A Pre-Tribulational Rapture?
— Thursday, May 19th, 2011 —
May 21, we’re told, is the end of it all. Harold Camping tells us it’s the day when the Rapture of the church will happen. Historic Christianity, of course, stands with Jesus over anyone who claims he knows the day or the hour of Jesus’ coming (Matt. 24:3-8). But what about the larger idea here? Is there a secret, sudden Rapture? Is that what we should expect?
While all orthodox Christians everywhere have affirmed the physical, bodily return of Jesus at the end of the age, contemporary evangelicals have disagreed—sometimes sharply—over the timing of this event, especially as it relates to the tribulation and the rise of the antichrist.
The emergence of dispensationalism in the nineteenth century fueled the idea of a pretribulational rapture. This is the view that the second coming arrives in two stages: a secret, unexpected “catching away” of believers before the tribulation, and a public, visible coming of Christ with his church at the end of this time of Jacob’s trouble.
A pretribulational rapture makes perfect sense within the context of a dispensationalist hermeneutic. The doctrine rests on several considerations: a sharp distinction between Israel and the church, the church as a parenthesis in God’s prophetic timetable, God’s promise that he will deliver his people from judgment, and the imminent return of Christ. The pretribulational rapture initially was argued by dispensationalists such as Darby and Scofield most significantly as the end of the “church age”—when God restarts his prophetic timetable with Israel, the onset of Daniel’s seventieth week, which has been on “pause” since the rejection of Jesus by the Jews in the first century. At the rapture, the “times of the Gentiles” are fulfilled and God turns again to his earthly people, Israel.
Dispensationalists still hold to a distinction between the church and Israel, but the idea of two peoples and two programs, is almost wholly abandoned by contemporary dispensationalist theologians, evacuating the primary theological reason for a pretribulational rapture.
The second important reason for a pretribulation rapture remains in place for most dispensationalists: in prophetic passages in the New Testament the church is said to be “not destined . . . for wrath” (1 Thess. 5:9). But the question is whether this passage speaks of “wrath” in terms of the tribulation or of ultimate wrath—condemnation and hell. It would seem to speak of the latter, since Paul contrasts this wrath with “salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us” (1 Thess. 5:9b–10a). God does promise that believers are exempt from wrath (Rom. 8:1), but he does not promise that they are exempt from tribulation; indeed he guarantees it for all who will live godly in Jesus (Rom. 8:17; Phil. 1:29; 1 Pet. 4:12–19).
In the Revelation, Jesus does promise the church at Philadelphia that he will keep it “from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world” (Rev. 3:10). It does not suggest, however, that he will do so by removing the church from the world.
Indeed, the pattern of God’s provision for his people, as he is pouring out judgment around them, is to bring them safely through such a disturbance—not to “rapture” them out of it. Thus, as the plagues fall on Egypt, for example—plagues that are repeated and intensified during the Apocalypse—God “makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel” (Exod. 11:7) by protecting Israel from the judgments, but he does not remove Israel until after the plagues are ended.
Moreover, the “salvation from wrath” argument is internally inconsistent. If even one redeemed person goes through the tribulation—and dispensationalists insist some will, Gentiles who turn to Christ after the rapture and the redeemed Jewish remnant—then this argument does not work. Someone who belongs to Christ is passing through the wrath of God in the tribulation.
The strongest argument for a pretribulational rapture is the case from imminence. The Scriptures call on believers always to be ready for the coming of Jesus, an unexpected event that will hit like a “thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:2). A signless rapture certainly does preserve the unpredictability of an anytime coming of Christ. And yet this argument assumes that the tribulation is a time wholly and obviously incongruous with the present era.
It assumes that an observer could read the newspaper and say, “Well, since the antichrist is on the move and Israel is converting, we have about six and a half years left until Jesus comes.” As we have noted above, the tribulation is an intensification of God’s judgments already being poured out on the cosmos; an explosion of persecutions that are already at work. How does one know that an antichrist on the scene now is the final antichrist?
To believers in some Islamic terrorist states, it may seem as though the great tribulation is now in full force. They may see the materialism and opulence and spiritual apathy of the West as a clear fulfillment of the great Babylon of the Apocalypse. Jesus does tell us his coming could be at any time, but the Bible also tells us not to let the day surprise us like a thief (1 Thess. 5:4). It does not make much sense that the Apostle Paul would comfort the Thessalonians that the coming of Christ has not yet occurred because the antichrist has not yet been unveiled (2 Thess. 2), if in fact the coming for believers is before the antichrist comes to power anyway. We are to be looking to the signs of the times, always understanding that, like those of first-century Galilee, we could be mistaken about whether God is fulfilling prophecies all around us.
Just because these arguments for a pretribulational rapture are not conclusive, this does not mean that the second coming could not come in two stages, one of them being before the tribulation. The Bible nowhere precludes a pretribulational rapture, and God has in times past fulfilled in stages prophetic events (such as the coming of the Messiah, after all). I certainly hope I am wrong about the timing of the rapture and will gladly concede this point to my pretrib friends while flying through the atmosphere.
Like the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the rapture of the church is a kingly act. The Bible makes clear that Jesus calls the dead and the living to him in the air with a shout. Just as God the Creator calls all things into existence by his word and just as Yahweh showed his sovereignty by whistling for the nations and they come to him speedily from the ends of the earth (Isa. 5:26), Jesus demonstrates his regal authority by calling his people forward, and even those in the graves come to him (John 5:25–29). The second coming is one further example that the sheep hear the voice of the Shepherd, and they follow him (John 10:3)—even into the air itself. The simultaneous explosion of cemeteries across the globe is a globalization seen in Jesus’ calling of Lazarus from his grave. Just as then, in Jesus’ death defying voice we see the glory of a God who always hears his Son (John 11:40–42).
22 Responses to “A Pre-Tribulational Rapture?”
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I have always had trouble understanding the pretribulational rapture theory. Whenever I have read an exlanation, I have looked at the verses cited and have come away confused. Many presuppositions have always accompanied the pretrib understanding of the verses I have seen cited. I have often gone away thinking: they sure have read a lot more into those verses than I can see.
I have come to the conclusion that unfullfilled prophecy is by defenition messy. We see broad outlines and hints of specifics, but we don’t really know how it is to pan out in detail until afterwards. See Jesus and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus… And such is the question of “from” or “through” the tribulation. In either case we rest in the promise that God loves and cares for His people, Jew and Gentile alike… and in the light of eternity with our Lord and Saviour, A few years of tribualtion will as nothing for those who are His…
Peace…
I always found it confusing to distinguish the “rapture” (I Cor 15) and the “Revelation” (Matt 24). They look like th same event, but for some reason, dispensationalists insist they are not.
One other quick memory, I was raised so dispensational that whenever I lot track of my Dad at the store or somewhere, my mind would immediatley ask, “Has the rapture taken place?” One day when my dad was late returning home, I remember calling everyone I knew - no one answered. I remember sitting on the bed crying, thinking perhaps I missed it…
I’m sure I can’t be the only one who ever did that…
One of my favorite Boyce moments - a great debate on Pre-millennialism (Dr. Akin), Post-millennialism (Dr. Brand), Amillennialism (Dr. Ostrander). After a great and lively debate a student went to the mic very distraught and cried, “it appears after several hours everyone has defended their position very well with good biblical hermeneutic, so what are we going to do now.” Dr. Brand replies without missing a beat, “I’m kinda hungry - I say let’s go get something to eat “.
Maybe the whole concept of a tribulation period should be questioned. Like the concept of a pre-tribulational rapture the concept of a seven-year tribulation is a dispensational construct. Dispensationalism is a systematic theology that has a particular eschatological perspective. That perspective cannot change without a change to the whole system. No where in Revelation is there a hint of a seven-year period. In fact, the rapture is not presented explicitly in Revelation. That does not mean there is not a rapture because Paul makes it clear that there is a “catching away” of the saints. But evidently, the rapture is not significant to the message of Revelation. Taking Paul’s teaching in 1 Thessalonians seriously, the rapture must occur at the time of the first resurrection and that is explicit in Revelation. Sometimes, systems of theology interfers with a clear reading of biblical context because it forces the reader to impose ideas on the text.
@Van G. Gill, “Like the concept of a pre-tribulational rapture the concept of a seven-year tribulation is a dispensational construct.”
I’ve known some Amill’s that held a “great tribulation” view within the Amill framwork. I’m not at all sure is it is only a dispensational concept. It is easy to think it is when Disps. give the tribualtion all the press coverage. But you may want o be careful of assuming such is the case.
Peasce…
I wanted to thank you for this statement, “A pretribulational rapture makes perfect sense within the context of a dispensationalist hermeneutic.” That’s it! That’s the heart of the matter (hermeneutics) in this whole issue. It may seem like a duh point but I think it is often overlooked, we need to get the base of the tree in order to see where the fruit is coming from. So, thank you for your gracious, clear and honest expression of the pre-trib rapture.
Excellent post, Dr. Moore. Thank you for speaking out on this subject.
When I attended a dispensationalist school, a lot of inconsistencies leaped out. I ignored them for a long time because I had so much respect for my teachers/mentors and they seemed so solid in the rest of their theology, that surely it was just me. After all, does a 21 yr old girl really have grounds to disagree with giants of the faith with PhDs? To say that Pentecost is flat out wrong? Or Chafer? Or Walvoord? Perish the thought. If I studied just a bit harder, surely I too could clearly see how to ‘rightly divide the word of truth’.
Still, the inconsistencies gnawed at me. For example, I was told the ‘last day’ isn’t really the last day, the ‘last trumpet’ isn’t really the last trumpet, the ‘Day of Christ’ is different than the ‘Day of the Lord’, believers who are martyred under Antichrist are not part of the church but are ‘tribulation saints’ (?), the Holy Spirit is removed at a pre-trib rapture yet people are converted during the tribulation WITHOUT the Holy Spirit, that Jesus isn’t speaking to the church at all in Matthew 24 but is speaking to his disciples as ‘future Jews’, that Paul’s depiction of Christ’s coming in 1 Thes. 4:15-17 is a completely different event than that described in Matt. 24 (even though the parallels are stikingly similar and Paul himself begins by referring to this as a ‘word from the Lord’ and using language that harkens straight back to the Olivet discourse) and on and on it goes. My mentors at the time never seemed to answer (or answered unconvincingly) these inconsistencies with Scripture but instead led me to believe this was the view of the early church. It was not. From what I have read of the early church writers, they were premillennial and lived in expectancy of the entire complex of events that would attend Christ’s coming.
What surprises me most about discussions of the ‘the Rapture’ is that there is a tendency to completely ignore the fact that it is part of the general Resurrection. Jesus repeatedly states in John ch.6 that He will raise believers on the LAST day. If this is true, how could the catching up of living believers take place at any time other than the LAST day?
When I talk to pre-trib friends on this topic, they assume I have ‘gone liberal’, ‘forsaken Israel’ or simply allowed Satan/and or the culture to lead me astray from the faith. None of that is true. Friendship prevents me from being blunt and suggesting that it is rather the ‘Left Behind’ culture leading them astray.
I sincerely wish more pastors who have reached the same convictions would not shrink away from this subject from the pulpit. At a time when films/books/radio continually press a pre-trib view, it would be nice for the historic pre-mil advocates in the trenches had a little ‘back-up’ from their leaders. I think this can be handled respectfully. For many who have been raised with the dispensationalist framework, they are genuinely surprised that there are legit evangelical scholars who hold any other view.
It’s always entertaining to see the way an advocate of the rapture theory twists bible verses and relates them it in order to justify their position.
@Susan Stilley, I must admit I have spent little time with my end time eschatology since it always seemed so confusing to me. My pastor when I was is my 20’s was an amillenialist so I didn’t hear much about the rapture.
I know that I need to think this all out, but this is one of those topics that I don’t feel an urgency about. I know that the Lord will return and it doesn’t seem to matter to me when or how it happens. A good friend used to say she was a panmillenialist — it would all pan out in the end. It may be a cop out, but I am just leaving it in the Lord’s hands.
Thank you Susan for your thoughtful discussion and request. I too have had a strong sense that this subject needs to be brought out of the realm of the theoretical and sensational into a rubber-meets-the-road context. Just as hell is real, so will be the second coming of Christ.
I have recently written a paper titled “The Approaching Day,” which I have posted at http://www.bereansnotepad.com/2.html (scroll to the bottom of the page). In it I not only address the question of timing, but more importantly I emphasize our need to soberly consider how the strong biblical warnings should impact our tangible life choices.
Thank you Russell for a thoughtful article on this difficult subject. My only disagreement is your statement that “The Bible nowhere precludes a pretribulational rapture,….”
I would suggest that 1Corinthians 15:22-24 does exactly that. Paul tell us that all who belong to Christ will be made alive at His coming. All means all. If all are made alive at His coming, there cannot be two separate comings. Later in the same chapter (vs 51-52) he states that the dead shall be raised and then we (who are alive) shall be changed. This passage has long been used by pre-trib adhgerents
These scriptures taken together with Hebrews 9:8 (a second coming, not a second and third) would seem to preclude any possibility of a pre-trib rapture.
I have a confession to make. As regards the End Times (or, as sometimes refer to the doctrine in this matter, the Last Daze) I am a near-complete agnostic. I do believe what it says in the Creed, that Jesus will return, “in power and great glory, to judge the living and the dead” … and that is almost it.
Here’s why. I was raised in a Pentecostal setting whose end-times theology was basically identical to that of the Fundamentalists. Growing up in the Seventies, the fear was very real (and was sometimes played on) that we might “miss” the Rapture, because we’d been too lazy etc. Pretty scary for a ten year-old.
In 1981 we had one of our major evangelists, someone called Barry Smith, write several books on the matter - bit difficult for me as an 18 yo to make decisions when you’re being told that the Rapture is just around the corner! The books’ names? Warning, Second Warning and, later on, Final Notice (in 1989).
Thirty years on we’re still all here. The Biblical material is there, but we don’t have the insight into it that we now have in terms of the Scriptures which prophesied Jesus’ first coming. I am sure that that is a deliberate state of affairs.
I have always been taught a pre trib rapture or in any case that is my understanding of the subject, but in my 14 yrs as a church pastor I have encountered many views on the subject, and many people in churches are confussed about it - and the Bible says God is not the author of confussion. Harold Camping is in a long line of what I consider False prophets he got it wrong and the criteria of Bible understanding of a prophet or see’r is that a one time miss means false prophet. My concern is that now unsaved people will take this and many more untruths and turn a deaf ear to true Biblical, solid teaching that do warn in the correct fashion under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, there are many warning in the scriptures - and we should heed them - We should as people of Gods church seek one place of safety - that is found in a close relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, realtionship is key in the winning and being an overcomer in the last days. I do not know what today holds but as the old song says “I know who holds tomorrow” - I pray for us all to stay close to Jesus everyday until he does comes and we are promised that in the Bible - he will come again, that we do know. Come quickly lord Jesus. Amen.
I agree with Dr. Moore. I do hope for a Pre-Trib Rapture but I do not feel that it is internally consistent with Scripture. So while the evil of men will grow worse and worse the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church.
God Bless
[Superb blog, Russell. Found this interesting little gem while webbing not long ago. Jeff]
PRETRIB RAPTURE SECRETS
How can the “rapture” be “imminent”? Acts 3:21 says that Jesus “must” stay in heaven (He’s now there with the Father) “until the times of restitution of all things” which includes, says Scofield, “the restoration of the theocracy under David’s Son” which obviously can’t begin before or during Antichrist’s reign. (”The Rapture Question,” by the long time No. 1 pretrib authority John Walvoord, didn’t dare to even list, in its scripture index, the too-hot-to-handle Acts 3:21!) Since Jesus can’t even leave heaven before the tribulation ends (Acts 2:34, 35 echo this), the rapture therefore can’t take place before the end of the trib! (The above verses from Acts were also too hot for John Darby - the so-called “father of dispensationalism” - to list in the scripture index in his “Letters”!)
Paul explains the “times and the seasons” (I Thess. 5:1) of the catching up (I Thess. 4:17) as the “day of the Lord” (5:2) which FOLLOWS the posttrib sun/moon darkening (Matt. 24:29; Acts 2:20) WHEN “sudden destruction” (5:3) of the wicked occurs! The “rest” for “all them that believe” is tied to such destruction in II Thess. 1:6-10! (If the wicked are destroyed before or during the trib, who’d be left alive to serve the Antichrist?) Paul also ties the change-into-immortality “rapture” (I Cor. 15:52) to the posttrib end of “death” (15:54). (Will death be ended before or during the trib? Of course not! And vs. 54 is also tied to Isa. 25:8 which is Israel’s posttrib resurrection!)
Many are unaware that before 1830 all Christians had always viewed I Thess. 4’s “catching up” as an integral part of the final second coming to earth. In 1830 this “rapture” was stretched forward and turned into a separate coming of Christ. To further strengthen their novel view, which the mass of evangelical scholars rejected throughout the 1800s, pretrib teachers in the early 1900s began to stretch forward the “day of the Lord” (what Darby and Scofield never dared to do) and hook it up with their already-stretched-forward “rapture.” Many leading evangelical scholars still weren’t convinced of pretrib, so pretrib teachers then began teaching that the “falling away” of II Thess. 2:3 is really a pretrib rapture (the same as saying that the “rapture” in 2:3 must happen before the “rapture” ["gathering"] in 2:1 can happen – the height of desperation!).
Other Google articles on the 181-year-old pretrib rapture view include “Famous Rapture Watchers,” “Pretrib Rapture Diehards,” “X-Raying Margaret,” “Edward Irving is Unnerving,” “Thomas Ice (Bloopers),” “Walvoord Melts Ice,” “Wily Jeffrey,” “The Rapture Index (Mad Theology),” “America’s Pretrib Rapture Traffickers,” “Roots of (Warlike) Christian Zionism,” “Scholars Weigh My Research,” “Pretrib Hypocrisy,” “Pretrib Rapture Secrecy,” “Deceiving and Being Deceived,” and “Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty” – all by the author of the bestselling book “The Rapture Plot” (see Armageddon Books).