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VBVMI StaffYou teach that Noah and his family waited seven days in the ark before the flood came, which is a picture of the Rapture happening before the seven-year Tribulation, but Genesis 7:11-16 says they entered the ark on the same day that the rains came. Doesn't that change our understanding of the timing of the Rapture?
It's important to note that Genesis 7 is not written in a purely chronological fashion. Moses doubles back in a circular manner typical of an Eastern, Hebraic style of writing as he tells the story of the flood. If we reorder the text of Genesis 7 slightly, we can create a chronological progression in the narrative, which allows us to understand the narrative more clearly:
Reordering the text in this way produces a chronological sequence, and in that sequence, we can clearly see that the phrase "on the very same day" in v.13 is speaking about the day Noah and the animals entered the ark, not the day the flood came. The family entered on one day and then seven days later the flood came.
Therefore, the imagery of the Rapture is not disturbed, and in fact, this reinforces the picture, because it confirms that all believers in the Church will be removed from the earth in the same moment, "on the very same day" so to speak.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org