Why I Believe in a Pre-Tributional Rapture

For those whom I have just lost because of the title of this article, I would ask you to hang on. I'll do my best to define terms and make this user-friendly! The Bible, which Christians believe to be the Word of God, speaks to many areas of life. The Bible tells us about the history of the world, shows us the true nature of man, wonderfully presents Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, teaches us how we ought to live, and also contains truth about the future. We call this last subject, eschatology, the study of the last times.

With regard to the future, the Bible teaches that a "Day of the Lord" is coming, a terrible time of judgment. It is described in passages such as Isaiah 2:12; 13:6, 9; Jeremiah 46:10; Joel 1:15; 2:11, 31; Amos 5:18, 20; Malachi 4:5; Zephaniah 1:14-15; Acts 2:20, 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Peter 3:10; and Revelation 4-18. It is a time when God will judge the earth and wicked men for their sin. There will be incomprehensible devastation and death.

The Bible also speaks to an event called the Rapture.  This event is a miraculous, sudden taking up to Heaven of those who are trusting in Christ so they do not have to bear the judgment of the "Day of the Lord," or as we also call it, the Tribulation.  A vision that God gave to the prophet Daniel explains that the Tribulation is a seven-year period of time, in which the judgment of God will rain on the earth.  It is a terrible and horrific era.  God, in His grace has promised to keep His Church safe from that "wrath to come." (1 Thessalonians 1:10; 5:9; Revelations 3:10)  The rapture is primarily described in John 14:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8; and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

With regard to the rapture, there are five different views as to when the rapture will occur.  They are:

1. Pretribulationism: the rapture occurs before the tribulation begins.
2. Midtribulationism: the rapture occurs in the middle of the tribulation (after 3.5 years).
3. Pre-wrath Rapture: the rapture occurs approximately three-fourths of the way through the tribulation.
4. Posttribulationism: the rapture occurs after the tribulation.
5. Partial Rapure: only Christians who are "watching" for the Lord's return will be raptured before the tribulation.  The rest are raptured later at different points through the tribulation.

Before proceeding with my defense of pretribulationism, I want to state something very clearly: I will not separate over a person's position on the rapture.  It will never be a test of fellowship for me.  However, that is not to say I do not believe one's position is unimportant.  It is important to me for at least two reasons: (1) I believe it is a correct interpretation of Scripture and (2) one's understanding of the rapture affects the Christian's "hope and expectation." (Titus 2:13) So, why do I believe in a pretribulational rapture of the church?  There are ten points I want to put forward.

1. As mentioned previously, the Bible states that the church will be saved from the "wrath to come."  According to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, this deliverance takes place at the very beginning of the "day of the Lord."  The surprise of verse 2 coupled with the word overtake in verse 4 provide a strong argument for pretribulational rapture.  
    
   The next three points discuss the opening of the seals of judgment in Revelation 6.  Some have maintained that these early judgments are not divine judgment but rather judgments of man and Satan.  That is how some hold to a Midtribulation or Pre-wrath Rapture approach.  They would say that the church will be raptured but only before the divine judgments begin.  
    
2. Jesus Himself opens the seal judgments, indicating that they are divinely appointed.  
    
3. The seal judgments are consistent with divine wrath.  The first four seal judgments (sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts) are commonly used in Scripture as divine judgment.  One example where all four are used together can be found in Ezekiel 14:21.  
    
4. Unbelievers state that God's wrath "has come" before the midpoint of the Tribulation.  In Revelation 6:16-17, these unbelievers declare "For the great day of his wrath is come."  The Greek verb translated "is come" in the King James Version is actually in the aorist indicative tense.  Breathe.  That means that the action has already taken place.  It does not mean that the action is about to take place.  These men are recognizing that the judgments they have just come through are judgments of God.  
    
5. The Bible passages that speak of the rapture are different from the passages that speak of the return of Jesus to earth, indicating that the two are separate events.  I plan on writing about this in a future article.  The return of Jesus to the earth to setup a 1,000 year earthly kingdom is different than His return "in the air" to take the Church to the place He has prepared for them, namely in Heaven.  Passages that speak to the actual Second Coming of Christ to the earth would include Zechariah 14:1- 21; Matthew 24:29-31; Mark 13:24-27; Luke 21:25-27 and Revelation 19.  There is much more to say about this point, but I will reserve it for the next article.  
    
6. The rapture is spoken of as a "mystery" by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15.  A mystery was a truth that had not been revealed prior to the Apostles.  While the rapture was a new concept, the second coming of Christ was prophesied in the Old Testament.  Again, these are two separate events.  
    
7. The Church is not mentioned in Revelations 4-18.  This passage is the chief text that describes the Tribulation period, and the Church is simply not there.  While an argument from silence is not the strongest argument to use in apologetics, it should be considered along with the other evidence.  
    
8. The presence of Christians with non-glorified bodies who go into the 1,000 year kingdom is evidence for pretribulationism.  This point takes a bit of explaining so bear with me.  At the end of the Tribulation, all are agreed that the unsaved who are still alive are removed from the earth and sent to Hell pending final judgment.  However, people will be born who can sin during the 1,000 year kingdom (Isaiah 65:20; Revelation 20:7-10).  If the unsaved are sent to Hell and the saved are raptured at the end of the Tribulation, whom does that leave to enter the 1,000 year kingdom?  A pretribulational rapture allows for people to be saved during the Tribulation.  Many of them will be killed, but some will survive and enter the 1,000 year kingdom.  Some will even be saved at the second coming of Christ (Zechariah 12:10).  These people will not have glorified bodies.  What do we mean by that?  The Bible teaches that when we see Jesus we will be made like Him.  It says that our earthly bodies will be changed into eternal, sinless forms (2 Corinthians 5:1-4; 1 John 3:2).  In fact, by the end of the 1,000 years, enough people will have been born for Satan to deceive and raise a huge army to take on Christ yet again.  
    
9. The imminence of the rapture supports pretribulationism.  The Scriptures pictures the Christian as eager awaiting the Lord's return at any moment (1 Corinthians 1:7; Titus 2:13 and Philippians 3:20).  If the rapture was to occur at the end of the tribulation, Christians, it would seem, would be looking more for signs of the Tribulation as the Bible describes in great detail.  This would seem to contradict the teaching of Scripture that we are to live in light of His imminent return (Rom. 13:11-14; James 5:7-8; 1 John 3:1-3).  
    
10. The emotional state of the Thessalonian church is evidence for Pretribulationism.  Paul refers to the believers at Thessalonica as being "shaken" and "troubled" because they thought that the "day of the Lord" was near (2 Thessalonians 2:2-3).  If Paul had taught the Thessalonian church that the rapture came at the end of the tribulation, they shouldn't have been alarmed but rather excited at the soon return of Christ.  The fact that they were troubled points rather to confusion that they would even be experiencing the "day of the Lord," especially in light of Paul's teaching in 1 Thessalonians 4:13ff.

The study of eschatology is a difficult task.  There is much we do not know about the future.  I am convinced, however, based on the teachings of the Word of God as given above, that Jesus will rapture His church prior to the "day of the Lord."  It is great to live with the hope that Christ could return even today to take us to the place He has prepared for us.  I am also indebted to the many great men who have contributed to my understanding of this issue through their writing and speaking, men like Dwight Pentecost, Charles Ryrie, Darrell Bock, Craig Blaising, Mike Vlach, John Walvoord, John Feinberg, Paul Feinberg, and many other teachers and pastors.