Joseph Prince’s use of blessed hope in Titus 2:13 to justify escape from tribulation is flatly false – By Rev George Ong (Dated 22 Feb 2023)
(This article was also sent to Rev Dr Ngoei Foong Nghian, General Secretary, National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS) office, and for the attention of the Executive Committee Members.)
In a weekly Sunday sermon aired on YouTube on 19 Feb 2023, 3 days ago, Joseph Prince said;
Please click here to view the 30-second video:
“That is the blessed hope. If you tell me the rapture will happen when Jesus comes back, it’s referring to Jesus at the end of 7 years’ tribulation. That’s not the blessed hope for the church. How is that the blessed hope when we are going through the worst 7 years of tribulation that the world has ever seen.”
“To say that we are going through it, what blessed hope? Amen. But to say that we won’t be going through it, yes, that’s blessed hope.”
You may not have realised something
– Joseph Prince mentioned the 2 words, ‘blessed hope’ many times in the short speech and the entire sermon,
yet, he didn’t even show the text that he took them from.
You know why?
This is because he knows very well that once he shows you the text,
his ploy at misinterpreting it would be exposed.
So let me show you the text that Joseph Prince takes them from,
and allow me to expose his deliberate misinterpretation of the scriptures.
Joseph Prince has erroneously claimed that the ‘blessed hope’ in Titus 2:13 refers to the Pre-trib rapture to escape tribulation.
He probably pounced on the KJ or the NKJ translations to advance such a claim:
Titus 2:13 KJV
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Titus 2:13 NKJV
looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
Pre-tribbers, such as Joseph Prince
have claimed that the ‘blessed hope’
which refers to the Pre-trib rapture,
and the ‘glorious appearing’
which refers to Christ’s second coming (at the Post-trib rapture),
are two separate items.
But NIV, NET, NLT, GNT, EHV, NET, CJB, RSV, CSB, CEV, ESV and many other versions,
have translated the verse clearly and unambiguously
that the ‘blessed hope’ is the ‘glorious appearing of Christ’,
which refers to the second coming of Christ;
are not two different or separate events,
but one and the same event:
Titus 2:13 EHV
while we wait for the blessed hope, that is, the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Titus 2:13 NIV
while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Titus 2:13 NET
as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Titus 2:13 NLT
while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.
Titus 2:13 GNT
as we wait for the blessed Day we hope for, when the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ will appear.
Titus 2:13 NET
as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Titus 2:13 CJB
while continuing to expect the blessed fulfillment of our certain hope, which is the appearing of the Sh’khinah of our great God and the appearing of our Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah.
Titus 2:13 RSV
awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
Titus 2:13 CSB
while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Titus 2:13 ESV
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
Titus 2:13 CEV
We are filled with hope, as we wait for the glorious return of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
In other words,
the ‘blessed hope’ and the ‘glorious appearing or return of Christ’
are not two different issues
but they are one and the same entity.
Unbelievably, Joseph Prince has wildly claimed
that the ‘blessed hope’ in Titus 2:13
is the escape from tribulation through the Pre-trib rapture,
even though both the words ‘rapture’ and ‘tribulation’
aren’t even found in the text.
There is no evidence whatsoever that
the ‘blessed hope’ in Titus 2:13
is defined as ‘Rapture to escape from Tribulation’.
This is another classic case where Joseph Prince
has dishonestly added to the word of God,
and blatantly read his own ideas into a text
to make his theology fit.
The ‘blessed hope’ has nothing to do with escaping tribulation through the Pre-tribulation rapture
but everything to do with the Post-tribulation return of Christ in His glorious appearing.
Let’s look at the verse again:
Titus 2:13 EHV
while we wait for the blessed hope, that is, the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Titus 2:13 KJV
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
When will Jesus appear in glory (glorious appearing) at His second coming?
Only at the end of the tribulation will He come at His glorious appearing and establish the millennial kingdom.
Even Pre-tribbers, such as Joseph Prince, would quickly agree with this.
But Joseph Prince went on to argue that
the ‘blessed hope’ and ‘the glorious appearing’ in Titus 2:13
are two separate items, which is not the case.
They are both referring to the same entity.
If one can justify separating the ‘blessed hope’ from being part of ‘the appearing’ of Jesus,
then heretics who do not believe in the divinity of Jesus would be justified
to separate ‘the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ’
into two persons,
namely, ‘the great God’ as referring to Father God
as separate from ‘our Saviour Jesus Christ’:
Titus 2:13 KJV
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
That’s what some cults actually did to argue against the deity of Jesus.
The cults have used this faulty interpretation to prove that
since Jesus is not ‘the great God’ (as that only refers to Father God, and not Jesus),
He is not divine.
But the text is clear that the great God
and our Saviour Jesus Christ
is the same person.
In other words, Jesus Christ is both God and Saviour.
In the same way,
the ‘blessed hope’, and ‘the glorious appearing of Christ’
are referring to the same entity.
The ‘blessed hope’
is indeed not the Pre-trib rapture,
but the Post-trib return in the second coming of Christ
when He comes to resurrect and rapture the saints,
and judge the world and reign over it.
Let us not be inconsistent with our Biblical exegesis, especially when we are dealing with the same sentence structures in the very same verse.
The appearing of Jesus in glory is ‘the blessed hope’ for every generation of Christians
just as much as Jesus is ‘our great God and Saviour’.
The so-called ‘Pre-trib rapture’ of the final generation of saints to escape tribulation seven years before Christ’s glorious appearing
as espoused by Joseph Prince
is not the ‘blessed hope’ of the Church.
The true and blessed hope of the Church
is the hope of eternal life
when our bodies are resurrected at the revelation and coming of Christ:
Titus 1:1-2 NIV
1 … leads to godliness – 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
Titus 3:7 NIV
so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
1 Thessalonians 5:8 NIV
… let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
Romans 8:23-24 NIV
23 … but we ourselves… groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved…
Acts 23:6 NIV
Then Paul… “… I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”
1 Peter 1:13 NIV
… set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.
So, from these scriptures,
it is clearly established that the Christian hope is eternal life
that will be consummated in the resurrection of our bodies
which will happen at Christ’s glorious appearing and coming,
and not the Pre-trib rapture to escape tribulation,
as falsely taught by Joseph Prince.
Pre-trib teachers, such as Joseph Prince, vigorously argue that going through a time of great tribulation would ‘taint’ the ‘blessed hope’.
How could the Church going through tribulation take away our ‘blessed hope’ of resurrection and eternal life?
Impossible!
To argue that going through a time of great tribulation would ‘taint’ the ‘blessed hope’ is a great and grave insult
to the many thousands of martyred and severely persecuted Christians all across the globe and throughout the ages.
If the persecution or tribulation experienced by the early Church and Christians throughout the history of the Christian Church
didn’t take away the blessedness of their hope,
neither should the suffering in the tribulation in the last 7 years
take away the blessedness of the hope
for the last generation of believers.
Next, this ‘blessed hope’ Pre-trib teaching of Joseph Prince
undeniably reveals his arrogance.
Please click here to view the 30-second video again of what Joseph Prince said:
“That is the blessed hope. If you tell me the rapture will happen when Jesus comes back, it’s referring to Jesus at the end of 7 years’ tribulation. That’s not the blessed hope for the church. How is that the blessed hope when we are going through the worst 7 years of tribulation that the world has ever seen.”
“To say that we are going through it, what blessed hope? Amen. But to say that we won’t be going through it, yes, that’s blessed hope.”
By interpreting the ‘blessed hope’
to just referring to escaping tribulation through rapture,
Prince is stating that the last generation is the only generation that would inherit this ‘blessed hope’,
while the bulk of the church throughout all the ages of history has been disqualified from it.
How could the ‘blessed hope’ be the Pre-trib rapture just for the last generation of believers?
Friends, the ‘blessed hope’ is not just for one last group or the final generation,
but it must be the ‘blessed hope’ for all other generations of Christians as well.
The ‘blessed hope’ is not about being exempted from persecution or tribulation.
Joseph Prince is so fixated on escaping the tribulation in order to make his grace theology feel-good so as to attract the multitudes,
that he doesn’t even care that the ‘the blessed hope’ is for ALL true believers in God throughout ALL of human history,
and not just the ones who are alive for a rapture to save one generation from some suffering.
The escape from tribulation, as it is being presented by Joseph Prince,
is nothing more than a desire of human nature to escape trouble and pain, and avoid suffering and tribulation.
It is the fleshly, self-centered ‘believer’ who is seeking an escape from all discomfort and trouble.
Joseph Prince’s blessed hope that you would escape tribulation is just another of his many feel-good theologies that have attracted millions.
This is the reason why Joseph Prince is able to attract millions of followers, as they are often drawn to the feel-good theology that Prince offers.
For Joseph Prince to assert that the last end-time generation,
which forms only a small portion of the whole population of Christendom throughout the ages,
is the only exclusive generation that stands to enjoy the ‘blessed hope’
is arrogance of the highest order.
According to Joseph Prince, the blessed hope of the Church is the escape from the Great Tribulation that is coming on the world.
On the contrary, there is no passage in scripture that encourages believers to hope they may escape the horrors of the Tribulation.
The reality is that we find passages that speak of the Christian’s hope (blessed hope)
that is integrally linked to the thought of patient endurance and tribulation:
Romans 5:3-4 (NKJV)
3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.
In Romans 5:3-4, the precious lesson is that
we can even glory in tribulations
because they produce perseverance and hope (blessed hope)
We also find passages that encourage believers to rejoice even in the midst of tribulation:
Romans 12:12 (NKJV)
rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, (See also Rom 15:4, 1 Cor 13:7, 1 Thess 1:3).
Note that hope and tribulation are also connected in Romans 12:12.
Not just rejoice, but the scriptures went on to exhort us that we can be ‘exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation’:
2 Corinthians 7:4 (KJV)
“Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.”
It didn’t say,
“I am so comforted and joyful because I will be raptured before the tribulation to escape all the trouble, as Joseph Prince has, more or less, put it.”
Rather, it says,
“I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.”
The word, ‘all’ simply means no exception is to be made even of the Great Tribulation
– that we can even rejoice in the Great Tribulation that every believer in the end-times will go through.
Last, there are also scriptures reminding us that it is through much tribulation that we enter the Kingdom of God.
Acts 14:22 (KJV)
“… we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
If the Church must go through ‘much tribulation to enter the kingdom of God’,
it is because ‘much tribulation’
is necessary for her development in faith and perseverance (Jas 1:2-3, 1 Pet 1:6-7, Rom 5:3-4).
And if faith and perseverance can be developed only to the extent that one endures tribulation,
then doesn’t it follow that the greatest of all tribulations will be required to develop the greatest of all faith and perseverance.
Yet, Joseph Prince is telling us that we can enter the Kingdom of God without going through the Great Tribulation.
Whether the tribulation is great or small, no exception is made in Acts 14:22.
This gives Joseph Prince no right to make the Great Tribulation an exception
for which believers are excused from going through.
Hence, Joseph Prince’s view
that the ‘blessed hope’ in Titus 2:13 refers to the Pre-trib rapture to escape tribulation
is not only groundless but flatly false.
Rev George Ong