The question people are still asking today is this, “Is the rapture before the tribulation, or does the church go through part or all of the Tribulation”?  Several notable people who had believed in the pre-tribulation rapture of the church have now changed their position.

In order to determine whether the pre-tribulation rapture of the church is Biblical, we must answer a number of key questions.

• Is Matt 24:31 the rapture?
• Is the day of Christ in 2 Thes 2:2-3 exclusively the rapture?
• Is Matt 24 written to include the church or is it to Israel?
• Where do the souls of the church age saints and Tribulation saints go after death?
• Is “salvation” in the church age and in the Tribulation identical?
• Who are the two groups of believers in heaven in Revelation 5 and Revelation 7?
• Did Paul believe in the imminent return of Jesus?

Is Matt 24:31 the rapture? Matt 24:31 is not the rapture. Read Matt 24:29-31. This is the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise in Deut 30:1-4, Jer 32:37-41, etc., to gather Jews from around the world to return to Israel and inhabit their land when he returns.  Notice in Matt 24:22 that if the Lord doesn’t shorten the days of the Tribulation, “no flesh” should be saved.  There are literal Jews who survive the Tribulation and return to their land when they are gathered by the Lord.

So, Matt 24:31 is not a rapture, at all.  One major difference between Matt 24:31 and 1 Thes 4:16-17 is that the Lord sends his angels to gather his elect in Matt 24, whereas the rapture involves the Lord himself; no angels are involved.  Consider the other differences. There are several. For more information see this post on the Pre-tribulation Rapture.

Is the day of Christ in 2 Thes 2:2-3 exclusively the rapture? The day of Christ is more than just the rapture.  When you pair 2 Thes 2:2-3 with Phil 1:10, it appears that, if the day of Christ is the rapture, then the rapture doesn’t occur until after the man of sin is revealed.  The opponents of the pre-tribulation rapture of the church say that the day of Christ is the rapture.  And since that day doesn’t come till the man of sin is revealed, then the rapture is somewhere between the middle and the end of the Tribulation, they say.

But the day of Christ is not a single event anymore than the day of the Lord is a single event.  For example, in 1 Thes 5:1-3 the day of Lord comes as a thief in the night at the 2nd Advent of Jesus.  See Matt 24:43-44.  Now read 2 Pet 3:10-12.  The day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night in this passage, as well.  Yet, this is not the 2nd Advent. This is at the end of the millennial reign of Jesus.  Thus, the day of the Lord is a 1,000 year period.

Likewise, the day of Christ is not just the rapture.  The day of Christ includes everything from the rapture to the 2nd Advent of Jesus Christ.  In 2 Thes 2:1, the day of Christ covers everything from our “gathering together unto him” to “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”.  Notice “his coming” in 2 Thes 2:8, which is his 2nd Advent.  Included in this time span is the rapture, the judgment seat of Christ, the marriage of the Lamb, and the Lord’s return.  See another lesson regarding the Rapture.  Therefore, the rapture does not take place after the man of sin is revealed.

Is Matt 24 written to include the church or is it to Israel? Matt 24 is written to Israel.  Opponents of the pre-tribulation rapture of the church must make Matt 24 include the church.  They say that it’s not written to Israel.

But notice the abomination of desolation in Matt 24:15.  This is found in Dan 9.  Dan 9:24 is written to thy people, thy holy city, these are Jews and Jerusalem.  Dan 9:25 mentions Jerusalem, and the Messiah (Jewish). Dan 9:26 mentions destroying the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (the temple).  Dan 9:27 mentions the covenant (with Israel), the sacrifice (Jewish), and the oblation (Jewish) which will cease (at the temple).

Matt 24 mentions the holy place 24:15, Judea 24:16, the sabbath day 24:20.  There is no question that this is written to Israel and definitely not to the church.  Even Mk 13:14 mentions Judea.  And Lk 21:20 mentions Jerusalem, Lk 21:21 Judea, and Lk 21:24 Jerusalem trodden down.

Douglas Moo said in his book that if he could not put Israel and the church together, it would create problems for his post-tribulation position. “If a radical disjunction between Israel, and the church is assumed, a certain presumption against the post-tribulation position exists, since it would be inconsistent for the church to be involved in a period of time that, according to the Old Testament, has to do with Israel”. Moo, The Rapture, page 171.  Not only is it according to the Old Testament, but it is also according to Matt 24.

Where do the souls of the church age saints and Tribulation saints go after death?  In Eph 2:6, we are in the body of Christ and already seated in heavenly places in Christ.  Therefore in 2 Cor 5:8 we are immediately present with the Lord when we die.  When Jesus returns for our bodies at the rapture, he brings the souls of those who have already died with him, 1 Thes 4:14.

Contrast Rev 6:9-10.  The souls of the Tribulation martyrs are not in heaven.  They are under the altar.  They’re talking like the souls did in Abraham’s bosom, but they aren’t in heaven like we are.  If the church goes through the Tribulation, then these souls would be with the Lord in heaven to return with him at the rapture.  They wouldn’t be under an altar.

Is “salvation” in the church age and in the Tribulation identical?  In the church age we are saved without works. Eph 2:8-9, Rom 4:3-5, Titus 3:5 clearly state that we are saved by faith without works.

Contrast Jas 2:14, Jas 2:20-24, Rev 14:12, Rev 12:17, and 1 Jn 3:7, 10. In these passages, Tribulation saints have the faith of Jesus AND they keep the commandments of God.  They DO righteousness.

To the twelve tribes scattered abroad (Jas 1:1, remember in Matt 24:31 that the remnant of these will be gathered when Jesus returns) James wrote, “by works a man is justified, and not by faith only”, Jas 2:24.  That doesn’t sound like church age salvation, at all.  This is because the body of Christ is already gone in the Tribulation.   

Who are the two groups of believers in heaven in Revelation 5 and Revelation 7? The group in Rev 5 are the church age saints and those in Rev 7 are “they which came out of great tribulation”, Rev 7:14.  If the saints in Rev 7 were identical to the ones in Rev 5, John would have known who they were.

The raptured church is in heaven before Jesus opens the seals of the Tribulation in Revelation 6.  And, by contrast, the raptured Tribulation saints are in heaven after Jesus opens the sixth seal of the Tribulation.  Notice in Rev 8:1, Jesus opens the seventh seal.

Did Paul believe in the imminent return of Jesus? Yes, Paul believed in the imminent return of Jesus.  Paul instructed Titus to be looking for Jesus’s glorious appearing, Titus 2:13.  Paul wrote to the Corinthians “So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”, 1 Cor 1:7.

If Paul believed that the rapture wouldn’t occur until after the man of sin was revealed, he wouldn’t have been looking for the Lord’s appearance and waiting for his coming in his lifetime.  But Paul said, “the day of Christ is at hand”, 2 Thes 2:2.  He knew and so do we that the rapture is pre-tribulation.