The rapture of the church and the Great Tribulation are two of the most hotly debated topics in Christian eschatology (study of the end times). Most Christians who debate these future events fall into one of three categories. They believe that the rapture will take place either before, during, or after the Great Tribulation. I believe that the Bible clearly teaches a pre-tribulation rapture of the church. In this post, I will look at three different viewpoints people can have when thinking about the rapture.
THE VIEWPOINT OF MOUNTAINS TAKING PRECEDENCE OVER THE MOUNTAIN MOVER
I’m not looking for the tribulation; I’m looking for my Saviour
We all have figurative mountains in our lives. As Christians, one of our biggest problems is that we tend to focus on the mountain rather than the Mountain Mover. Our eyes are gazed on our troubles when we should be looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). And that’s the problem with the post-tribulation rapture teaching. It causes us to look at the mountain rather than the Mountain Mover. But personally, I’m not looking for the tribulation; I’m looking for my Saviour (Philippians 3:20-21; Titus 2:13).
Don’t get me wrong: as Christians, we’re called to suffer. In fact, one of the many reasons I’m confident I’m not going through the Great Tribulation is because my tribulation should be NOW. II Timothy 3:12 says, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
Think about it: Paul was a walking martyr everywhere he went (and it wasn’t self-induced). We’re commanded several times in the New Testament to follow him as he followed Christ. Talk about a foreign concept in Laodicean land! This is why Paul quotes a tribulation passage (Psalm 44:22) to the Body of Christ in Romans 8:36 – “As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Our “tribulation” ought to be now (not the future; not the time of Jacob’s [Israel’s] trouble – Jeremiah 30:7). In quoting Pastor Tony Godfrey, “You don’t have to go looking for suffering, nor should you create your own. Live godly, and suffering will find you.” And yet, like Paul, we can have joy amidst these tribulations.
THE VIEWPOINT OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OVERRIDING DOCTRINE
It’s a shame that we would allow our feelings and experiences to override biblical doctrine.
The best of us tend to view things in life with a self-absorbed lens. I’m talking about when we see things from our perspective only: what we’ve been through, what we’ve seen and heard, what we feel, what we’ve experienced. Unfortunately, we also tend to do this with the Bible. Have you ever noticed that many Christians who claim that God’s Church will go through the tribulation generally speak from a lens of what they’ve personally experienced?
Take the late Corrie Ten Boom for example. This woman experienced horrific tribulation in a Nazi concentration camp. I’ve got an immense amount of respect for this dear woman of God and her perseverance; she was a true hero. However, she used to warn believers of the “false teachers” who claimed the Church will be raptured prior to the tribulation.
On the same note, I’ve listened to Bible teachers who were close to the late Richard Wurmbrand (a beloved saint tortured by communists for fourteen years) imply that the belief of a pre-tribulation rapture is heresy. After all, how dare we say that Christians won’t go through the tribulation when godly men such as Richard Wurmbrand have been tortured for Christ?
I know many Christians who adamantly teach that the body of Christ will go through the tribulation and then be raptured at the end. But like the pattern I’ve observed suggests, if you look into their lives, you’ll find many of them have experienced first-hand tribulation. In fact, some of them have even turned into self-induced martyrs.
Steven Anderson, a self-proclaimed “old-fashioned, independent, fundamental, KJV pastor” has been banned from entering several countries due to his hate speech. Some even refer to him as the modern Fred Phelps, former pastor of Westboro Baptist Church (and I totally see why). He probably attracts (perceived) persecution everywhere he goes, due to his longing to be the “stench of death” towards those who don’t believe the way he believes. Is it a surprise that he teaches God’s church will go through the tribulation?
The bottom line is that many Christians believe (based on trials they’ve experienced) that God’s church will suffer in the seven-year tribulation. It’s a shame that we would allow our feelings and experiences to override biblical doctrine. Of course, not rightly dividing the word is the primary reason Christians teach a post tribulation rapture for God’s Church; however, I find it interesting that persecution (whether real or perceived) tends to be a common denominator amongst these post-tribbers.
THE VIEWPOINT OF LOOKING FOR THAT BLESSED HOPE
The rapture is bound to happen very soon.
There are two things I can personally say about studying God’s word: 1) The more I study it, the more I realize how much I don’t know. 2) The more I study it, the more I believe in a pretribulation rapture of the Church.
Now, we don’t have time in this post to go over all the clear teachings in Scripture regarding the Body of Christ being raptured prior to the tribulation. Ample evidence indicates that we (the body and bride of Christ) won’t be on earth during Daniel’s 70th Week. God’s Church is not appointed to wrath (I Thessalonians 5:4,9). If you’re thirsty to learn more about this, I recommend you visit Living Faith’s website and watch the video sessions from the 2017 Certainty Conference.
In light of this, I would like to take a moment and speak about something that should completely revolutionize the way we think: The rapture is bound to happen very soon.
I’ve got three considerations for you:
1. The rapture of God’s Church is imminent and always has been.
In other words, it can occur at any moment; it’s always ready to take place. Listen to what Paul said almost 2,000 years ago.
Romans 13:11 “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”
Paul knew the Lord could be returning any time. In the context of this passage, “our salvation” is referring to the salvation of our bodies. If you’re in Christ, your spirit has been born again and your soul has been redeemed. But your physical body is still corruptible. It still bears the effects of sin. When Jesus comes down to meet us in the air, our bodies will be “fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21; I Thessalonians 4:17). We’ll have glorified bodies! Paul’s point is, “Wake up! Jesus could return at any moment!”
Not only did Paul anticipate the rapture to happen anytime, but so did New Testament believers throughout church history. Is it possible that God allowed every church generation for the past 2,000 years to have an antichrist (a type of the Antichrist) because they had to expect the rapture in their lifetime? The Lord always wants us ready. In Titus 2:13, Paul says we’re to be “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
2. The prerequisites have happened.
I find it interesting that post-tribulation rapture adherents try to use 2 Thessalonians 2 to prove that the Church will be here during the tribulation, when in fact, I believe this passage (along with the clear teachings and types all throughout scripture) actually discusses a pre-trib rapture and indicates that today (the early 21st century) meets the criteria more than ever for the Lord to rapture His Bride.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2. That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;”
I’ve seen different ways this passage is viewed, and I admit that when you get to verses 7-8 (the mystery of iniquity), it can get difficult. But I’m beyond confident that verse 3 does not imply the Church will go through the tribulation. According to verse 3, based on those two prerequisites, “that day” is ready to come. What is “that day”? Well, we find from the immediate context that “that day” is “the day of Christ” in verse 2. While the “day of the Lord” is a key phrase all over Scripture (prophetically referring to the tribulation, the Second Coming, and the Millennial reign of Christ), “the day of Christ” is only mentioned a few times in the New Testament.
The day of Christ in other mentions of Scripture also includes the rapture of the Church and the judgment seat of Christ. Deceivers had led the Thessalonian believers astray into thinking that, because of their current tribulations, they had missed the rapture. According to verse three, however, Paul says two key prerequisites must happen for the rapture to occur:
There must be a falling away. Have we not seen this happen in the Church of Laodicea? We are living in a day and age of apostasy. Like Vashti in the book of Esther, today’s church refuses to stand with the King and show the world her beauty. Every dispensation in the Scriptures ends with a failure. Why would ours be any different? The Laodicean Church Age mirrors the failure of Genesis 11:1-4.
Rather than being fruitful and multiplying, today’s Church seems perfectly content in joining hands with the world. Not to mention, we’re clearly living in the days described by Paul in 2 Timothy 3:1-9. Can it get much worse? This turning away from God’s word will lead to a worship of the man of sin, the Antichrist.
The man of sin must be revealed. Have we not gotten a clear glimpse of who this “man of sin” is? Just as Jesus revealed to John the beloved (a type of the Church) who the “man of sin” would be (John 13:25-27), I believe He’s also revealed to His Church who this man will be. All indications lead to the leader of Rome (John 19:15; Revelation 17-18), the one who has claimed to be the “vicar of Christ” for the last twenty centuries. By the way, I don’t believe this “revealing” of verse 3 is the exact same “revealing” mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:8.
This apostasy had already begun in Paul’s day (I Timothy 1:18-20; I Timothy 4). In fact, John revealed that there were many antichrists in the first century (1 John 2:18). So once again, because every generation of believers in church history had the right to expect the rapture in their lifetime, there has always been some sort of “falling away” as well as a “revelation of the man of sin” (read Greg Axe’s Church History – you’ll see an abundance of antichrists throughout the last 2,000 years). But mark it down: this “falling away” has finally reached the proportions predicted to characterize the apostasy of 2 Thessalonians 2.
3. Knowing this motivates us to keep our eyes on the Mountain Mover.
Mark 11:23 “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”
The key to praying in faith involves looking at God, not the mountain. As born-again believers, when we focus on the mountain, we lose sight of the fact that we’ve already overcome. You see, we’re not called to “endure to the end” of the tribulation like those Jesus talks about in Matthew 24, because we’re already overcomers in Christ (I John 4:4; 5:4). We need to take our focus off the tribulation.
Psalm 46:1-2 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;”
The doctrinal context of this passage refers to Israel during the tribulation, a time when literal mountains will be moved (Revelation 6:14). But since our tribulation should be now (not during Daniel’s 70th Week), then we should be seeing God move “mountains” around us today. So, be encouraged the next time you go through tribulation: that’s when He moves mountains.
In summary, a proper view of the rapture entails our eyes being fixed on the Solution rather than the problem. It entails believing what the Bible says, even over our very own experiences. It entails a steadfast “looking for the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:12). May knowing that our Lord is returning soon motivate us to always be ready, whether it is morning, afternoon, or evening. May it motivate us to invest our talent wisely. To win souls. To remain pure. To seek the kingdom of God first. After all, the very last words of our Saviour in the final book of the scriptures testify an important truth for us to remember: he is coming quickly.
To learn more about eschatology, consider enrolling in the Daniel and Revelation course at the Living Faith Bible Institute.
Beau Green is a pastor at Maple City Baptist Church and a friend of Living Faith Fellowship. In this article he describes a biblical perspective of the rapture to come. Pastor Green talks about signs that show that the coming of Christ is much nearer than some may think. Check out the book he recently authored “Leadership from Genesis to Revelation”.