is it so that we would hear hopelessly confusing interpretations? No. The ultimate purpose, according to Paul's letter to the Ephesians, is that we all come to "the unity of the faith." We can do our part to arrive at that unity of faith. We can be like the Bereans who searched the Scriptures daily.
When you hear various teachings, examine the reasons behind the teachings. Is it backed up by Scripture? Is the Scripture in context? Is there another Scripture that is more in context? Does the teacher have to jump through hoops to arrive at his interpretation? Or does the interpretation come naturally out of the Scripture itself. As a general rule, I would say, the less interpretation the better. Just let God's Word be God's Word.
As for me, I have been corrected numerous times. So if I'm right at all, it's only because I was willing to admit I was wrong.
According to Wikipedia, the English word "rapture" is derived from Middle French "rapture," via the Medieval Latin "raptura." In 1 Thessalonians 4:17 the Latin Vulgate translates the Greek word "harpagisometha" as "rapiemur," from the verb "rapio" meaning "to catch up" or "take away." The Greek means "caught up" as the King James Version translates the word in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, and so you can just say "caught up" instead of "rapture."
I like to take a fresh look and not assume too much. Let's take three steps in the progress of revelation. First, Jesus taught about His second coming, and He said that we do not know the day nor the hour nor the time. Second, Paul taught about the second coming, and he gave the first, and only, description of our catching up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Third, John reveals the promise to keep us out of the hour of temptation. So Jesus reveals the surprise, Paul reveals the description, and John reveals the timing. I prefer to follow the progress of revelation as it plays out rather than to rest on prior assumptions.
Now to try to find the timing of the rapture in other places where it is not talking about timing leads to needless argument. Likewise, to try to find its description in other places where it is not talking about that leads to needless argument. We can avoid those arguments. We can assume less, read less into Scripture, and argue less.