The different views of the rapture in relation to the great tribulation
7 May 2008INTRODUCTION
The rapture is an area of Christian theology which has
historically received little attention with regards to precise
formulation. A brief survey of works detailing the development
of doctrine (such as Bromiley, 1978) reveals almost no
acknowledgment of the rapture. This is perhaps explained by
Berkhof (1975, p. 259) who states “The doctrine of the last
things never stood in the centre of attention, is one of the
least developed doctrines, and therefore calls for no elaborate
discussion.
Further, the very notion of the rapture is much-derided by
critics who find fault due to the allegedly non-existence of
such a doctrine in the scriptures; the seemingly non-existence
of the very word “rapture” in the scriptures (though such an
argument would apply to the Trinity also); and the thought that
the idea of a “secret rapture” where the Church is transported
safely from a catastrophic time of tribulation is foreign to
God’s plans and purposes as revealed in history - for indeed,
“the blood of the martyrs is the very seed of the Church”
(Cairns, 1981, p.93).
Such arguments are untenable. The main basis for the rapture
doctrine is I Thessalonians 4:13-18 : Brothers, we do not want
you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve
like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus
died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with
Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are
still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will
certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord
himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with
the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and
the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still
alive and are left will be caught up with them in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord
forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.
>From this passage the notion of the rapture is clear; at some
future time all of the saints of God, both dead and alive, shall
be “caught up” into the air to be with their Lord! The Greek
word for “caught up” is arpazo, which means to pluck away
(Zodhiates, 1992, p. 1270) and would be well translated
“rapture” in a Latin Bible (Willmington, n.d, p. 825), such as
Jerome’s vulgate - so the word itself is scriptural (just not in
an English translation), as indeed is the notion. The third
objection listed is specific to a particular theological
framework and shall be discussed later. Indeed, many objections
exist, not least that of sincere Christian brethren who seek to
know what must happen to the defenceless family pet when its
owners are suddenly raptured! Such an argument is, of course,
based on emotional issues rather than the scriptures and
detracts from the real issue at hand.
Paul reveals more information in I Corinthians 15:51-52 :
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will
all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be
raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
Having established a preliminary scriptural basis for the
rapture, however, a new problem arises with regards to its
chronological location. As Stern (1992, p. 623) points out,
“Only in relation to the premillenial position does the issue of
when the rapture takes place arise; for Post- and
Amillenialists, the Rapture is vaguely identified with the
Messiah’s one and only return.” This means that the concept of
the rapture is only particularly defined in the pre-millenial
system of theology. However, this leaves three potential general
times for the rapture to occur, defined in terms of the coming
“great tribulation” - before the tribulation period
(pre-tribulational), during the tribulation period
(mid-tribulational) or after the tribulation period
(post-tribulational). Some humourously (and non-seriously)
suggest a fourth possibility of “pan-tribulationalism” - as God
is in control there is no need to worry about such matters; all
will eventually “pan” out according to His plans. The former
three views however, are worthy of considerable discussion.
POST-TRIBULATION
In essence, the post-tribulational system decrees that the
rapture occurs after the tribulation period - the natural
consequence being that the Church must endure it. Willmington
(n.d., p. 825) dismisses this view of the rapture by appealing
to I Thessalonians 5:9 (”For God did not appoint us to suffer
wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ”)
and Revelation 3:10 (”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 whole world to test those who live on the
earth”).
Nevertheless, post-tribulationists dismiss Willmington’s views,
appealing to John 16:33, “in this world you will have
tribulation”. To the post-tribulationist, it is unthinkable that
God would offer a remarkable transport to the Church as an
escape route in the face of global disaster, eluded to earlier
(although such was the case with Noah). Truly throughout history
the Church has suffered persecution - indeed under such
persecution the Church has historically thrived - not
materially, but in a spiritual harvest, as faith is refined and
tested and the gospel is propagated to further regions. This was
the case in Jerusalem - “Those who had been scattered preached
the word wherever they went” (Acts 8:4). This was the case under
Roman persecution (Cairns, 1981, p. 91-93). Persecution kept the
Church pure - it kept hypocritical, dishonest and insincere
people from the Church. “No light decisions were made for Christ
in those times, especially when acceptance of Christ meant
possible loss of citizenship; imprisonment with daily starvation
and torture until death; crucifixion, and sometimes burning
while still alive and hanging on the cross. . . .” (Hamon, 1981,
p. 80-81). Such is the essence of the Puritan classic, Foxe’s
Christian Martyrs of the World.
The flaw in this logic, however, is that the tribulation period
is not a time of persecution. Rather, it is a time of God’s
wrath being outpoured on the earth. During this time people
shall cry to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide
us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the
wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come,
and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:16-17). When Christ returns,
“He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God
Almighty” (Revelation 19:15). Willmington’s verses above apply
most certainly - for God has appointed His Church to salvation
and not to wrath. Surely the day of the Lord will be terrible
(Malachi 4:5)!
Messianic Jewish scholar David Stern offers a different and
original reason for his holding to the post-tribulation view -
it is unthinkable “that Messianic Jews are to be faced with the
decision of whether to identify with their own people the Jews
and stay to suffer or with their own people the believers (the
Messianic Community, the Church) and escape” (Stern, 1992, p.
623). Stern develops this idea further : “But if Sha’ul [Paul]
and other Jewish believers are members both of Israel and of the
Messianic Community, Pre-Tribulationists must answer this
question: when the rapture takes place, do Jewish believers in
Yeshua [Jesus] stay behind with the rest of physical Israel, or
do they join the rest of the Messianic Community with Yeshua in
the air? They can’t be in both places at once. Is it a matter of
our personal choice? Do we have to choose whether to be more
loyal to the Jewish people or to our brothers in the Messiah?
This is an absurd question, absurd because the situation
proposed will never arise” (Stern, 1992, p. 804).
Stern’s objections, however, are based heavily on his emphasis
that Jewish people remain Jewish once becoming Christians;
indeed, they are “fulfilled” Jews. This is, of course, true, but
Stern’s emphasis is so great that he (unintentionally, but
effectively) divides the body of Christ in two - those who are
Jewish and those who are Gentiles, despite Paul’s admonition
that “there is neither Jew nor Greek. . . . for you are all one
in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Stern continues, “. . . .
This is not what they [Messianic Jews] bought into when they
came to faith. They were told, ‘Now you’re a Jew who has
accepted his Messiah.’ They were not told, ‘Now you have
abandoned your Jewish people and will spend eternity without
them’” (Stern, 1992, p. 804). Certainly the Gentile Christian is
distinct from the Gentile non-Christian (who will unquestionably
remain after the rapture). The deciding factor is not whether
one is Jewish or otherwise, but whether one is a disciple of the
Lord Jesus Christ or not.
Finally, the rapture is quite distinct from the Second Coming in
which Jesus returns to the earth, to the Mount of Olives
(Zechariah 14). At the rapture, Jesus draws the Saints to
Himself in the clouds (I Thessalonians 4:15-17). At the Second
Coming, He returns with the Saints (Revelation 19:11-16). The
post-tribulational view virtually has the Saints of God acting
like a yo-yo - arising into the air, only to return immediately
to the earth. This further gives no time for the Bema seat of
Christ or the marriage supper of the Lamb.
PRE-TRIBULATION
The pre-tribulation view may be summarised thus, “It was held
that the return of Christ would take place in two stages. First
there would be a quiet appearance of Christ when all true
Christians would be taken from the earth - the ‘rapture’ of the
saints. After this, Antichrist’s reign would continue but be
brought to an end by the appearing of Christ in glory and the
introduction of a 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth from
Jerusalem” (Humphreys & Ward, 1995, p. 128-9).
If the book of Revelation is to be taken as a chronological
work, which most futurists would agree, there is great
significance in the similarities between I Thessalonians 4:16-17
above and Revelation 4:1-2 - again a voice like a trumpet is
heard and John is transported instantly through a door in heaven
to the very throne-room of God.
Indeed, the very “door” is significant to those who see a
secondary meaning in the seven Churches of Revelation chapters
1-3, being the historical development of the Church over
history, from the early Church to that at the time of the Second
Coming. With this view the door of Revelation 3:10, opened to
the Philadelphian Church, is equated with that of Revelation 4:1
(Cartledge, n.d., p. 119). This view then equates the lukewarm
Laodecian Church as the false religious system that arises
during the tribulation. Such a view however is
counter-productive as the Philadelphian Church is still part of
the Church and so requires the Church to be divided - the
lukewarm left behind, which implies a Protestant purgatory.
Nevertheless, there is great significance in the fact that John
is told to “Come up hither” (Revelation 4:1) - the very same
words spoken to the two witnesses before they too are raptured
(Revelation 11:12). Further, the Church is remarkably absent
from any of the proceedings from Revelation 4:1 to 19:11 when
Christ returns - indeed, the Church surely has no part in the
tribulation.
Not only so, but the tribulation period is the final “week” of
years in Daniel’s prophecy (Daniel 9:24-27), specifically
designated for the Jewish people. The times of the Gentiles are
complete, and God again turns His hand to His ancient peoples,
the end result that at His Second Coming the Jews will look on
Him whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10) and all Israel will
be saved (Romans 11:26) - the Messiah they expected at Jesus’
first coming will finally arive (Edersheim, 1993, p. 113) !
CONCLUSION
The honest Christian theologian can do nothing less than
assimilate the data of revelation provided in the scriptures and
draw from this one’s theology and framework of belief. To do
otherwise is wrong, and one must not be persuaded by purely
emotional arguments, or seek to manipulate scripture to conform
to a preconceived world-view.
When one examines the conflicting views of the rapture in the
pre-millenial framework, it becomes apparent that the only one
which consistently fits the facts of Biblical data is the
pre-tribulation view. Certainly as Christians we look not for
tribulation, but for “His Son from heaven who has delivered us
from the wrath to come” (I Thessalonians 1:10). The early Church
expected the coming of the Lord imminently and did not expect
any intervening events, especially the Thessalonians (Matthew
24:44; I Thessalonians 5:2).
Just as Noah and his family were saved from God’s wrath (Genesis
7:6-7), as was Lot and his daughters (Genesis 19:14), and indeed
the Children of Israel were saved from the plagues on Pharaoh
(Exodus 7:18; 8:3, 21-22; 9:3-4; 10:22-23; 11:6-7), so too the
Church shall be saved from the coming great tribulation by the
rapture.
The Christian is commanded to look up - for their redemption
draws near (Luke 21:28)! What can be said but “Amen. Come, Lord
Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20).
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