IS THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE DOCTRINE BIBLICAL?
The concept of “pre–tribulation rapture” divides the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ into two phases. In the first phase Christ is said to come to the sky of the earth, resurrect dead saints and catch them up to heaven alongside the living believers before the “great tribulation” starts. This catching away of the resurrected and living saints is said to be in a “secret” rapture. Jesus Christ is said not to be visible at this time and the catching away will only be known to the world after the event has taken place. Those who are “left behind” will go through the great tribulation for seven years, or three and a half years according to some. The second phase is said to take place after the great tribulation when Jesus Christ and the saints will come down to the earth to reign with Him here on earth in the millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. The summary of the pretribulation rapture teaching is that true believers will escape the great tribulation.
Like in many subjects of the Christian faith, there have been debates on this pretribulation rapture doctrine. There are those who teach that the rapture will take place midway in the great tribulation. There are also those who say that the rapture will take place at the end of the great tribulation. There is yet another group of Christians who say that the whole concept of rapture is the result of misunderstanding what the Bible teaches on the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead.
One thing that should be clear to all students of the Bible is that there are many erroneous, speculated or false teachings in Christendom. That is why there are many schools of thought in Christian teachings. Hence, the scope of this article is to examine the theology of pretribulation rapture and see if it is totally consistent with biblical teaching.
The teachers of the rapture doctrine base their teaching mainly on what Paul, Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy, the joint authors of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. In this passage, they were assuring the Thessalonians that those who died in Christ have the hope of being resurrected to inherit eternal life. This is similar to what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 15:12-25. The subject of the resurrection of the dead featured prominently in Paul’s teachings and epistles. Did the authors of 1 Thessalonians teach pretribulation rapture in 1 Thes. 4:13-18?
In verse 14, they wrote, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus (NKJV). Bring them from where? From heaven? Compare what Paul wrote to the Corinthians. He wrote, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep… For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Cor. 15:20,22,23, NKJV). It is clear from these passages that the apostles’ use of the phrase “bring with Him” in 1 Thes. 4:14 means being raised from their graves to life at Christ’s second coming. The apostles did not say that Christ will bring “raptured” believers with Him from heaven in a so-called second phase of His second advent. The holy angels are those who will accompany Him from heaven (Matt. 25:31; Mark 8:38).
Albert Barnes (1798-1870) was a renowned Bible commentator. Part of his commentary on the phrase “will God bring with Him” in 1 Thes. 4:14 is as follows:
“This does not mean that God will bring them with Him from heaven when the Saviour comes – though it will be true that their spirits will descend with the Saviour; but it means that He will bring them from their graves, and will conduct them with Him to glory, to be with Him” (emphases added throughout).
In Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary, the commentators wrote, inter alia, “Believers are laid in sleep by Jesus, and so will be brought back from sleep with Jesus in His train when He comes. The disembodied souls are not here spoken of; the reference is to the sleeping bodies. The facts of Christ’s experience are repeated in the believers. He died and then rose; so, believers shall die and then rise with Him.”
The phrase, “bring with Him,” used by the authors of 1st Thessalonians clearly means being resurrected from the graves on the day of Christ’s second coming (1 Cor. 15:23).This is crystal clear in 1 Thes. 4:14.
In verse 15, the authors wrote, “According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep” (NIV). The Good News Translation (GNT) renders part of the verse as “What we are teaching you now is the Lord’s teaching…” while God’s Word Translation (GWT) renders it as “We are telling you what the Lord taught.” The apostles were reminding the Thessalonian believers what the Lord had taught on resurrection of the dead and entrance into the Kingdom of God. They did this to correct the errors which some people taught them that the hope of dead believers was lost. They were not teaching any new doctrine from what the Lord Jesus Christ had taught.
The word “coming” in the verse is translated from the Greek word parousia which is used 24 times in the New Testament. It means “coming, arrival, personal presence”. In their two letters to the Thessalonian believers, Paul and his co-authors used the word six times in reference to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and once to the coming of the Antichrist (2 Thes. 2:9). One of such places where they used parousia is 1 Thes. 4:15 where they told the believers what Jesus Christ had taught. From their words, it is evident that they had the mindset that Christ would return during their lifetime. It is also clear that the apostles were not talking of a secret catching away to heaven of the believers in Christ. That idea was unknown in Christendom until the 1830s. There is no shred of that notion in the two letters to the Thessalonians. In 1 Thes. 4:13-17, they simply wrote on the resurrection of the righteous dead and the change that will take place on the day of Christ’s coming.
In verse 16 they wrote, “for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (NKJV). Compare Matt. 24:27 (Luke 17:24) where Jesus Christ said, “For as the lightening comes from the east and flashes to the west so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (NKJV). He also said, “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky; and all the [unbelieving and unrepentant] peoples of the earth will weep as they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30, GNT, words in square brackets added by me).
Apostle John saw a vision of this verse taking place in Rev. 6:15-17. All eyes will see Him when He comes with the clouds of angels (Rev. 1:7). All these go to show that the second coming of Jesus Christ will not be a secret thing. The whole world will know that the long-awaited King from heaven has finally come. His second coming will be the direct opposite of His first when He came as an unknown baby born in a manger. Everyone will hear the voice of the archangel and the loud sound of God’s trumpets. Those who did not prepare themselves for the Lord’s second coming will weep themselves hoarse at seeing the Lord coming down from heaven. They will shed hot and great tears of regret for their unbelief or carelessness (Matt. 24:30). Fear and trepidation will seize their hearts (Rev. 6:15-17).
In verse 17, the apostles wrote, “Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord” (NASB).
The living believers will be caught up together with the resurrected saints to meet the Lord “in the air” or sky, not heaven where Jesus Christ started His earthward journey in the company of the holy angels. Here, the apostles said the living believers and the resurrected saints will meet the Lord in the air. Here, “air” means the sky immediately above the earth’s surface, the earth’s atmosphere which is visible from the earth’s surface.
The word “meet” is translated from the Greek “apantesis” and it is used three times in the New Testament (Matt. 25:6; Acts 28:15; 1Thes.4:17). A cognate word “hupantesis” which has the same meaning is also found in three places (Matt. 8:34; 25:1; John 12:13). And Strong’s Greek Lexicon defines them as “a meeting” or “an encounter”. Their usage in the Bible therefore connote going out to meet or encounter a person with a view of welcoming him with respect and honour that befits his status.
In the Greco-Roman world which the apostles were very familiar with, the word was often used when a dignitary or royalty paid an official visit to a city. The distinguished person would usually be a king or a person of high political or military status. At such visits, the noble citizens of the city would go outside the city gate to welcome the visiting dignitary. From the meeting point, the nobles would usher the honourable visitor into the city in a procession with great and dignifying fanfare.
In modern times, the honoured visitor is usually met at the city’s airport from where he is accompanied to the city in a procession which accords him respect and recognition that befits his status. This is the sense in which the words apantesis and hupantesis are used in five of the six places. The only exception is in Matt. 8:34 where the Gadarenes met Jesus and begged Him to leave their region.
In Matt. 25:1-13, Jesus Christ told a parable about His second coming. In verse 1, He said, “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet [hupantesis]the bridegroom (ESV). In verse 6, He said, “But at midnight there was a cry, Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet [apantesis] Him” (ESV). In verse 10 we read, “And while they [the foolish virgins, representing the careless Christians] were going to buy [oil] the Bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with Him to the marriage feast.” They did not escort the Bridegroom back to where He was coming from. The wise Virgins escorted Him from the point where they met Him to the place where He had come for the marriage feast. Where is the feast going to be held? In heaven? No. Jesus said it will take place when the Kingdom of God comes [to the earth] (Luke 22:18; see also Matt. 6:10; 26:29; Mark 14:25). The “meeting” mentioned in verses one and six clearly reveal that they went out to welcome Him.
The triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem brings out the biblical meaning of apantesis or hupantesis more convincingly. In John 12:12-14 we read, “The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast [of Passover] heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet (hupantesis) him, crying out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel!’ And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written” (ESV).
John did not say what happened after the large crowd who came out of Jerusalem met Him. Matthew gave a parallel but more detailed account in Matt. 21:1-11. In verses 10 and 11 we read, “As he entered Jerusalem the whole city was thrown into an uproar saying, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee’” (NET). The festive and carnival-like procession with which the large crowd escorted Jesus Christ from Bethphage to Jerusalem, a distance of about one Kilometer, caused a stir in Jerusalem when Christ and His great “cloud” of escorts entered the city with loud praises to God in their mouths. Evidently, the meeting mentioned in John 12:13 was for the purpose of welcoming Him to Jerusalem.
Lets now go back to 1 Thes. 4:17. From the meeting point in the air, where will the saints escort the heavenly King? Zechariah called it the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4,5,9). Jesus Christ called it “My barn”(Matt. 13:30). Apostle John called it the “beloved city,” that is, the New Jerusalem (Rev. 20:9). Although they will be gathered from all parts of the earth, they will be assembled in that heaven prepared city for God’s saints (Matt. 24:31). It is important to note that a large crowd left Jerusalem to Bethphage to meet Jesus and escorted Him back to Jerusalem. So too, the saints who will be caught up to meet Him in the air on the day of His second coming will, from that point in the air, escort Him back to the earth with praises and glory. There is nothing which suggests that Christ will make a 180-degrees turn and take the saints from that point back to heaven where He had set out on His earthward descent.
In Acts 28:15,16 Luke wrote, “The brothers and sisters in Rome had heard we were coming, and they came to meet us at the Forum on the Appian Way. Others joined us at The Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and thanked God. When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to have his own private lodging, though he was guarded by a soldier” (NLT).
Paul and those who accompanied him on his journey to Rome, after his appeal to Caesar (Acts 25:11), spent seven days with the believers in Puteoli. This made it possible for the news of their coming to reach the believers in Rome before they got there. Some believers went out as far as the Forum (or Market) on the Appian Way to welcome them. Others joined them at The Three Taverns. These places are said to be about ten miles from Rome. So, Paul arrived Rome together with the brethren who accompanied him from Israel, including Luke, and those who came out to welcome him (Acts. 28:16). The same word apantesis (to meet) is used in verse 15.
The wise virgins went out to meet the Bridegroom on His way and escorted Him back to the city from where they had gone out to welcome the Bridegroom (Matt. 25:10). The same is true of 1 Thes. 4:17.
The saints of Christ will be carried into the air, the region just above the earth’s surface, by angels (Matt. 24:31) to welcome the Lord and escort Him to the beloved city where they will ever be with the Lord. Christ is not going to make His second entry into the earth as a fugitive. He is going make a triumphal, glorious entry as the King of kings, as the King of the whole earth after which He will hand the Kingdom over to God (1 Cor. 15:27,28). He will rule for 1000 years.
The catching up in 1 Thes. 4:13-17 is going to be from the earth to earth’s atmosphere. It is not going to be from the earth to heaven. There is nothing in the passage which suggests that Jesus Christ will take the saints from the air back to heaven. Neither does 1 Thes. 4:13-18 contains anything that has the slightest connection with the great tribulation.
The phrase “clouds of heaven” have often been used in relation to the second coming of Jesus Christ. In Daniel 7:13, we read the words, “the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven.” Jesus Christ made use of this phraseology in Matt. 24:30; 26:64; Mark 14:62. But John and Paul simply called it “clouds” (Rev. 1:7; 1 Thes. 4:17). This phraseology is used in reference to the great number of angels who will accompany the Lord at His second coming. In Revelation 19:14, this great number of angels is called the armies [or army] of heaven. Compare Hebrews 12:1 where the great number of heroes of faith enumerated in Hebrews 11 are called “a great cloud of witnesses”.
From this, we know that the word “clouds” used by Paul and his co-authors in 1 Thes. 4:17 is a symbolic word for the great number of holy angels who will accompany the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven during His second advent to this earth to start His 1000 years reign of total peace and absolute righteousness here on earth. The word “clouds” in the verse is not part of the physical atmosphere above the earth’s surface, which is what the word “air” depicts. In the Old Testament, the “cloud” has often been used to represent a great multitude of angels who accompany the LORD wherever He goes. A few examples are in Exod. 14:19; 16:10; 19:9; 24:16,18; 34:5; 40:34-38. It is called “cloud of the Lord” (Exod. 40:38) or “clouds of heaven” (Dan. 7:13). In 1 Thes. 4:17, the “cloud” of resurrected and living saints will be pulled up to the sky to join the “cloud” of angels to usher the heavenly King to the earth to start His millennial reign.
Will the Church Escape the Great Tribulation?
The main attraction of the pretribulation rapture theory is the idea that the church will not go through the great tribulation because the church would have been “raptured” up to heaven before the Antichrist unleashes his terror on those “left behind” on the earth.
A careful review of the Bible has shown that neither is the word “rapture” found in the Bible nor is the concept of a rapture from earth to heaven taught by Christ or any of His apostles. The teaching is one of the doctrines of men which was invented about 190 years ago.
The term tribulation (Greek: thlipsis) means persecution, affliction, distress, suffering. The term great tribulation (Greek: thlipsis megale) is used three times in the New Testament (Matt. 24:21; Rev. 2:22; Rev. 7:14).
In the course of His prophetic teaching on the events of the last days and their heralding signs, the Lord made mention of a great tribulation. He said, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short” (Matt. 24:21,22, ESV).
Here, Jesus Christ clearly said that the period of the great tribulation will be cut short because of the “elect”– God’s chosen people. God is going to cut short the period of the great tribulation short because of His chosen people who will go through it. Compare Acts 14:22 where Paul and Barnabas said that all believers will pass through many tribulations to enter the kingdom of God.
For sure many will say that the great tribulation is a special one with the highest degree of suffering and death. That may be true. But Jesus Christ had explicitly said that the chosen ones of God will go through it. To teach otherwise is to make the Lord Jesus Christ a deceiver.
Jesus Christ said further that His coming will be “immediately after the tribulation of those days,” that is, after the great tribulation (Matt. 24:29-31; Mark 13:24-27). Nowhere has the Bible said the catching up of God’s people to meet Christ in the air and His second coming are two events that will take place at different times. Neither has the Bible said that our Lord will come back twice, the first one to effect a secret rapture and the second is His second coming proper. The Lord came the first time to shed His blood for the redemption of mankind. His second coming is to give eternal life or salvation to all those who truly believe in Him and live according to His teachings (Heb. 9:28).
For the avoidance of doubt, there are other scriptures which affirm the fact that God’s true children will go through the great tribulation. A few of them are given herein:
“Then the beast [the Antichrist] was allowed to speak against God. And he was given authority to do whatever he wanted for forty-two months. And he spoke terrible words of blasphemy against God, slandering his name and his dwelling – that is, those who dwell in heaven. And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation… Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone destined to die by the sword will die by the sword. This means that God’s holy people [the saints] must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful.” (Rev. 13:5-7, 9,10 NLT).
“A third angel followed them [the first two angels] and said in a loud voice. If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name. This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven say, write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labour, for their deeds will follow them.” (Rev. 14:9-13, NIV)
Who are those who remain faithful to Jesus (verse 12)? They are Christians who are collectively called the church. They are enjoined to patiently endure the terrible persecution that the Antichrist will unleash on the whole world. The warnings given in these passages are consistent with the warning of Jesus Christ in Rev. 2:10 where He called for the faithfulness of His people. He said, “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil [through the Antichrist] will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life [eternal life] as your victor’s crown” (NIV).
The warning goes out that the consequences of taking the mark of the Antichrist is eternal damnation in the lake of fire (Rev. 14: 9-11). Those who obey God’s commandments and are faithful to Jesus ( Rev.14: 12) are called upon to maintain their faith in Him. Who are these people who are warned not to give up their inGod and Jesus? They are people who have believed in them ( John 14: 1) before the onset of the tribulation. They are christains. No true Christian will read these passages along side Matt. 10:28, Luke 12: 4, John 16: 33 and Acts 2: 22-24 and remain a believer in the flawed theory that Jesus will secretly evacuate believers to heaven in order to make them escape the wrath of the Antichrist. That teaching reduces God to a powerless rabbit who has to hide her young ones in holes and cover it with soil to make them escape falling prey to predators. God did not hide His only begotten Son from His killers. He did not do for the prophets, apostles and thr faithful believers whom He allowed to be martyred. He will no do so for any true believer because He knows He will raise all of them up on the last day to inherit eternal life ( Rev. 2:10; 14:12-13; John 6:39-40; 16:33). Nowhere is it taught in the Bible that He will “rapture” the christians to heaven at any time.
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb” …Then one of the elders addressed me, saying. ‘Who are these clothed in white robes, and from where have they come? I said to him, ‘Sir you know! And he said to me, ‘These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9,10,13,14, ESV).
They are from all the nations, tribes, peoples and languages of the world. Therefore, the teaching that the Jews are the ones who will go through the great tribulation, the so-called time of Jacob’s trouble (Jer. 30:7) is rather mendacious. It smacks of “Christian” prejudice against the Jews. The above passage has shown that the Christian bias of calling the great tribulation a Jewish problem, started by John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) and his followers in dispensationalism, is infantile. Rev.7:14 says that the great number of people from all nations, tribes and languages (verse 9) come out of the great tribulation. In other words, they passed through the great affliction. Jewish people alone do not match that description; they can only be a part of that great number of people.
A Closer Look at The Rapture Doctrine
One unfortunate thing in theology is that many people look for a number of Bible passages to defend or support what they believe instead of taking the pains to find out the truth in the Bible. This problem is playing out on this subject of pretribulation rapture which was invented in the 1830s by John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) and was later popularized in America by Cyrus Ingerson Scofied through his Scofied Reference Bible which first appeared in 1909 and revised by him in 1917. This teaching since then became a dominant theological subject of many Evangelical schools, seminaries and churches.
The whole idea of pretribulation rapture is that Christians will not go through the great tribulation. But it is clear from the scriptures that neither the Lord Jesus Christ nor any of His apostles taught this doctrine. The following points should be noted:
If the intention of Jesus Christ is to “catch away” or “rapture” the church to heaven before the great tribulation, He does not need to descend from heaven before doing that. He will simply send His angels and they will do just that. A call from heaven will get the “rapture” done without the Lord having to come down by Himself. Compare Rev. 4:1,2 and Rev. 11:11,12. Moreover, if the intention of the Lord is to make the saints escape the great tribulation, He does not need to wake the sleeping ones from their graves. We know that the great tribulation has nothing to do with what is taught in 1 Thes. 4:13-18. The events mentioned in this passage will take place after the great tribulation (Matt. 24:29-31; Mark 13:24-27).
Everything the apostles wrote in 1 Thes. 4:13-18 centers on “the coming [parousia] of the Lord” (verse 15; 1 Cor. 15:23). They did not teach anything new or different from what Jesus Christ had taught about His second coming and the resurrection that will take place on that day.
As has been said earlier, the “catching up” of the saints will be done from the graves and the earth’s surface into the air or sky. It will be childish to think of Paul and his coauthors saying that the true believers will forever be with the Lord in the air. There is also no iota of evidence that from the air, the Lord will make a U-turn and take the saints back to heaven. That idea was read into the Bible by John Darby and his followers of the Plymouth Brethren of Dublin, Ireland.
By saying that the period of the great tribulation will be shortened because of the elect, the Lord has made it clear that the elect will go through the great tribulation. Jesus Christ also taught the disciples that those who believe in Him will be hated and persecuted or even be put to death. He prepared their minds for the worst form of suffering by telling them not to fear those who can kill their physical bodies and can do no more than that (Matt. 10:22-28; 24:9; Luke 12:4,5; John 16:2; Luke 21:16-19).
The first believers understood the message and had the mindset that their belief in the Lord carried with it the risk of being hated, persecuted or getting martyred (Matt. 20:22,23; John 16:33; Acts 5:41; 9:16; 20:22-27; 21:10-14; Matt. 5:10-12). They not only imbibed this teaching of the Lord, but also taught the same things to those who believed the gospel message through their preaching (Acts 20:20,21; Rom. 8:35-39; Acts 14:21,22; 1 Thes. 3:2-4; 2 Tim. 3:12; 1 Pet. 2:19-24;etc). In fact, all those who submitted themselves to Jesus Christ accepted to suffer whatever troubles come their way because of their faith in Him (2 Tim. 2:11,12; 3:10-12).
The word “elect”, in the Old Testament is translated from the Hebrew bachir which means “chosen one of God”. It is used to refer to the nation of Israel (Deut. 7:6; 14:2; Isa. 45:4). In the New Testament, it is translated from the Greek “eklektos” which also means “chosen of God.” It is used to refer to God’s chosen people, Jews and Gentiles, who by God’s prevenient grace, respond positively to the call of God by believing the gospel message and becoming followers of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 22:14; Rom. 8:33; John 6:44; Col. 3:11,12; 1 Thes. 1:4). There is no doubt that, except in some places where it is used of Christ (1 Pet. 2:4,6) or of angels (1 Tim. 5:21), the term “the elect” in the New Testament refers to all believers in Jesus Christ, both Jews and Gentiles. Jesus Christ explicitly said that “the elect” will go through the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21,22; Mark 13:19,20).
To the extent that there is clear statement made by the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no tenable reason for anyone to distort the apostles’ words and make them contradict the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. None of the apostles is known to teach anything which tend to oppose the teachings of the preeminent Master. Jesus is God’s final word (Matt. 17:5; Heb. 1:1,2; 1 Tim. 6:3). Proper exegesis therefore requires that we interpret the apostles’ teachings on the basis of what Jesus Christ had taught. On no ground should anyone attempt to understand what Christ taught on the basis of His apostles’ words. If we bear this truth in mind, we will not misunderstand the apostles’ words in 1 Thes. 3:17 as saying we will be “raptured” to heaven in order to escape the great tribulation. What the beloved apostles were saying is that on the day of Christ’s return to establish the kingdom of God on the earth, both the resurrected saints and the living believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the sky and immediately escort Him down to the earth in a glorious, triumphal entry. The event recorded in Matt. 21:1-11 (John 12:12-14) serves as a miniature archetype of the event that will take place on the day He returns.
Apostle Peter made it known that lack of insight has made people distort, not only Paul’s teachings but other scriptures (2 Pet. 3:15,16). This is very true of the “pretribulation rapture” interpretation given to 1 Thes.4:13-18. It is however clear that Paul, Silvanus and Timothy were disabusing the minds of the Thessalonian believers that there is the hope of resurrection of life for those who died in Christ. They were not teaching pretribulation rapture – a doctrine invented in Ireland about 190 years ago.
In addition to what Peter said in 2 Peter 3:15-16, Paul made it clear in 1 Tim. 6:3 that anyone who teaches anything which contradicts the wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ and the teachings which accord with godliness is proud and knows nothing. Now, here is a rule for all Christians. Any interpretation of any apostle’s writing which contradicts or tends to fault the clear and explicit words of the Lord Jesus Christ is false and should be rejected. A typical example is the word harpagmos used by Paul in Phil. 2:6 which has been misinterpreted to mean Christ’s claim to equality with God. This interpretation directly opposes Christ’s explicit words in John 20:17; John 14:28 and Rev. 3:12, among others, that God is greater than Himself.
Jesus Christ made it clear in the gospel that His true followers who will be on the earth at the time of the great tribulation will not escape it. It is therefore wrong to twist the apostles’ writing in 1 Thes. 4:13-18 as teaching that Christ will secretly snatch away His true followers to heaven in order to make them escape the great tribulation.
Jesus Christ had said that His followers will have tribulations in this world but He immediately added the fact that we should cheer up because the victory has been won by Him (John 16:33). The apostles understood the message of the Lord. That is why they told the Thessalonian Christians that they should not be moved by the fierce troubles brought on them as a result of their faith in Christ. They reminded them that they had been told that believers are destined for such troubles (1 Thes. 3:1-4). But they also told the Thessalonians that believers are not destined for God’s wrath which is meant for the Devil, the Antichrist, and their supporters (1 Thes. 5:9).
There is a clear difference between the persecution of God’s people by the Antichrist and his human cohorts and the wrath of God which is meant for the enemies of God and of His people. Christ’s second coming will be after the great tribulation (Matt. 24:29-31; Mark 13:24-27). The wrath of God will begin to be poured on the Antichrist and his minions from the day of Christ’s return (2 Thes. 2:8). Satan will be put in God’s prison for 1000 years but the Antichrist and the false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire. After 1000 years, Satan will be released for a short while during which he will mobilize the unbelievers on earth and his angels against Christ. It is during this time that the plagues in Revelation will be poured on the kingdoms of men who join Satan in his rebellion against God and His Messiah. These plagues, like the plagues which came on Pharaoh and his people, are not meant for God’s chosen people, even though they will still be on the earth, dwelling in the beloved city (Rev. 20:9). The great persecution of the Antichrist and the great plagues from God are not meant for the same people. And they will not take place simultaneously. The persecution of the Antichrist will take place before the wrath of God is poured out on the ungodly people.
Christians will be persecuted and killed in their millions but their blood is precious in the sight of God (Ps. 72:14; 116:15; Matt. 24:9,10; Rev. 6:9-11). Those who get killed by the Antichrist lose nothing. By the time they are resurrected and ushered into God’s kingdom, they will understand why God, in His omniscience, allowed them to be killed. The Bible calls them blessed ( Rev. 14:13). They will later be among the joyous crowd that will praise God and Jesus Christ (Rev. 7:9-12). They will see all that they suffered as light and momentary troubles (2 Cor. 4:17; Rom. 8:35-39).
Will the Church Be Absent in The Great Tribulation?
Some people have said that the fact that the word “church” is not mentioned after Revelation 3 until Revelation 22:16 is proof that the church will not be on the earth during the great tribulation. It is true that after Christ’s message to the seven churches in Asia Minor (today’s Turkey) the word “church” is not mentioned until Rev. 22:16. But the Bible did not say that the church will be in heaven during the great tribulation. We observe that even in His message to the churches Jesus Christ warned the people of the great tribulation (Rev. 2:10,11). Just as He said when He was on the earth, He also made it known that the church will go through the great tribulation. The ten days mentioned in Rev. 2:10 should not be taken as ten literal days.
We see the great multitude in Rev. 6:9-10 who were killed for the word of God and for the witness they had borne [about Jesus Christ]. When their souls cried to God for vengeance, they were told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed like themselves would be completed (v. 11). Note that this great multitude is from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages (Rev. 7:9). There is no better interpretation that can be given to this group than saying they are Christians. From this group alone, it is obvious that the church will go through the great persecution. The words “fellow servants” and “brethren” refer to the church.
The saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus are called upon not to give up their faith during the great tribulation (Rev. 13:10; 14:12).
What is the church? Is it not the body of believers in Christ who are also known as saints? If the saints go through the great tribulation, there is no sense in saying that the church will not go through the great tribulation. For the avoidance of doubt, let’s read these two verses:
“Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone destined to die by the sword will die by the sword. This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful” (Rev. 13:10, NLT).
“This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying His commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus” (Rev. 14:12, NLT).
Only those who already have faith in Jesus, Christians, can maintain their faith in Him. In this place, the consequence of taking the mark of the Beast is reiterated to those being persecuted by the Antichrist (Rev. 14:9-11). That is why the injunction is given that God’s holy people, during the persecution, must keep obeying God and keep holding on to their faith in Jesus.
The teaching that the church will be “raptured” to heaven in order to make it escape the great tribulation has no shred of biblical support. It is a false teaching. All true believers in God and His Son, Jesus Christ, who live holy and godly lives are assured of resurrection to eternal life in the Kingdom of God and of His Christ. We have been told not to regard physical death or martyrdom as the end of our lives, if we remain faithful to the end (Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:4-5).
One Taken, One Left Behind
As part of His teaching about the time of His second advent, Jesus said the following:
“Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding [grain] at the mill, one will be taken and the other left” (Matt. 24:40-41, NKJV). Parallel verses are Luke 17:34-35.
This is one passage of the Bible that has been twisted by “Rapture” theorists to support their teaching. They say that on the day that Jesus will come to catch away the church in a clandestine or secret rapture, the faithful believers will be taken away and the unfaithful ones will be left behind here on earth to go through the great tribulation.
To start with, Jesus Christ did not teach anything about rapture. In the immediate context, He said that the coming of the Son of Man will be similar to the days of Noah (Matt. 24:37). In verse 39 He said, “and they, [referring to the unfaithful, careless ones, v. 38], did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (NKJV).
The ones that were taken away in the days of Noah were the careless, unrighteous ones and the righteous ones were left. The Lord could not have said this in verse 39 and then mean the direct opposite in the next two verses. It does not make sense at all.
There are other passages in both the Old and the New Testaments which say that it is the bad ones that are taken away. Below are a few of them.
“For evildoers shall be cut off [taken away] but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land” (Ps. 37:9, ESV). See 1 Thes. 1:10, 2 Tim. 4:8, 2 Thes. 3:5 and Heb. 9:28 and see those who are waiting for the Lord. They will inherit the earth, not heaven.
“But the meek shall inherit the land” (Ps. 37:11)
“I have seen the wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree. But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found” (Ps. 37:35-36, ESV).
“The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all causes of sin and all who do evil” (Matt. 13:41).
“Let both [wheat and weed] grow together until the harvest. At that time, I will tell the harvesters: first collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring into my barn… the good seed [wheat] stands for the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one… The harvest is the end of the age; and the harvesters are angels (Matt. 13:30,38,39, NIV).
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. Then the king will say to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world…” Then he will say to those on the left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels…” (Matt. 25:31-34a, NIV).
These passages have revealed that when the Lord returns, He will separate the righteous from the wicked. The wicked will be taken away in judgement and the righteous will be left to inherit the holy city, the New Jerusalem.
These passages have given support to Matt. 24:39 that those who are taken away at the coming of the Lord are the wicked, the ones who do not serve God faithfully (Matt. 3:16-18). They are taken out of the Kingdom of God (Matt. 13:41). It is erroneous to say that the righteous people are those who are taken away in a so-called rapture. That was not the mind of Jesus Christ. He did not teach anything about taking anyone from the earth to heaven in a secret rapture.
Christ’s warning that He will come at an unexpected time “like a thief in the night” (Matt. 24:42-44; Luke 12:37-40; 1 Thes. 5:2) has also been twisted by rapturists to support their “secret rapture” theory. But our Lord gave the warning so that none of us become careless at any time. It is very wrong to interpret the warning as meaning that Jesus will come secretly to “rapture” His saints the same way thieves secretly burgle houses at night. This is not what Christ taught. His disciples knew that burglars don’t give notices of the time they visit their victim’s home and break into it because if the householder knows when the thief will come, he will stay awake and not let his house be broken into (Matt. 24:42-44). What the Lord taught in that passage is that His coming will take place at an unexpected time (Mark 13:35; Matt. 24:36-51). He warned that His followers should never be careless because His coming will be at a time most unexpected by many people. The teaching has nothing in common with the secret rapture theory. Christ’s second coming will not be a secret event (Matt.24:30-31; Rev. 1:7). His glory, never seen of any earthly king, will be seen throughout the earth on the day of His second advent to the earth (Matt. 24:27; Luke 17:24).
Conclusion
By saying that the days of the great tribulation will be shortened by God because of the chosen people of God, our Lord Jesus Christ has made it clear that the saints will go through the great tribulation. The 19th century teaching of John Nelson Darby and his Plymouth Brethren that Christians will not go through the great tribulation not only contradict the warnings of Jesus Christ and His apostles but also pose a dangerous disservice to the people of God. Many people today are having the false hope that they will be raptured to heaven before the great persecution begins.
The concept of rapture which they sold to Christendom is not taught in the Bible. Many Christians today, including myself, cannot reconcile the rapture theory with the apostles’ teaching in 1 Thes. 4:13-18. The apostles simply wrote on the first resurrection which will take place at the time of Christ’s second coming to bring God’s kingdom to the earth.
The Bible in no place says that Christ’s coming will be in two phases, the first of which will be a clandestine rapture. We have seen that in the three places where the Greek word “apantesis” is used as well as two out of the three places where the cognate word “hupantesis” is used, they have carried the idea of welcoming a visiting dignitary. Conclusively, the meeting in the air with the Lord and His “clouds of heaven” is meant to welcome Him to the earth.
The pioneer Christians did not misunderstand the Lord when He taught His followers that they should not be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul (Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:4). They understood the Lord as saying that physical death does not amount to a termination of the believer’s glorious life which the believer will have in the eternal kingdom of God. God has allowed many of His servants to be killed. He will allow many more to be killed during the great tribulation (Rev. 6:9-11). Yet the blood of His faithful ones is precious in His sight (Ps. 72:14; 116:15). He knows He will resurrect them to inherit a glorious, eternal life just as He resurrected His only begotten Son after He had allowed Him to be killed (Dan. 7:21,22; Acts 2:22-24; 1 Thes. 4:14). The first Christians knew very well that God will bring vengeance on those who kill His saints (Deut. 32:43; Rev. 19:2).
Convinced of these biblical facts, the apostles accepted sufferings, persecutions or even martyrdom as part of the package for the saints of God. The apostles said we are destined for such tribulation (1 Thes. 3:1-3). We must pass through much tribulations to enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22; see also 2 Tim. 3:12). God’s people are however not destined to partake of God’s wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thes. 5:9). The apostles did not fail to tell people that Christians will undergo tribulations because Jesus Christ had instructed them to teach their followers all that He had taught them (Matt. 28:20; Rom. 8:31-39). They regarded all tribulations as light momentary affliction [which] is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2 Cor. 4:17, ESV).
God in His omniscience has allowed some of His holy servants to be killed. He has destined His saints to go through tribulations. Those who will be alive during the time of the Antichrist will pass through the great persecution. For anyone to teach that the church will not go through the great persecution amounts to a substitution of a pleasant falsehood for a seemingly unpleasant truth. Such teaching is likely to cause many to be offended when the evil days come (Matt. 13:21; Mark 4:17). They will also be unprepared for the great persecution. The effect of this is anyone’s guess.
It is evidently clear in 1 Thes. 4:13-17 that Apostles Paul, Silas and Timothy enlightened the Thessalonian believers of the resurrection of those who died in Christ on the day that the Lord will again come to earth (1 Thes. 1:10). On that day, both the resurrected and the living saints will be changed and be snatched up to the sky above the earth’s surface to meet the Lord and accompany Him down to the earth in such a glorious manner never for once seen on the earth.
Nowhere did any of Christ’s apostles teach the John Nelson Darby’s pretribulation rapture. Nowhere has Christ or any His apostles taught that Christ’s coming will be in two phases. Nowhere in the Bible is it found that Christ will come back twice. Nor is there a single Bible verse that says Christ will be invisible when He comes. The rapture doctrine is a product of men who misinterpreted what Christ taught and what His apostles wrote about the resurrection and His second advent to bring God’s Kingdom to the earth.
On the day that our Lord Jesus Christ returns, the prayer He taught us “Thy Kingdom come” will be fulfilled. It is on that day that the kingdom of God will come down to the earth. That day will be preceded by the great persecution by the Antichrist.
The secret rapture doctrine is nothing but another false doctrine in Christendom. All the Christians who are looking forward to a sudden secret rapture to enable them escape the great persecution by the Antichrist have only believed an unbiblical and false doctrine which is now giving them a false hope. The earlier they discover this falsehood the better they’ll prepare for the evil days by prayer and total submission to the will of God.
