When Is It?
A look at why Evangelical Christians don’t all agree on the timing of the Rapture.
Christ’s premillennial Second Coming to Earth is evident even from a casual reading of the Scriptures. The Bible, taken at face value, clearly states the Messiah will return to establish His worldwide, earthly Kingdom, headquartered in Jerusalem (cf. Dan. 2; 7; Isa. 11; Zech. 14; Rev. 19—20).
To come to a different conclusion, we must purposely adopt a nonliteral understanding of God’s promises.
The timing of the Rapture of the church, however, is more complicated to determine. Genuine believers in Christ who take the Bible at face value still disagree on when it will occur. Therefore, it is imperative to study the Word carefully to see what the Lord has told us.
Premillennialists—those who believe Christ will return to Earth to reign for 1,000 literal years from David’s throne in Jerusalem—hold several views concerning the Rapture’s timing.
- Pretribulation (Pretrib) Rapture. Pretribulationists believe the Rapture will occur before the seven-year Tribulation.
- Posttribulation (Posttrib) Rapture. Posttribulationists believe Christ will rapture the church after the seven-year Tribulation.
- Midtribulation (Midtrib) Rapture. Midtribulationists teach the Rapture will take place halfway through the seven years of Tribulation.
- Prewrath Rapture. Proponents of this position, a modified midtribulational view, believe the Rapture will occur sometime during the last half of the Tribulation.
- Partial Rapture. Adherents of this view teach Christ will rapture so-called spiritual Christians before the Tribulation, but all others will go through it. This view focuses more on the qualifications of individual Christians to be raptured, rather than on the timing of the Rapture.
The pretrib and posttrib views are the most prominent among premillennialists. But if we carefully compare Scripture with Scripture, we see the church will be raptured before the Tribulation.
Defining the Day of the Lord
Perhaps the most crucial Bible passage on the Rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4:13—5:9. The text flows chronologically, following the outline of the entire book (cf. 1:9–10). Church Age believers will be “caught up” (raptured) in the air to meet Jesus (4:13–18). Chapter 5 presents the key for the event’s timing: Following the Rapture, the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night (v. 2).
The Day of the Lord will bring sudden, unexpected destruction and trouble on those who were not raptured: “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman” (v. 3). The words as labor pains upon a pregnant woman strongly illustrate the trouble people on Earth will face, and the words peace and safety reveal it will come suddenly and unexpectedly. Their hope and expectation of peace will be dashed to the ground.
The question then emerges, “To what does the ‘Day of the Lord’ refer?” Verse 9 reveals the significance of this query: “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation [deliverance] through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This verse contains an exemption from wrath. The context indicates the apostle Paul was not talking about hell (eternal wrath) but, rather, the particular wrath called the “day of the Lord” (v. 2). And since it says God did not “appoint us” to wrath, the passage implies the church will be removed before the Day of the Lord wrath arrives.
If we study the phrase Day of the Lord throughout the Bible, we quickly realize it doesn’t mean the same thing everywhere. Generally, it refers to God’s judgment. It refers to historical events and future end-times events, and its context determines the correct time frame. So we must ask what it means in the particular context of 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and not in some other part of the Bible.
Each Rapture view defines the Day of the Lord differently. Sometimes adherents of the same view even differ among one another.
The posttrib view often defines the Day of the Lord as the brief period of God’s judgment associated with Christ’s Second Coming at the end of the Tribulation.1 The prewrath view says the Day of the Lord begins with the seventh seal sometime during the last half of the Tribulation (Rev. 8:1).2 The midtrib view usually delineates it as the last half of the seven years.3 Many proponents of the pretrib view define the Day of the Lord as the full seven years.
“Peace and Safety”
Which view has the best definition? The answer is found in the phrase peace and safety (1 Th. 5:3). If we assume the posttrib position, the Battle of Armageddon would precede the Rapture at the end of the Tribulation. That is not a time of “peace and safety.”
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If we assume the prewrath position, the seal judgments would precede the Day of the Lord. These judgments include war (second seal; Rev. 6:4) and seriously unsafe conditions. So this view also fails to handle the “peace and safety” statement.
The midtrib view leads to a similar conclusion. Battles between the king of the north and king of the south occur immediately before the midpoint of the seven-year Tribulation (Dan. 11:40—12:1), making it difficult to harmonize these wars with people on Earth declaring “peace and safety.”
Only the pretrib view adequately accounts for the “peace and safety” reference. At the beginning of the seven-year Tribulation, the Antichrist will make a peace treaty with Israel (9:27). We can easily see why people would announce “peace and safety” and then receive the opposite of what they had expected—seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments.
The pretrib view best handles the “peace and safety” statement of 1 Thessalonians 5:3 by referring to all seven years as the Day of the Lord. This fact leads to the inevitable conclusion that the church is exempt from all seven years of the Tribulation. Hence, the Rapture described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 is pretribulational.
A more thorough study of the Rapture’s timing includes fleshing out other passages, such as John 14:1–3; 1 Corinthians 15:51–52; and Revelation 3:10. Debate will continue, no doubt, among “premillennial cousins.” But a serious study of God’s Word on the issue will leave no one in darkness.
ENDNOTES
- Douglas Moo, “A Case for the Posttribulation Rapture,” Three Views on the Rapture, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 201–203.
- Robert Van Kampen, The Sign (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1992), 324.
- Gleason L. Archer, “The Case for the Mid-Seventieth-Week Rapture Position,” The Rapture: Pre-, Mid-, or Post-Tribulational? (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), 139.
For the specific suggestion that the ‘peace and safety’ reference is in conflict with the Pre-Wrath position, a helpful short video:
https://www.alankurschner.com/2016/01/08/who-is-saying-peace-and-security-in-1-thessalonians-53/
Basically, the point taken here is that those saying ‘peace and safety’ are *not* the believers, but rather those aligning themselves with the Anti-Christ at the time.
Pre-tribulation apologists are determined to ignore the opening verses of II Thessalonians 2:
“Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.” [NASB]
God’s word states clearly that the Rapture will not occur until the Antichrist is revealed for who he is.
Jesus PROMISED in Revelation 3:10 that church age believers will NOT be here for any of the 7 years having been taken “out of the time, place and cause” of the time of testing coming on the inhabitants of the earth. One of the reasons Jesus died was to deliver us from the coming wrath of God and we’re promised in 3 places that we won’t be here to see it-Romans 5:9. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 and 5:9. If He didn’t accomplish all the purposes for which He came then He would still be in the grave and thus your faith would be futile, in vain and pointless. The verse you cite, 2 Thessalonians 2:3 is actually a DEFENSE of the pre-trib rapture. The word translated apostasy is “apostasia” and it has a two-fold meaning. As described in the early translations through the Geneva Bible it means a departure. Beginning with the KJV the meaning changed to a defection or falling away. Most of the modern translations say falling away or rebellion with a couple using still apostasy. Bottom line is the church has to be gone before the tribulation starts so the antichrist can be effective with his agenda. Any view other than the pre-trib view calls God a liar, 1 John 5:10, something I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be guilty of. There’s a crown associated with knowing the correct timing of the rapture and bein prepared for it in the prescribed manner. Paul and Jesus both reference it in their discourses. Those of you who are naysayers have forfeited their eligibility for it and for calling God a liar no doubt y’all have forfeited any other rewars as well other than your reward of eternal life
The Tribulation is identified as a Seven Year unit divided into two equal halves made up of “time, times, and half a time” (years), 42 months each, or 1260 days each. The start of that period apparently is the signing of a seven-year covenant involving the Jews. Only the pre-tribulation position has no necessary event to precede the Rapture happening. Jesus said no one would know the day but the other tribulation views assert otherwise.
The midtribulation and prewrath positions require a treaty, a temple, an antichrist and false prophet, a defilement of the treaty, miracles by two witnesses, the death of the two witnesses and can calculate the date as 1260 days into the event prior to the Rapture.
The posttribulation position requires all of the above plus the horrific events of the Great Tribulation, the mark of the beast, Armageddon, and 2520 days of time following the signing of the broken treaty.
In short, the pretribulation position anticipates the rapture. All other positions anticipate events that remove any sense of “the imminence of the unknown” in contrast to an imminence immediately following known events.
I love the Rapture debate! However, I think the debate is quickly coming to an end. I, like most American Christians began as a classic pretribber, having loved the Left Behind series; but as I studied more and became more inquisitive about eschatology, I began to see major holes in the pretrib view. Much of its foundation is based upon assumptions that I just don’t see line up with Scripture. One such assumption is that the “tribulation” is 7 years. This is an assumption based off the 7 year period in Daniel yes, but the Great Tribulation is always described as 3 1/2 years–throughout Scripture. Another incorrect assumption is conflating the entire 7 years with the wrath of God, when Scripture basically declares that the wrath of God falls sometime toward the end of the 3 1/2 year period!
I find the reasoning below (all emphasis mine) to be quite a complete picture of the order of events, and this order precludes a pretrib Rapture.
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, BEFORE the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.–Joel 2
“Immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man…–Jesus in Matthew 24
Here in just two passages we have delineated between the Tribulation and the Day of the Lord as separated by the heavenly portents! Then what do we see in Revelation 6? The heavenly portents followed by the people of the earth declaring the great day of wrath has come! Then in Revelation 7 we see the multitude appear in Heaven! It’s simple and amazing!
When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
So with these verses, and considering Paul’s warning in 2 Thess 2, it seems that the Church will face the persecutions of antichrist followed by the Rescue, and then the Wrath of God! The Rescue appears to be after the 6th seal with the heavenly portents in the sky, as Jesus said in Luke, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
I look forward to your response as I am not totally dogmatic about prophecy, but do feel that the prewrath position yields the best hermeneutic when it comes to eschatology.