Overview:
This topic of “there’s no such thing as a rapture” to “the rapture was invented in the 1800’s” to “there’s a rapture, but it’s at the Second Coming” – come up all of the time. I tried to go into this topic without a bias. Below is a summary of what I’ve come to believe and why.
Darby inventing the rapture in the 1800’s:
Most anti-rapturists point to John Nelson Darby as “inventing” the rapture. That’s not true. There are at least two first-century scholars who supported this idea, in addition to the Bible saying it pretty plainly? Arguably?!
In Irenaeus’ writings “Against Heresies” in 5.29, he talks about the Church being caught up. Ephraim the Syrian in his “On the Last Times” talks about the church being taken up before the great tribulation starts. Also in present day, Dr. Thomas Ice did an extensive study on this exact topic and wrote a paper called “A History of Pre-Darby Advocates”, and he presented in 2011 also.
“Rapture” isn’t in the bible:
Kind of. This primarily comes from 1 Thessalonians 4:17: “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” The expression “caught up” is Strong’s G726. It is “harpazo” in the original Greek which means: to seize, carry off by force; to seize on, claim for one’s self eagerly; to snatch out or away. This expression in latin is “rapturo”, which in English is “rapture” – and that word kind of stuck. Rapture in English is really just referring to this “caught up” phrase.
Bride of Christ not appointed to wrath:
First, you might know that the followers of Christ are known as the “Bride of Christ”. This is a metaphor based on the Galilean wedding where: during the engagement period, the groom builds onto his father’s house, the bride stays ever-ready (dressed in her wedding dress, ready to go) because she doesn’t know when he’s coming to get her. Then, on one day, the father of the groom reviews the addition to the house and his son, and decides “go get your wife”. So (and this is typically at night), the groom and the family take torches and loudly go across town to get the bride, in a big party. Then, both families have this marriage supper. There’s a good Kevin Sorbo movie on Amazon called “Before the Wrath” that covers this metaphor really well.
Now, the Great Tribulation isn’t just Christian persecution – it’s meteors striking the earth, global famines, huge earthquakes like have never been seen, water turns to blood and becomes undrinkable for huge swaths of the earth. A quarter of all humans dying at once, etc. It is God’s wrath being poured out, primarily on Israel. After all, the entire Tribulation is “Jacob’s Troubles”. It’s to reconcile a final time with Israel. So – keeping this in mind, why would God build up His church (through a lot of “regular” persecution) to then have that church, at the biggest its’ ever been – be put through the Great Tribulation? Why would He beat the “Bride of Christ” to a pulp on the wedding night leading to the marriage feast? Plus, we are told the Bride of Christ isn’t appointed for God’s wrath (1 Thess 5:9).
Instead, it’s believed that there will be MANY unsaved, non-believers that won’t be raptured, but they will know what happened because their wacky friends were always talking about it. Those that then come to believe will be known as the “Tribulation Saints” (Rev 14:13). They will spread the gospel during the Great Tribulation and most will die via beheading (Rev 20:4).
Who is the restrainer?
Another conceptual point is that there are some verses that refer to the archangel Michael as being a restrainer (mainly in Daniel 11 and 12). However, there are other verses that allude to the Bride of Christ as the restrainer (1 John 4:4). This makes more sense to me too.
The antichrist has not been able to come to full power this entire time because the “restrainer” has been holding him back. It makes sense to me that this is the Holy Spirit, working through the church. God is the only one powerful enough. I mean, Satan has been trying this whole time and if he could’ve taken over the world, he would’ve. But Christ-followers keep messing up his plans. Just look around right now – good people are standing up all over the place, making everything about his takeover, difficult. He always has opposition in everything he does.
Now, picture that those that are Spirit-led, leave (via a rapture). The only people left would be unbelievers and demon-led people. Immediately, Satan could easily come to power and become the ruler of the planet. It would be easy. That seems obvious and intuitive to me, as opposed to Michael the archangel holding back Satan for 2,000 years, all by himself.
The Church goes missing in the Book of Revelation
The Bride of Christ is not mentioned from Revelation 6 through Revelation 18. The church IS mentioned in Rev 1-3 and also in Rev 22 – but no where in-between. Why would such an “important” audience not be mentioned during this extremely notable time period? One argues it’s because we’re not on the earth. We’re up in orientation and training, getting ready for the work that needs to be done rebuilding this place after that 7 years, plus we have the Bema Seat judgement – we’ll be busy!
Set aside like in the Great Flood?
Some argue that Christians will be set-aside and/or protected somehow like: Noah in the Great Flood, Daniel and the Fiery Furnace (Shadrach, Meshack, and Abed-Nego), etc. I agree, but in these end-times writings, the only evidence points to Him doing that by rapturing believers away from the earth.
This makes logical sense to me because of the sheer number of people. In the case of Noah and his family, that problem could be solved with a boat. But what technique would God use to protect millions (or hopefully billions) of people scattered all around the world, who would otherwise die from natural disasters and calamities, undrinkable water, no food, etc. What makes logical sense to me, since this place is “done for” anyhow, is just to bring those people up and out, and get them ready for what’s next – the 1000 year reign, while God finishes His business with Israel.
Glorified Bodies vs Standard Human Bodies
This too is a logical argument. Let’s say that just before Jesus returns for the Second Coming, he catches up His church to meet Him in the clouds and immediately we all go to battle (with no training or preparation, we were just in our beds a few minutes ago!).
But still, who would be left on the earth?
- If there were any believers who died (aka Tribulation Saints), they were resurrected just a few minutes ago.
- If there were any surviving believers, they were raptured a few minutes ago.
There would be zero believers in human bodies left. Yet, we are told during the millennial reign, that humans will still marry and have offspring, when we know that those in glorified bodies will no longer do those things.
So, if there is a post-tribulation rapture, just before the Second Coming, who are the humans who would re-populate the earth? In a pre-tribulation world view, those humans are the recently-converted believers who survived the Great Tribulation.
“No one knows the day or hour”
One more aspect is this timing problem. If the rapture is to happen mid-tribulation or post-tribulation, then the day and hour would easily be calculable – which would go against scripture (Mark 13:32).
The start of the Great Tribulation will be very notable by at least the 7 year peace treaty signed by the antichrist. But likely will be calamities at a huge scale too. If all of that happens on a specific day and time, you could calculate the rapture to be either 3.5 years or 7 years from that event. Easy peasy!
In a pre-tribulation worldview, no one knows the day or hour – period.
Rapture and Second Coming are Two Events
Most anti-rapture people tend to conflate Matthew 24 and the rapture. However, we know these are two distinct events because they have very different attributes and purposes:
| Topic | Rapture (for the Church) | Second Coming (for all) |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Christians will meet the Lord in the air | Christ descends to earth, to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem |
| Who is taken? | Believers are taken while unbelievers are left on Earth | Believers are left and unbelievers are taken from Earth |
| Destination of Believers | Believers go up to meet Christ. | Believers come down WITH Christ. |
| Timing | Jesus meets the church before the wrath (Rev 3:10, 1 Thess 5:9, 1 Thess 1:10) | Jesus comes to earth after the wrath (Matt 24:29, Dan 9:26) |
| Signs | No signs given; it could happen at any moment | 15+ specific, sequential signs of Jesus return to earth |
| Judgement | Deliverance: No judgement, only promises kept (1 Thess 4:16, Rev 3:10) | Judgement: Nothing but judgement! (Zech 14:2, Matt 25:31) |
| Who’s Resurrected | Resurrection of all of the dead in Christ during the descent of Christ to the clouds (1 Thess 4:16) | Resurrection of the dead from Tribulation after Christ comes to earth (Rev 19:11 and Rev 20:1) |
| Glorified vs Standard Bodies | Believers are given glorified bodies (1 Cor 15:51, 1 Thess 4:15, Luke 20:36) | Believers who make it through tribulation will enter the millennial kingdom, marry, and bear children (Isaiah 65:22) |
| Visibility | Hidden/secret Rapture – only believers will see what’s going on (1 Cor 15:50) | Seen by All (Rev 1:7) |
| Father’s House | Christians taken to Father’s house (John 14:1) | Surviving Christians won’t see Father’s house and will live/reign on earth with Christ for 1000 years (Rev 20:4) |
| Comfort vs Anxiety | Told to comfort each other with this Blessed Hope (1 Thess 4:17, Titus 2:11) | Warned to brace for mourning, agony, and wrath on earth like has never been seen. |
| Calculable Date | “No man knows the hour or day” so it cannot be a calculable date. So, it can’t be mid-tribulation or post-tribulation. It MUST be pre-tribulation. | Will be EXACTLY calculable – 7 years from the notable start of the Great Tribulation (the worldwide peace treaty made by the antichrist) |
| Focus | The church is the focal point. | Israel is the focal point, this is all about the final reconciliation of God with Israel, per His promises. |
| Mood | There is great joy and comfort. | There is great weeping and sorrow. |
| Satan | No mention of Satan being bound | Satan is bound for 1,000 years |
| God’s Promise | Church is not appointed for His wrath. Promise fulfilled. | God promises to pour out His wrath. Promise fulfilled. |
| Judgement | Church is taken to Heaven and judged at the Bema Seat | All nations are judged at Jerusalem |
Preparing for the Antichrist
Scripture is clear: the Great Tribulation is going to be bad. Really, really bad. This planet will have supernatural disasters like extreme: earthquakes, floods, meteor strikes, a quarter of the population dying, water being turned to blood and becoming undrinkable, etc.
That’s just in the realm of the natural. Meanwhile in the secular world, the antichrist will have come to power which will undoubtedly mean a harsh, authoritarian rule and extreme persecution of the Christians over the entire planet, as the New World Order and Mark of the Beast come to fruition. This means no access to food, clean water, corrupt and violent governments, etc. Those Christians who do not take the Mark, will not be able to buy or sell, which means things like food, water, and shelter will be in jeopardy.
This will be, as the Bible tells us, the worst situation the world has ever seen. Now, if the Bride of Christ was meant to endure a literal hell on earth like that, you would think there would be a chapter on it, or even a verse, but there isn’t. We are told that we will experience “persecution” and “tribulation”, sure. And that has been true since the 1st century. However, this Great Tribulation isn’t even in the same category. It will be hell on earth for 7 years.
So, if Christians were meant to endure this unbelievably violent, cruel, tragic time – wouldn’t we have some guidance and instruction from the Lord? Wouldn’t He tell us how to prepare? Wouldn’t He give us words of encouragement?
Instead, no where in the Bible are we told to prepare for the antichrist. In fact, what we are told, many, many times is to prepare for the return of Christ. We should keep our eyes on Him and trust in His faithfulness.
Summary
In my research, I only ever found a pretty overwhelming case for a pre-tribulation rapture. In fact, when I looked into anti-rapturists, they really tend to stretch the Word of God quite a bit. My conclusion is that these people tend to want to stay for the Great Tribulation. Meaning, they don’t feel worthy of God’s amazing gift to us. I completely get that and agree.
However, sometimes people often look at staying for the Great Tribulation as a way to “prove” to God that they are worthy. As if one can earn their way into Heaven. Let me remind you of Isaiah 64:6 that “And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;”. There is absolutely nothing you can do to earn your way to Heaven. It’s a gift of God and not of works, lest any many should boast (Ephesians 2:9). But “faith without works is dead” you might say. The Bible teaches that once we are saved, the Holy Spirit moving through us cannot help but make us produce good fruit, good works. “Works” is evidence of our salvation, not the reason for our salvation.