Jesus Christ told believers: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you with me that you also may be where I am” (John 13:3, emphasis mine). “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert!” “What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” (Mark 13:32-33, 37). “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36).
The early church followed Jesus’ words, watching, waiting, and praying. We are to do this still. If we are not allowed to know when the rapture and the tribulation (a seven year period preceding Christ’s second advent) will happen, but are to wait for Jesus expectantly, why argue about these things? Yet there is a strong debate among many in the Church today over these coming events.
There are those who believe Jesus will call up His own at any time, without warning or sign; these are the Pre-tribulationists. “Pre” meaning “before,” so the Church will be raptured before the tribulation (or The Day of the Lord) comes. There are those who believe the Church will be raptured at the mid-point of the tribulation, so they are called Mid-tribulationists. Finally, there are those who believe the Church will go through the tribulation but somehow be protected by God, only to be raptured when Christ comes to defeat Antichrist.
Before I attempt to summarize the positions of these three rapture theologies, some basic controversies can be mentioned. First of all, arguments arise over the original meanings of some Greek words. Did the authors use them in a standard way, or in a nonstandard way in order to express something new? Also of no small consequence to the three positions is the question of the intended audience of the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 21). There is much scholarly controversy over this, since Matthew 24:16-20 specifically addresses those living in Judea. So, how much of the entire discourse is addressed to future Jews, and how much to all believers?
Pre-tribulation Rapture Position
1) Christians are promised exemption from divine wrath. Some of the verses cited are (any emphases are mine): “[you] wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath” (1 Thes 1:10); “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thes 5:9); and, “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the world to test those who live on the earth” (Rev 3:10).
Pre-tribulationists believe that the whole 7-year period of the tribulation is a time of God’s wrath (beginning with Christ opening the first of the seven seals on the scroll in heaven [Rev 6:1]), and as stated in the last verse above (Rev 3:10), it is a test for those who remain. It’s a test that God knows most will fail, and so it will prove their unbelief. Many who come to believe in Christ after the tribulation starts will be killed by antichrist. This is the wrath of Satan (often referred to as The Wrath of Man), not of God.
2) There needs to be an interval between the rapture of the Church and Christ’s second coming. Because there are both gentile and Jewish believers that go into the millennial kingdom after Christ’s second coming (Isa 19:18-25, 60:1-3; Zech 14:16-21), all of Christ’s followers cannot be raptured at the end of the tribulation. If that happened, there would be no one left on the earth!
3) There are differences between rapture passages and second coming passages. There are no rapture passages that mention either a “sign” of Christ’s coming or a preliminary trial. Conversely, the two passages that clearly teach of Christ’s coming at the end of the tribulation, to defeat Antichrist and set up the millennial kingdom, do not mention the rapture (Zech 14:1-3, Matt 24:4-31).
The second half of this article is here.
Sources: Archer Jr., Gleason L., et al., Three Views on the Rapture: Pre-, Mid-, or Post-Tribulation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996 [1984]); Gundry, Stanley N., series editor, Counterpoints: Exploring Theology; Bickel, Bruce, and Stan Jantz, Bruce & Stan’s Guide to Bible Prophecy (Eugene: Harvest House Publishers, 1999), 139-176. Image source: http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Durer_Revelation_Four_Riders.jpg
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