Defending The Pre-Trib Rapture
(Again)
by Jack Kelley
Somebody asked me a great question the other day. "Does
Scripture actually promise a Pre-Tribulation Rapture, or is it just an opinion
passed along from teacher to student?" Then he challenged me to cite even one
Bible verse that would lead a person to believe the Pre-Trib position if they
hadn't already heard about it from some Bible teacher. He said that in all his
studies he's not been able to find one. Let's see if he's right.
First, Some General Points
The Rapture is not another name for the Second Coming. As 1 Thess. 4:15-17 and
John 14:1-3 explain, the Rapture is an unscheduled secret event where Jesus
comes part way to Earth to meet His Church in the air and take us to be with Him
where He now is. I say unscheduled and secret because its specific timing will
remain unknown until it actually happens.
On the other hand, The Second Coming is a scheduled public event where Jesus
comes all the way to Earth with His Church to establish a Kingdom here. I say
scheduled because the general time of His coming will be known on Earth over 3 ½
years in advance, and public because everyone on Earth will be able to witness
His arrival. Matt. 24:29-30 says it will happen immediately after the Great
Tribulation and all the nations will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds in
the sky.
Membership in the Church and, therefore, participation in the Rapture is
contingent upon having personally accepted the Lord's death as payment in full
for your sins. While His death actually purchased full pardons for everyone, we
each have to personally ask to have ours activated. Everyone who asks for
salvation receives an unconditional, irrevocable "Yes!" (Matt. 7:7-8, John 3:16,
Ephes. 1:13-14) For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in
Christ. (2 Corinth. 1:20)
It's Greek To Me
And finally, although cynics can truthfully say that the word Rapture doesn't
appear in any passage of Scripture, the statement is not correct in its intent.
Rapture is a word of Latin origin, not Hebrew or Greek, the languages of the
Bible. (The earliest translation of the Bible was into Latin, and the word
rapture comes from there.) Its Greek equivalent is harpazo, which is found in
the Greek text of 1 Thes. 4:17. When they're translated into English, both words
mean "to be caught up, or snatched away." Harpazo, the word Paul actually used,
comes from roots that mean, "to raise from the ground" and "take for oneself"
and hints that the Lord's eagerly claiming us for Himself.
So while the Latin
word doesn't appear in our Bibles, the event it describes certainly does.
There's a similar situation with the word Lucifer, also of Latin origin. It
doesn't appear in any of the original texts either, but no one would be naive
enough to deny the existence of Satan on such a flimsy basis.
With that introduction, let's go
first to the best known of the Rapture passages.
According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are
still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not
precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from
heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who
are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thes.
4:15-17)
Most of us are very familiar with these verses. But notice they don't tell you
when the rapture happens, only that it does. Notice also that the Lord doesn't
come all the way to Earth. We meet Him in the clouds and go back with Him where
He came from. If this was the 2nd coming, He would be coming here to be where we
are, not coming to take us there to be where He is.
Paul described the same event in 1 Cor 15:51-52. In a flash, in the twinkling of
an eye the dead in Christ will rise and the living will be transformed. There he
said that he was disclosing a secret, but the resurrection of the dead was not a
secret. It can be found throughout the Old Testament. The secret was that some
would not die, but be taken alive into the Lord's presence following an
instantaneous transformation. The rapture happens fast. In one instant we're
walking on Earth and in the very next we're in the Kingdom.
Don't try to use the trumpet reference in verse 52 to pin the timing down. There
are several "Last Trumpets" in the Bible and in Jewish tradition. This verse
just means it's the last trumpet we'll hear before we're changed. Since both the
Corinthian passage and the one from Thessalonians describe the same things, it's
safe to assume that this trumpet is the same one mentioned in 1 Thes. 4:16 and
is not pointing us toward any other event.
So these two references both say that one generation of humans won't die but
will be suddenly changed from our earthly form to our heavenly one. And since
both Matt. 24:31 (they'll gather His elect from one end of the heavens to the
other) and Rev. 17:14 (with Him will be His called, chosen, and faithful
followers) say that we'll be with the Lord when He returns, this has to happen
sometime before the 2nd Coming. And it can't be just the resurrected believers
coming back with Him because the Rapture passages above say that we'll be
changed at the same time as the dead are raised.
So When Does This Happen?
In the New Testament, the clearest indication we get in the timing department is
found in 1 Thess. 1:9-10. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the
living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from
the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. The Greek word translated
"from" in this passage is "apo." Taken literally, it means we're to be rescued
from the time, the place, or any relation to God's wrath. It denotes both
departure and separation. This is supported by 1 Thes. 5:9 that declares, "God
did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord
Jesus Christ."
Some folks are fond of pointing out that you can't use God's wrath
interchangeably with the Great Tribulation. They're not the same, they say. And
they're right, the two terms are not synonymous. The Great Tribulation is 3 ½
years long and begins in Rev. 11-13. God's wrath is much longer, beginning in
Rev. 6, as verse 17 explains. Post-trib. and pre-wrath rapture advocates try to
deny this but the Scripture is clear. The time of God's wrath begins with the
Seal Judgments. The Bowl Judgments that come later don't begin the time of His
wrath; they end it. (Rev. 15:1) Being rescued from the time, the place and any
relation to God's Wrath means the Church has to disappear before Rev. 6, and
that's why we believe the Rapture takes place in Rev. 4 and the Church is the
group of believers in view in heaven in Rev.5.
You Be The Judge
Now let's apply my questioner's litmus test. Could a believer, sitting alone on
the proverbial desert isle with nothing but a Bible and with no pre-conceived
ideas, conclude that there's a pre-trib Rapture just from reading about it, or
could he only be led into this position by first hearing someone teach him about
it?
Well, From Isaiah 13:9-13 and Amos 5:18, he would have learned that God is going
to judge the Earth for its sins in a terrible time called the Day of the Lord
when He'll pour out His wrath on mankind. Reading Matt. 24 would have told him
that this time of judgment would be so bad that if the Lord didn't put a stop to
it no one would survive. But the Lord will put a stop to it by returning in
power and glory. Since he would know that the Lord hasn't returned yet, he would
know that God's wrath is still in the future.
When he got to 1 Thes. 1:9-10 he would see a pretty clear statement. Jesus
rescues us from the coming wrath. In the "who, what, where, when, and why"
methodology of the investigative reporter he would have the Who, (Jesus) the
what, (rescues us) and the when (the time of the coming wrath). Reading on he
would come to 1 Thes. 4:15:17 and get the where (from Earth to the clouds) and
in 1 Thes. 5:9 the why (because we're not appointed to wrath).
From there he would logically conclude that since we'll be rescued around the
time of the coming wrath and since we're not appointed to wrath, our rescue has
to precede it. He could also answer another of the investigative reporter's
questions in 1 Thes. 4:15:17 and that's how it would happen. The Lord himself
will come down from Heaven into our atmosphere and suddenly snatch us away from
Earth to join Him there. In chapter 5 he would learn that he would never know
the exact timing of this event but only that it would precede the coming wrath.
Of course there are many more passages I could reference but I think I've made
my point and answered the question. In fact I'll go one step further. I believe
that since our hypothetical reader has no one to persuade him differently, he
would assume that what he's reading is to be taken literally. And, if that's the
case, then the pre-trib position is the only conclusion he could logically come
to, because every other position requires a moderate to massive
re-interpretation of Scripture.
I contend that, left alone to work this out with only the Holy Spirit as his
guide, he would expect to be raptured before the wrath of God begins in Rev. 6.
You see, God didn't write the Bible to confuse us, but to inform us. It's
mankind that's gotten everything all mixed up. If you give the Holy Spirit a
clear minded student, uncontaminated by man's opinions and prejudices, He would
bring that person to the understanding of the rapture that's most consistent
with a literal interpretation of Scripture. And that requires a pre-trib
rapture.
But Wait, There's More
While we're on the topic, there's another issue that points to a pre-trib
Rapture and it comes to us in the form of a clue in 1 Thes. 4:15, right at the
beginning of the Rapture passage. Verse 15 opens with the phrase "According to
the Lord's own word." There simply is no place in the New Testament where Jesus
speaks of some being resurrected and some others being transformed to meet the
Lord in the air. He never said anything like that, nor does He even imply such a
thing.
Those who believe they see it in Matt. 24:40-41 first have to ignore the fact
that Jesus was explaining events on Earth on the actual day of His return, which
would place the Rapture after the 2nd Coming, something no one believes. They
also have to ignore the fact that in Matt. 24:40-41 both believers and
non-believers are sent somewhere, believers being received unto Him, while
non-believers are sent away. You have to research the Greek words translated
"taken" (paralambano) and "left" (alphiemi) to realize this, but when you do
you'll see that the English is misleading. No Rapture view includes the
disposition of non-believers, nor does it even mention them.
By the way, this is a great example of why the literal, historical, grammatical
interpretation is so important. Our Bible was mostly written in Hebrew and
Greek. Every translation relies on the movement of words from one language to
another. This process doesn't always produce a perfect fit, and so learned men
have to make allowances for this and exercise their own judgment from time to
time. But men are not perfect. We all have our biases. When it's an important
issue where you want an exact meaning, it's always a good idea to double-check
their work.
Fortunately, we have an incredible tool in the Strong's Concordance. It contains
every Hebrew and Greek word in the Bible with their primary and secondary
meanings, how often each word appears in the Bible and what meanings are used in
each appearance. You can compare these with the meaning the translators used and
see if you agree with their treatment of the passage. By doing this with Matt.
24:40-41, you'll find that the primary meaning of paralambano is to receive and
the primary meaning of alphiemi is to send away.
People with a post-trib disposition read 1 Thes. 4:15, and then turned to Matt.
24:40-41 where they saw one group being "taken" and another group being "left"
after the end of the Great Tribulation. Assuming that these were the Lord's own
words Paul was referring to, they stopped there. They had seen what they wanted
to see.
In actuality Matt. 24:40-41 is most likely a preview of the Sheep and Goat
judgment of Tribulation survivors. The word taken (received) refers to believers
going live into the Kingdom, and the word left (sent away) applies to
non-believers who are sent to the place prepared for the Devil and his angels.
(Matt 25:31-46)
Of course none of this pertains to our desert island reader above. The verses I
used there are clear enough that they don't require any research into the
original language. So he wouldn't need a Strong's Concordance, just his Bible.
What's Your Point?
So if Jesus never taught about the Rapture, to which of the "Lord's own words"
was Paul referring? Some dismiss the phrase, saying that Paul was speaking of a
conversation he had with the Lord that doesn't appear in Scripture. But I think
we deserve a better answer than that.
Remember, 1st Thessalonians was probably Paul's first written communication,
undertaken in 51 AD. Depending on whose opinion you accept, Matthew's Gospel was
either just being written or was still nearly 10 years away. Those who give it
an early date say it was written to the Jews in Jerusalem and may even have been
written in Hebrew. In any case, neither it nor any other Gospel was yet in wide
distribution. (Mark's Gospel, the other candidate for earliest one written,
doesn't contain an equivalent to Matt 24:40-41.) So, if Paul was referring to
Scripture, as I believe he was, it had to be the Old Testament.
Yes, like everything else in God's plan, you'll find hints of the Rapture even
in the Old Testament. Look at this passage from Isaiah 26:19-21.
But your dead
will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout
for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to
her dead. Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide
yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. See, the LORD is
coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins.
(Emphasis mine.)
Notice how the pronouns change from second person when God speaks of His people
to third person when He speaks of the people of the Earth. It means the two
groups are different. Those called "my people" are told to "enter your rooms"
(the rooms of John 14:1-3?) because the others, called "the people of Earth" are
going to be punished for their sins in a period of time called His Wrath. Sound
familiar? (Note: the Hebrew word translated "go" in the phrase "Go my people" is
translated "come" in some translations, recalling the command to John in
Revelation 4, "Come up here!" But the word has another primary meaning and it's
my favorite. It means vanish. "Vanish, my people!" (Yes, we will.)
Not by any stretch of the imagination has this passage been literally fulfilled.
It's an End Times prophecy that promises a resurrection of the dead and hiding
of God's people while God's Wrath is unleashed on the people of Earth for their
sins. And it was written 2750 years ago. The hiding of the Jews in the desert on
Earth at the beginning of the Great Tribulation (Rev. 12:14) cannot be
considered as a fulfillment of this passage because no resurrection accompanies
it. The resurrection of Old Testament believers takes place at the end of the
Great Tribulation. (Daniel 12:2)
Of course, no one knows for sure that this is the passage Paul referred to, but
as evidence of its influence on him, let's compare it with what Paul wrote in 1
Thessalonians 4-5.
Isaiah : But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the
dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the
earth will give birth to her dead.
Paul: The dead in Christ will rise first.
Isaiah : Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide
yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.
Paul: After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
Isaiah : See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the
earth for their sins.
Paul: While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them
suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
The wording is a little different, but is sure looks to me like they're
describing the same event.
And Still More
There are other sound theological reasons why the Church will be raptured before
the End Times judgments begin. One is that the Lord seems to keep Israel and the
Church separate, never dealing with both at the same time (Acts 15: 13-18) If
the primary purpose of Daniel's 70th week is to finish fulfilling the six
promises to Israel in Daniel 9:24, then the Church has to disappear.
Another is that the Church was purified at the cross at which time all the
punishment due us was born by the Lord Himself. From that time forward the
Church is considered by God to be as righteous as He is. (2 Cor 5:17 & 21) The
idea that the Church needs to undergo some discipline to become worthy to dwell
with God is unscriptural and denies the Lord's completed work on the cross.
And third, the stated purpose of the Great Tribulation is twofold, to purify
Israel and completely destroy the unbelieving nations. (Jeremiah 30:1-11) The
Church isn't destined for either of these outcomes.
There are also several subtle clues that on their own can't be used to support
the pre-trib position, but which underscore the validity of the clear passages
I've just cited. Take for instance the fact that Enoch, who bears a great
similarity to the Church, disappeared before the Great Flood, that the angels
couldn't destroy Sodom and Gomorrah until Lot and his family were clear, and
that Daniel was missing from the story of the fiery furnace, a model of the
Great Tribulation.
When the Lord described His coming in Luke 17:26-29 He said that it would be
both like the days of Noah (some will be preserved through the accompanying
judgments) and the days of Lot (some will be taken away before them). And what
about the promise He made to the Church in Philadelphia that he would keep us
out of the "hour" of trial coming on the whole world? (Rev. 3:10) Is that the
same as the "hour" of Babylon's destruction in Rev. 18?
But, being asked to cite verses that didn't require any prior knowledge I picked
two that are clearest to me, 1 Thess. 1:9-10 and Isaiah 26: 19-21. And so by the
testimony of two witnesses, one in the Old Testament and one in the New, we see
the physical separation of believers from non-believers preceding the time of
Judgment. And by the testimony of two witnesses a thing shall be established.
(Deut. 19:15)
Of course some won't be convinced until we show them a verse that says the
rapture will precede the Great Tribulation in those exact words. Obviously, such
a verse doesn't exist. I guess we'll just have to wait and explain it to them on
the way up.
--------------------------------