In the previous blog entry I focused on the pretribulation view
of Rapture. In this entry I will focus on the postribulation view
of the Rapture. Those holding to the posttribulation view of the
Rapture find support for their view in the following points:
1. Followers of Jesus Christ are found throughout the tribulation
period (Revelation 6:9-11; 7:9, 14; 9:4; 12:17; 13:7; 14:9,
12; 17:6; 18:4), and there is no direct teaching in Revelation
that a rapture occurred before the marriage of the Lamb described
in Revelation 19.
2. In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus told His followers, "Immediately
after the tribulation of those days . . . shall appear the sign of
the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the
earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds
of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels
with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other"
(Matthew 24:29-31; cf. Mark 13:24-27; Luke 21:25-28). There are no
Scriptures that explicitly place the Rapture before the Tribulation.
There is much similarity between the event Jesus described here and
the one Paul described to the Thessalonians. This gathering together
of the elect is the gathering together of the church since the term
elect is used to describe the church (Romans 8:33; Colossians 3:12;
II Timothy 2:10; Titus 1:1). The Matthew 24 passage, which gives a
"time" relation between the Rapture and Tribulation, places the
Rapture after the Tribulation.
3. "But as the days of Noe [Noah] were, so shall also the coming of
the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,
until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until
the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming
of the Son of man be" (Matthew 24:37-39; cf. Luke 17:26-30). Noah
was not saved until the day God's wrath went forth (Genesis 6:5-8;
7:6-23). In the last day the righteous in Christ will not be saved
until God's judgment comes on the wicked.
4. In the parable of the wheat and the tares, the separation of the
"children of the kingdom" and "the children of the wicked one" did
not occur until "the end of this world" (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43).
5. The resurrection of the saints is "at the last day" (John 6:37-44).
6. Three times John places the "first resurrection" after the
Tribulation in Revelation (20:4-6). There can be but one "first";
thus no resurrection or rapture can occur before this time.
7. The marriage of the Lamb occurs after the Tribulation. The words
"the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself
ready" (Revelation 19:7) occur at the end of the tribulation period
when at His second coming Christ defeats the wicked and establishes
His kingdom.
8. Jesus will "bring with him" those who died, to meet those living
as they are "caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the
Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord"
(I Thessalonians 4:17). As in the parable of the ten virgins, the
time came when "the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him"
(Matthew 25:6), so the five saved virgins went out to meet him and
"went in with him to the marriage" (v. 10). Similarly, as the brethren
heard of Paul's coming, they "came to meet" him and returned with him
(Acts 28:15). So too those living in the last day will "meet the Lord
in the air" and return with Him.
The preceding two entries represent the major and stronger arguments for
the two views of the time of the Rapture. When one attempts to answer
the question of the "when," one should avoid coming to a hard and
inflexible position. It would be sad if one missed the benefit these
prophecies can have for those living in the last days. Those holding
to a pretribulation view should be especially careful. If the Rapture
is posttribulational, they may face additional hardships during the
Tribulation if they fail to realize what lies ahead. These hardships
are not the result of God's wrath but of Satan's turning against Christians.
God would never turn His wrath against His children.
Whichever view one holds, one must be careful that it is based solely
on Scripture and not the result of superimposing a view on the Scriptures.
Too many fall into this danger, especially when it comes to prophecy.
It may sometimes be difficult to be objective, but it must be our goal.
As mentioned at the beginning of second post in this section, the question
of when the Rapture will occur will affect our understanding of a time-frame
for the visions presented by john in the book of Revelation.
The following blog post will look at the book of Revelation from my
personal understanding and studying of the passages from the book.
The overarching theme should not be left out within these post. I
hold to a pretribulation interpretation of the events mentioned in
the book of Revelation. I have no problems with another person holding
to a different view of the time-frame for the rapture. The point
is that Jesus is coming back and that we should be prepared either way.
We are called to do God's will while we are here on earth. We need
to focus on the life we live NOW. I hope this study will provide
an extra dose of excitement in our daily bible studies.
God, we pray that you will provide wisdom and insight into our study.