Rapture in Revelation

Rapture in Revelation

Reading Revelation as part of my daily readings and I am coming across more scriptures that convince me of a post-trib rapture.
Revelation 1:7-11 “7 BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

The Patmos Vision

9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, 11 saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

Verse 7 is clearly a rapture scripture, the clearest one in the whole book, but no pre-trib person will refer to it, because it is obviously at the end of the tribulation, when Israel as a nation, sees Jesus and converts to “Him who they have pierced.” Also it is not a secret event, like a pre-trib rapture, all the earth sees Him.
Verse 9 can we all agree John (who was only on Patmos because they tried to boil him in oil and he did not die) and Paul both experienced severe tribulation, all of the apostles but John were martyred. The point is we persevere, we continue to live out the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, no matter what the cost, just like they did. Why would we expect rescue from tribulation when the author’s Paul, Peter and John all went through it.
Verse 11 the book, the entire book is sent to the 7 churches. Why? Why send a book to the churches if a majority of the chapters will be spent describing events that the church will be totally absent from the earth for. “You won’t be here but...” I don’t think so. There is no rapture of the church in Revelation, the place where it most obviously should have shown up, and it is absent in the description of the last days, there should be a, “and before all this starts to go down, Jesus will take His favored little church out of the way so they don’t get hurt.” sorry, no such thing is in the book.

Revelation 2:10 “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’ ”
Oh man Smyrna, it’s too bad for you. You have to endure tribulation unto death. Jesus expects you to be faithful in the midst of severe tribulation unto death. His only concern for you is the glorious truth that you won’t be hurt by the ‘second death.’ Wait a minute, what does Jesus have against the church at Smyrna that He is making them walk through something pre-trib says the church won’t have to walk through...easy solution, they are wrong. Tribulation purifies our love and trust like nothing else can.

Revelation 3:10 “ Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” I have answered this in other places but since it is the favorite scripture of the pre-trib people, I will zero in on it again. “I also will keep you” sounds alot like, John 17:15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.” The reason they seem to be the same is, the translation is accurate, they are the same greek word. tēreō
Which makes the meaning of 3:10 I will keep you in the midst of the world from the evil one. Ultimately satan will not have you, I have you. But you are not being “taken out of the world.” Trust me church, in the midst of persecution, be a living testimony of my faithfulness in the midst of persecution. That is what I hear.

Revelation 6:9-11 “9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”
The martyrs cry out, during the tribulation, and are told to wait for the brethren and fellow servants who are yet to be martyred during the tribulation. So the church is still on the earth, persevering and believing and trusting unto death. They are brethren and fellow servants, there is no distinction made, that the church is in heaven and the ‘lesser loved by God’ are just a bunch of ??? I don’t even know what, still on the earth. Some would say they are Jews who believe, well when 2 or more Jews who believe “gather” on earth, what is that called... ding, ding ding Right, CHURCH!

I have only read up to chapter 6 so I may add more to this.