When discussing an issue like this, which is not central to the Christian Faith, it is always important to remember to treat each other with love. Loving each other is the biggest mandate from our Lord; being right about this topic is not nearly that important.
So why am I addressing this issue? I am addressing this because I don’t like seeing people (my brethren) get their hopes up falsely. It is out of love for my brothers and sisters that I try to help them understand this. After all, some of them will be devastated when they come to learn that they were taught a doctrine that isn’t true. (And that’s about as harsh as I’m going to be about this with you.)
Please read on and see if what I am saying is biblical or unbiblical. If you have a concern that I am not correctly handling the Word of Truth, then let me know by leaving a comment below. But please do so in a mature, loving manner.
Overview
“The Rapture” is what we call the doctrine of living believers being “caught up” to join Jesus and the other (already deceased) believers in the air. You could call it the “resurrection for the living”. Not all believers think that there will be a rapture at all. I don’t know if one could be a believer in Christ and not believe in the resurrection; that would seem too contradictory to the faith. So I don’t see why there is a problem with believing in the rapture as well. But I don’t have to know why people believe what they believe — just why I believe what I believe.
There are five major views concerning the rapture and its timing:
• Pretrib: The rapture happens prior to the Tribulation.
• Midtrib: The rapture happens 3½ years into the Tribulation.
• Prewrath: The rapture happens just before the wrath of God.
• Posttrib: The rapture happens after the Tribulation.
• No rapture: As mentioned, some do not believe that there is a rapture.
I’ll not be getting into the history of the above views and the people involved in propagating them. Honestly, I just don’t care about that.
What I am going to show is how the Pretrib, Midtrib, Prewrath, and No Rapture views do not square with scripture. As I do so, the focus will be on the Word of God; not so much the errant views.
The Bible Passage That Shows the Rapture
Where do we get the idea of a “rapture” in the first place? Well, it is definitely in the Bible, it just doesn’t use the word “rapture”. I’ve seen where this trips up some people. It shouldn’t. A name of a doctrine doesn’t always use the same vernacular as the words used by God in His Word. This is because words change over time and don’t necessarily crossover from language to language (or even version to version) very well. With that, let’s look at the passage that introduces the rapture to the Church:
We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died [some versions say, fallen asleep]. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, NLT
Notice the words, “caught up”. In Greek, these are shown in a single word, harpagēsometha. When we go to our Concordance, we can learn the following about this compound word:
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: harpagēsometha
catch, seize, take by force.
From a derivative of haireomai; to seize (in various applications) — catch (away, up), pluck, pull, take (by force). see GREEK haireomai
So, the NLT version’s use of “caught up” is appropriate. And so why isn’t the doctrine called the “Caught Up” doctrine? It’s because people were still using Latin when the doctrine came into being. In Latin, rapio (sometimes used as raptura or rapturo) is the word for this being caught up. It could be used either for being taken hostage or (something completely different) being caught up in ecstasy.
So if your argument is that “rapture isn’t even in the Bible”, you’d be right and wrong at the same time. But don’t throw out the doctrine of the living being caught up at the arrival of Christ.
Analysis of the Passage
Now that we know that this is the “rapture passage” of the Bible, let’s see what it tells us about the TIMING of this event (because that’s what the arguments are really about).
Paul starts this passage off with “We tell you this directly from the Lord”. So He is calling upon the authority of Jesus, our Savior, to bolster what he is about to say. But did Jesus actually teach about the rapture? Well, He did, but in a roundabout way. What Jesus did was to lump the resurrection and the rapture in together. Don’t know what I’m referring to? Here it is:
And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens [a nod to Daniel 7:13], and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world [or the four winds]—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.
Matthew 24:30-31, NLT
Okay, so Jesus, in this one passage, mentions His Return, the Resurrection, and the Rapture, all together. How do we know this? Easy. He says that His angels will gather His “chosen ones” (elect, saints, followers, believers, people saved by the cross) from both Earth and Heaven. Now, I don’t think that Jesus was intending to show the relative timing between the Resurrection and the Rapture when He made this sweeping comment. The one who made that kind of detail clear was Paul, teaching by the authority of Jesus (in our passage that we are analyzing). But Jesus definitely is showing both the resurrection and the rapture happening upon His return (no mention of a first or second return, or phase one of two of His return). We’ll circle back to more on this passage from Matthew 24 a bit later.
Paul’s next line is,
“We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died”.
1 Thessalonians 4:15, NLT
Now the Bible is getting more specific about the actual timing of the rapture. He says, “We who are still living…”. Who are the “We” in this statement? Well, to whom is Paul’s letter addressed? There’s your answer: the church in Thessalonica—the believers in Christ. Just as Jesus said when He said “chosen ones”. Paul is clearly speaking of believers who are still alive when Jesus returns.
By the way, already Paul has eliminated the basis of the pretrib view. He says that believers will be here on Earth when Jesus returns (just like Jesus said). Unfortunately (concerning hermeneutics), the pretrib position has the believers taken away prior to the Tribulation, which, according to Jesus, is prior to His return. To further complicate their position, they also claim that the Hoy Spirit will be gone from Earth as well. Now, that is a very real problem with the basic tenet of salvation, which says that it is the Holy Spirit Who convicts us which leads to accepting the cross for salvation (John 16:5-11; John 3:5-7; Titus 3:5-6). Without the Holy Spirit doing His part in salvation, there can be no salvation. Just like, without the Father giving someone the ability to believe, there’s no salvation (Ephesians 2:8; John 6:44). Just like, without the actual atonement on the cross by Jesus there’s no salvation (John 14:6; Romans 5:8; etc.). The pretrib view is cutting dangerously close to some very key nerves in the faith here.
The next verse in our passage is extremely important in having a correct understanding of the rapture. Read again what Paul says next:
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God.
1 Thessalonians 4:16
But wait, the pretrib view speaks of a silent, secret appearance of the Lord to snatch away His faithful. [Hmm] Here we are studying the actual Bible passage that gives us any notion of a rapture, and it clearly shows us that His return for this rapture thing is anything but quiet and secret. Commanding shouts, first from the Great Commander (the King), then by His first-hand commander (the archangel), a trumpet call… sounds very public to me. In fact, when we look at other tellings of this magnificent event we see that it is extremely noticeable all over the world and heaven too.
I know that the book of Revelation is very difficult for most people to really understand, and actually, no one probably understands it all completely. But it’s there that we see a bit more of what takes place (by the way of visions given to John) when the Lord returns from His throne in Heaven to the Earth.
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven:
Revelation 11:15, NLT (emphasis added)
“The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, [Messiah]
and he will reign forever and ever.”
Is this seventh trumpet the one that Paul and Jesus refer to? That’s definitely plausible. Of course, the visions don’t just involve the trumpets; there are also the bowls that John saw.
Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. And a mighty shout came from the throne in the Temple, saying, “It is finished!”
Revelation 16:17, NLT (emphasis added)
Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords.
Revelation 19:11-16, NLT
I put these two together here, even though they are separated by several chapters, because they are both describing the same thing—Jesus taking possession of the Earth. This is one of those things about the book of Revelation that some people find confusing. It isn’t exactly chronological.
What we should pay attention to in these passages are a couple of facts:
- It isn’t quiet, as the pretrib view asserts.
- It is by the return of Jesus that God’s wrath comes.
Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven.
Revelation 1:7, NLT
And everyone will see him—
even those who pierced him.
And all the nations of the world
will mourn for him.
Yes! Amen!
So, the return of Jesus is definitely something that everyone on Earth and in Heaven will see. Never are there two returns of the Lord (or phases thereof) even hinted at in scripture. And if taking two accounts of the same thing and pointing out variations is evidence of two separate events, then someone needs to learn a bit more about how the Bible is presented. Almost every important event in scripture has multiple accounts with different details in the various accounts. Nowhere is it specifically taught that His return is in two phases, however one wishes to present this.
I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood. Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree shaken by a strong wind. The sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places.
Then everyone—the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person—all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive?”
Revelation 6:12-17, NLT (emphasis added)
Once again, we see that the return of Jesus is when He unleashes His (God’s) wrath upon the planet. BTW, this great earthquake is mentioned a couple of times in Revelation. It is always associated with the return of Christ.
All of this is happening while the armies of man are assembling on the battlefield for Armageddon (the final battle between Earth and God in this age). This is mentioned in Revelation 19:19, just after the quote shown above, and also in Ezekiel 38:19-20. There are more, but we don’t need to go that in-depth right now.
Concerning this great earthquake, which is greater than all earthquakes ever seen before, it is my personal belief that the rapture happens just before this earthquake strikes. This makes my view “Posttrib” (after the tribulation) and “Mid-wrath” (during God’s wrath). Some posttribbers have the rapture after God’s wrath, but I do not (anymore). However, having the rapture prior to God’s wrath is something I could never agree with. Even my own position, Mid-wrath, seems to be at odds with Isaiah 26:20.
Go home, my people, and lock your doors!
Isaiah 26:20, NLT
Hide yourselves for a little while until the Lord’s anger has passed.
Certainly, the 5th Trumpet, the invasion of locusts, occurs while God’s people are still here. Read Revelation 9:4:
They were told not to harm the grass or plants or trees, but only the people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
Revelation 9:4, NLT
If people who DO have the seal of God on their heads are up in heaven this becomes a silly statement, and Revelation 9 is anything but silly. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the elect have to endure even the horrific earthquake that basically levels the entire world. If so, it doesn’t matter, we still get to be with the Lord forevermore after that. (And it wouldn’t be the first time that believers were killed by an earthquake.) Remember, the “wrath” that believers are spared from is God’s Eternal wrath, not His Temporary wrath.
The reason why I hope that the rapture happens DURING His wrath is from our passage of study.
First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
1 Thessalonians 16:17, NLT
Not the strongest of arguments, I admit. There are other verses that might be shown to hint at a Mid-wrath rapture, but none is specific and sure. What is sure, though, is that a rapture prior to the Lord’s return is completely refuted by scripture. This is obvious by reading Matthew 24:29-31.
“Immediately after the anguish [Tribulation] of those days, the sun will be darkened,
Matthew 24:29-31, NLT
the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.”
To recap this passage:
Immediately AFTER the Tribulation, God’s wrath comes (the sun, moon, stars, and powers quote), Jesus is seen coming on the clouds, He gathers His elect (both dead and living). This passage also, like our “Rapture Passage” in 1 Thessalonians 4, makes any removal of any saints prior to the return of Christ impossible.
A side note about my own “Mid-wrath” view:
I know that I am stretching things a tiny bit by trying to allow the Word to show the rapture happening prior to the Great Earthquake (part of God’s wrath), but this is as far as I’m willing to let the timeline stretch. Trying to take it all the way before the Tribulation is just fantasy. And I will never allow the timeline to stretch that far. Even Pre-wrath is too early for me.
Other Passages
In addition to these two main passages from Matthew 24 and 1 Thessalonians 4, there are other passages that keep the saints on Earth until after the Tribulation.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness [antichrist] is revealed—the one who brings destruction. He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-4
This passage tells us that until we see the Jewish Temple (an actual building in Jerusalem) with the antichrist (an actual man) in it, the return of the Lord and the resurrection of the dead and the rapture of the living saints will NOT occur. Read the passage however many times are needed for this to sink in.
9 After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language [not just Jews], standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were shouting with a great roar,
“Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne
and from the Lamb!”
11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God. 12 They sang,“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and strength belong to our God
forever and ever! Amen.”
13 Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?”14 And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.”
Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.
15 “That is why they stand in front of God’s throne
Revelation 7, NLT (emphases added)
and serve him day and night in his Temple.
And he who sits on the throne
will give them shelter.
16 They will never again be hungry or thirsty;
they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun.
17 For the Lamb on the throne
will be their Shepherd.
He will lead them to springs of life-giving water.
And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”
This scene is clearly depicting followers of Jesus who died in the Great Tribulation. If pretrib is true, why are saints dying in the Tribulation (that comes after the supposed pretrib rapture)? And don’t begin to argue about “tribulation saints” and other mutterings of nonsense. There is only one Bride of Christ. Am I to believe that part of her is in heaven while another part of her is being tortured on Earth? Is the body of Christ divided, literally? No! Or are we to believe that this is talking about the Jews? These arguments are what the pretrib proponents would have us to believe—and some arguments are much worse than these (like the Holy Spirit being removed from the Earth). [OK, I repent of that outburst.]
When we do what Paul told Timothy to do, and correctly explain the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15), only then can we show that these false teachings of the timing of the rapture (or no rapture at all) are utter nonsense.
This topic is definitely understandable. It is explainable. We do not need to undergo months and months (or years) of seminary indoctrination (which is where these false doctrines comes from anyway) to rightly understand this. We just need to take the Word for what it says, and not what we want it to say.
I could go on and on about this (and I already have in my book, End Times Made Easy) but I’ve belabored the point enough for this post already. Thank you for bearing with me in this look into some of the unbiblical notions that surround the rapture of the living saints upon Christ’s return. It isn’t a pleasant thing to do (showing how wrong some of the brethren are in some things), but we are called to keep each other on track. And above all, for the sake of all that is decent and godly, LOVE your brothers who hold to a wrong interpretation of scripture. If you correct them (like I have just done), do it in love.
In His love,
Gary
