The tribulation is a future seven year period of horrific
events. It is the time where God unleashes His Holy wrath against an unholy
world of evil doers. As a matter of fact Jesus said it will be the worst time
in human history (Matt 24:21). The last
three and one half years in particular will be the worst of all. All
one has to do is read Revelation chapters 6-18 which describes the Great
Tribulation (the last three and a half years) in great detail.
Another important matter that is always the topic of
discussion is where is the Church during this time in history? That is what I
want to discuss.
Regarding the Church there are 3 popular views: 1)
Pre-tribulational, 2) Mid-tribulational,
3) Post-tribulational.
Which view
is correct?
I’m admittedly a pre-tribulationalist. I believe the Church
will be raptured, caught up to meet the Lord in the air before God unleashes
His wrath on the earth. There are other well known people that hold to a
pre-tribulational view such as: Thomas Ice, Ron Rhodes, John Walvoord, D
Charles Stanley, John Macarthur, Norman Geisler, Chuck Missler, Chuck Smith,
John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Charles Ryrie, Charlie Campbell of Calvary
Chapel – Vista, and obviously Tim Lahaye, and Jerry Jenkins who authored the
famous “Left Behind “ series which has sold millions.
There are several reasons why I hold to a pre-tribulational
view.
1.
The Flood of Noah – Once Noah and his family with some
of the animals were safely in the ark and God closed the door, the floods came
and destroyed everything living thing outside of the ark. Only Noah and his
family along with the animals survived (Gen 7).
2.
Lot and family escape the judgment of
Sodom and Gomorrah –
Once the angels forced Lot, his wife (disobeyed and was turned into salt), and
his daughters out of the city, fire and brimstone rained on the city from
heaven and destroyed everyone in it (Gen 19).
3.
God protects the Hebrew’s firstborn
when the Lord’s strikes dead all the first born of Egypt – The 10th and final
plague on the land of Egypt brought great sorrow upon the Egyptians. The first
born of the Hebrews was not harmed (Ex 12:29-32).
4.
The protection of Rahab and her
family when God destroys Jericho – (Joshua 6).
The point I’m making is that in each instance, God protected
His people from calamity; either by protecting them through the judgment, or
removing them from it altogether.
I believe the Lord will do the same thing when the Rapture
takes place; He will snatch his Church out of the earth before He unleashes his
wrath on the earth for it’s wickedness.
The word
Rapture does not appear in the Bible
This is indeed true. The word Rapture is not in the Bible. In
I Thessalonians 4:17 we read of believers being caught up to meet the
Lord in the air; to be forever with the Lord. The word caught or catch is the
Greek word harpazo. This word means to seize, snatch by force. The latin
word is Rapturo where we get the
English word Rapture.
The first instance where a rapture occurs is when God takes
Enoch alive into heaven (Genesis 5:24). God also raptured the prophet Elijah in
2 Kings 2:11b. The Lord Jesus Christ was raptured into heaven in Acts 1:9. The
two witnesses were caught up to heaven In Revelation 11:12. The apostle Paul
was caught up to heaven to receive un-repeatable revelation in 2 Corinthians
12:2.
The apostle John was caught up in the Spirit and saw multiple
heavenly visions that he was to record in Revelation 4:1-2.
The point I’m making is just because the exact word does not
appear in the Bible does not deny the reality of the event in the Bible.
What
about the Mid-tribulational view?
There are those that subscribe to a mid-tribulational view in
regards to the rapture. Meaning they believe the rapture will occur in the
middle of the seven year tribulation; at the point where we reach what Jesus
called “Great Tribulation” (Matt 24:21). This is the point where the man of sin
is revealed (The beast of Revelation), 2 Thessalonians 2:4.
I respectfully disagree with this conclusion for the four
reasons I mentioned above, and along what Revelation 3:10 where Jesus through
John addresses the Church in Philadelphia, “Because you have kept the word of
my patience, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole
world to try those who dwell on the earth”.
The Lord is I believe is not only preserving us through it,
but delivering us out of it before it occurs. Keep in mind, the rapture is a
sign-less event; meaning there are no precursory signs that have to take place
before it occurs. It can happen at anytime. Even today!
Another reason I believe in a pre-tribulational rapture is in
John 14:2-3. This is where Jesus says He is leaving to prepare a place for us in
His Father’s house. Obviously since He is doing this, He will take us to Heaven
where He is one day. This to me is why I believe the Lord has to be referring to the rapture
of the Church.
Won’t there be people that are saved during
the Tribulation? If so, how you can say believers are raptured to heaven before
the Tribulation occurs?
Those that are saved during the tribulation are who we call
tribulation saints. The Church I believe has been taken to heaven by the Lord
prior to the seven year Tribulation period. The Bible tells us in Revelation
14:6 that an angel will preach the eternal gospel to those on the earth. This
will bring about the salvation of many people along with those saints who
preach the gospel to others resulting in more souls being saved. Many of these
tribulational Saints will die for their gospel witness while on earth and will
seek vengeance on their own blood (Rev 6:9-11; 20:4). Others no doubt will
survive the great tribulation and will become along with those saints that are killed I believe the sheep
described by Jesus in Matthew 25:34-41. The saints that die during the tribulation,
and those that survive will both reign with Christ one thousand years. This will include all saints from the Old and
New Testaments that come back with the Lord at the Battle of Armageddon (Rev
19).
Isn’t the Rapture and
the Day of The Lord one and the same event?
Those that hold to the view that the rapture (the catching
away of the Church), and the return of Christ are the same event support a
post-tribulational view of the rapture.
Supporters of this position say that if one believes in a
rapture where Jesus takes saints to heaven before the tribulation are indeed
advocating two returns of Jesus Christ. The first return would be the rapture
of the Church where the saints of God meet Him in the air ( Thess 4:16-18). The
second return would be at the end of tribulation at the battle of Armageddon
(Rev 19).
Those that support a pre-tribulational position do not see
the rapture as the second coming of Christ. Reason being is that at that time
He is not coming in judgment, He is simply returning to gather His Church/Bride
and take them to the place that He has prepared for them (John 14:2-3).
What the post-tribulationist believe is that when the Christ
returns for judgment, He will at that time resurrect saints who have already
died in Him, and transform living saints, making them immortal (I Cor 15:51-58;
I Thess 4:13-18). All of these will meet Him in the air only to come
immediately back down with Him so that He can destroy the armies of the earth
brought together by the Beast and False Prophet (Rev 19:19-21).
Here are some problems I have with the post-tribulational
view:
1.
If
the saints are only going to meet the Lord in the air and not taken into
heaven, what was the point in Jesus preparing a place for us in His Father’s
house If He never was going to take us there (John 14:2-3)?
2.
Supporting
a post-tribulational view means that all the Church will endure the horrors of
the judgments of God. This view contradicts Revelation 3:10.
3.
There
is no mention of the Church in chapters 6-18 of Revelation which implies that it was not on earth during
the tribulation. The Church is not alluded to again until chapter 19 onward.
4.
With
the rapture we will meet the Lord in the air. With the day of the Lord, Jesus
is coming back to earth to destroy His enemies and set up His eternal kingdom
(Daniel 2:44).
5.
For
saints to be resurrected and transformed to immortality, meet the Lord in the
air only to come right back down to the earth is illogical. Though I can not be
dogmatic, it doesn’t appear the Lord is going to do this.
6.
Post-tribulationists
deny imminency, that Christ could come for His Church at any moment. Since they
believe the rapture occurs at the second coming, the rapture for them contains
all the precursory signs of the second coming described by Jesus in Matthew 24.
There would be no need for a rapture at all; for the second coming swallows it
up.
7.
Jude
vs. 14 indicates the Lord will return with ten thousands of His saints to
execute judgment on the earth. This would indicate that in order for the saints
to come to earth with the Lord, the Lord had to have captured them prior to His
return. This speaks of a pre-tribulational rapture. A similar passage is in Revelation
19:14.
8.
Paul
mentions that the rapture of the Church as comforting news (I Thess 4:18). The
second coming is anything but that. Listen to the Prophets of old in describing
the day of the Lord (i.e. the second coming):
a. Micah – For
behold the day is coming, burning like and oven…Behold I will send you the
Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord (Micah 4:1, 5)
b. Zechariah –
Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your
midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city
shall be taken the houses rifled, and the women ravished (Zech 14:1-2a).
c. Zephaniah –
The great day of the Lord is near; it is near and hastens quickly. The noise of
the day of the Lord is bitter. There the mighty men will cry out. That day is a day of wrath, a day of
trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness
and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness (Zeph 1:14-15).
d. Obadiah – For
the day of the Lord upon all nations is near (vs 15).
e. Joel – And I
show wonders in the heavens and in the earth; Blood and fire and pillars of
smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood before
the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord (Joel 2:30-31).
f.
Isaiah – Behold the day of the Lord comes, cruel with both wrath and fierce anger,
to lay the land desolate, and He will
destroy its sinners from it . I will punish the world for its evil, and
the wicked for their iniquity (Isa 13:9, 11a).
9.
Post-tribulationists
make no room for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Christ’s bride, the Church
are clothed in clean bright linen before his return to earth in preparation for
this blessed event. If the rapture occurs after the tribulation, and the Church
is still on the earth, this holy matrimony does not occur. Christ does not
claim His bride after the tribulation, but before. That is why they return from
heaven to earth with Him (Rev 19:8).
10. If the rapture occurs at the second
coming what would be the point of the dead rising in Christ first in I Cor 15
and I Thess 4? The Lord might as well wait to raise the dead in Christ upon His
return to earth since they are not going to heaven (in the Posttribs view).
11. The scripture clearly teach that the
rapture is a mystery unknown until Paul revealed it in I Cor 15:51. We shall be
changed in the twinkling of an eye. The day of the Lord was prophesied in the
OT (see #8). The rapture was not.
12. The scripture tells us that God has
not appointed us to wrath, and also that God has delivered us from the wrath to
come (I Thess 1:10; 5:9). In Revelation 6:15-17 we read, And the kings of the
earth, the great men, and the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every
slave, and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the
mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb! For the
great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
We see that the wrath of God is
reserved for his enemies and not His saints. Although some tribulation
saints will have to suffer and die during the tribulation, they will be
resurrected to eternal life once the Millennium takes place.
It is clearly evident I believe the rapture and the day of
the Lord are two distinct events. They are just too dissimilar.
What about the last trumpet
in I Corinthians 15:52 and the seventh
trumpet in Revelation 11:15; aren’t they the same?
It is assumed by some (I would imagine mostly
post-tribulationists) that these trumpets are the same, but they are not. At
the last trumpet the Lord himself is commanding the righteous dead to wake up.
There will be the resurrection of dead saints who will be raised immortal along
with the living saints who will be changed at the rapture. These saints will
meet the Lord in the air. The seventh trumpet in Revelation signifies the coming
of the Lord to the earth to destroy His enemies. Notice in Revelation 11:19 it
says there were lightnings, noises, thundering, an earthquake, and great hail.
There is no such description in I Cor 15:51-52 or I Thess 4:16-18.
How can you
pre-tribulationists say there is a resurrection of dead saints prior to the
rapture when Revelation 20:4-6 refers to the first resurrection after the
second coming?
In I Cor 15:51-52 and I Thess 4:16-17 discusses the
resurrection of the saints, Old and New Testament. What is occurring is that
the person’s spirit which is heaven will be joined with their physical bodies (2 Cor 5:8). They will be alive again immortal; never to die again. This is what Bible
describes as our glorification. Our salvation has reached it’s final stage.
Once the dead are raised and those who are alive and remain are caught up to
meet the Lord in the air we are taken to heaven.
So, what is the first resurrection spoken of in Revelation
20:4-6? The first resurrection refers to those believers who are killed during the
great tribulation (the last 3 ½ years). We refer to them as tribulation
martyrs. These are the ones who refused to accept the mark of the beast (also
known as the man of sin, Antichrist, and little horn) on their right hand or
foreheads. They were faithful to the call of God The Bible tells us they will
be resurrected to reign with Christ for one thousand years. This the first
resurrection is called that because the second resurrection occurs after the
one thousand years have been finished. The second resurrection is strictly for all the
wicked who lived their lives in rebellion against
the word of God. They will face the Great White Throne
judgment, and be thrown alive into
the Lake of Fire because their names were not written in the Book of Life (Rev
20:15).
So now one can see why the first resurrection is called that
simply to differentiated it from the second one. The first resurrection in
Revelation 20:4-6 has nothing to do with the resurrection that occurs during
the rapture which happens before the tribulation, second coming and millennium.
To say that the resurrection rapture (if
one permits the expression) occurs after the second coming as posttribs believe
would force these events out of sequence.
Concluding, there is no doubt the Bible teaches the rapture
of the Church. The big divide among pre and post tribulationists is regarding
when it occurs. The aforementioned has to support a pretrib position. To the
writer it is the only way the events during the end times harmonize.