We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

What’s your view of the tribulation period and the rapture?

I along with most other evangelicals believe Jesus is going to return one day and establish his Kingdom. Jesus himself promised his return (Matt. 24:30; 26:64; John 14:3). At Jesus’ ascension, two angels proclaimed, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). This hope is consistently witnessed to throughout the New Testament (e.g., Acts 3:19–2 1; Phil. 3:20–21; 1 Thess. 4:15–16; Titus 2:13).

But when we move beyond this basic hope and search for details, all sorts of controversy breaks out. The major debate among evangelicals concerns whether Christ will return before or after “the tribulation period.” Many believe this future period was prophesied by Jesus when he said:

For at that time there will be great suffering, 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 one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. (Matt. 24:21–22)

The two major views are pre-tribulationism and post-tribulationism.

Pre-tribulationists have several core convictions. First, they have a two-stage understanding of Christ’s return. They believe that Christ will return to remove (or rapture) his church out of the world before the tribulation. He will then return with his saints to judge the world after the tribulation. In the first stage, Christ will not be seen by the world, though the world will of course notice the miraculous and instantaneous disappearance of every Christian. In the second stage, everyone will behold the Lord returning in glory.

Pre-tribulationists find support for their belief in a literal rapture, prior to the tribulation period, in the words of Paul:

For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thess. 4:16–17)

Pre-tribulationists emphasize the difference between passages they believe refer to the rapture (e.g., Matt. 24:40) and those that all agree refer to the final coming of Christ (Rev. 19). The rapture passages speak of a secret, instantaneous snatching-away of believers—one shall be “taken” and one “left behind”—while other passages speak of an event that everyone will see.

Second, pre-tribulationists point to passages in the Bible that they believe teach that believers will be kept from having to endure the wrath of God. For example, Paul states that Jesus will “[rescue] us from the wrath that is coming” (1 Thess. 1:10; see also 1 Thess. 5:9; Rev. 3:10). Since the tribulation period is a time when God’s wrath will be poured out in judgment on the wicked, they believe the rapture must take place before this time.

Finally, pre-tribulationists highlight the fact that many texts clearly state that Christ’s return could happen at any moment and that Christians are not to be caught off guard (e.g., Matt. 24:42–51; 25:1–30; 1 Cor. 1:7; Phil. 4:5; Titus 2:13). But if Christ will not return until after the tribulation period, as post-tribulationists maintain, how could his return be imminent or surprising? If the post-tribulationists are correct, we should not expect Christ to return until after the rather obvious events of Christ’s prophecy are fulfilled.

Post-tribulationists deny that there are two stages to Christ’s return. He will return once, after a final tribulation period, at which time he will set up his millennial kingdom. Post-tribulationists support their view with several lines of argument.

First, many passages of Scripture tell believers to expect persecution (e.g., Acts 14:22; Rom. 5:3; 1 Thess. 3:3). Jesus told his disciples, “In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” (John 16:33). What is more, post-tribulationists emphasize the fact that Jesus explicitly prayed that his Father would not take his church out of the world. He asked that he protect them from the enemy in the midst of a hostile world (John 17:15). Indeed, according to post-tribulationists, Jesus explicitly taught that the church would endure the tribulation period, for he said, “at that time there will be great suffering….And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short” (Matt. 24:21–22). The elect are clearly present during the tribulation period.

Second, post-tribulationists argue that the passages cited in support of a pre-tribulation rapture do not teach what the pre-tribulationists suggest. For example, Paul’s teaching that the church will meet “the Lord in the air” (1 Thess. 4:17) does not mean that Christians will literally ascend into the clouds. The passage rather refers to the common ancient practice of people going outside the gates of their city to welcome home a victorious general with triumphant jubilation. The imagery of the Lord coming in clouds was frequently used to speak of the Lord coming in glory and power (e.g., Ps. 68:4; Jer. 4:13; Dan. 7:13). What is more, if the passage is taken literally, it can hardly refer to an unnoticed coming. Paul says the Lord will descend with “a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet” (1 Thess. 4:16). The images suggest that the return will be loud—like the call of a general returning home.

Finally, passages that speak of one being taken while another is left behind (e.g., Matt. 24:40) do not refer to a secret rapture. If read in context, post-tribulationists argue, the one taken is likened to those who were judged in Noah’s flood, not to one who is rescued from judgment (Matt. 24:38–39). Jesus is speaking about how suddenly people will disappear under persecution during the tribulation period, not how they will be raptured away from persecution before the rapture. Hence, post-tribulationists argue that Christ will return only once, and he will come after the world has gone through a final tribulation period.

There is third school of thought, however, which sees most, if not all, of the language about the “rapture” and “coming tribulation” as symbolic, apocalyptic language that was fulfilled in the first century. This view is called “preterism” (see What is the right way to interpret Revelation? for more information). Scholars such as N.T. Wright argue that for Jews of the first century, the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was viewed as “the end of the world” as they knew it. All the apocalyptic imagery Jesus and other New Testament authors use about a coming tribulation can plausibly be seen as applying to this catastrophic event.

In this view, all the speculation about the order of events in “the last days” is a waste of time.

I’m not fully convinced of the full preterist position, though I find some of their arguments compelling (see “Books Defending Preterism” below ). Whether preterism is true or not, I am convinced the speculation about when and how world history will come to a close is a waste of time. I also worry about the escapist mindset behind much of the rapture theology being propounded today. We’re supposed to be bringing the Kingdom down to earth, not escaping earth to avoid hardships!

For me, it’s enough to know that Jesus will return someday and set up his Kingdom. When and how he does so is irrelevant. In the meantime, our job is to work to build his Kingdom by living the way he taught us to live. That’s a 24-7 job, leaving no time for crystal ball gazing into the future!

Further Reading on End Time Issues

  • Brower, Kent E., and Mark W. Elliott, eds. Eschatology in Bible and Theology: Evangelical Essays at the Dawn of a New Millennium. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1997.
  • Erickson, Millard J. A Basic Guide to Eschatology: Making Sense of the Millennium. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998.
  • Ladd, George E. The Last Things. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978.
  • Reiter, Richard R., Paul D. Feinberg, Gleason L. Archer, and Douglas J. Moo. The Rapture: Pre-, Mid-, or Post-Tribulational? Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984.

Books defending Preterism

  • D. Chilton, The Days of Vengeance (Dominion, 1987)
  • D. Chilton, The Great Tribulation (Dominion, 1987)
  • MacPherson, Dave. The Great Rapture Hoax. Fletcher, N.C.: New Puritan Library, 1983.
  • J. Noe, Beyond The End Times (International Preterist Association, 1999).
  • S. Russell, The Parousia (International Preterist Association, 2003 [1887])

Category:
Tags: ,
Topics:

Related Reading

Why do you espouse Open Theism?

Open Theism refers to the belief that God created a world in which possibilities are real. It contrasts with Classical Theism which holds that all the facts of world history are eternally settled, either by God willing them so (as in Calvinism) or simply in God’s knowledge (as in Arminianism). Open Theists believe God created…

How do you respond to 2 Samuel 24:1 and 1 Chronicles 21:1?

One text says the Lord incited David to count the warriors of Israel and Judah. The other text says that Satan incited David to count the warriors of Israel. (The Lord had forbidden this, as it displayed a confidence in military strength rather than in Yahweh’s power). Compatibilists frequently cite this as an example of…

What is the significance of Deuteronomy 13:1–3?

Moses tells the Israelites that God allowed false prophets to sometimes be correct because “the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you indeed love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.” If God already knows such matters with certainty, Scripture’s inspired description as to why such testings take place…

Topics:

What is the warfare worldview?

The warfare worldview is based on the conviction that our world is engaged in a cosmic war between a myriad of agents, both human and angelic, that have aligned themselves with either God or Satan. This is the view that is presupposed throughout the entire Bible, and it’s especially evident in the New Testament. For…

What is the significance of Matthew 26:39?

Jesus threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” Scripture indicates that much about the life and death of Jesus Christ was foreordained and thus foreknown long before it came to pass. Given that this…

Topics:

How do you respond to 2 Timothy 1:9–10?

“…this grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus…” Those who hold that the future is eternally settled and that God knows it as such sometimes argue that God had to foreknow who would believe in order…