Pre-Wrath Rapture (Part I)

I believe the Bible teaches a pre-wrath rapture of the saved. I respect the scholarship of my Christian friends who believe otherwise and I'm sure we can all rejoice in the Bible promise that Jesus will return. Yet I am also instructed to study, to show myself approved unto God, so that I can be a workman and rightly divide the word when I teach and preach.

Bro. Tom McElmurry, on his web-site tribulationperiod.com, has an excellent article under “Historical Rapture Teachings” wherein he has researched historically the “appearance” of the Pre-Trib rapture idea in the 1800's. It began with the visions of a Scottish girl, the idea gained acceptance and then exploded when Scofield included it in his Bible notes in the early 1900's.

This blog (Part I) will only address common arguments for the Pre-Trib rapture and how they fall short, in my opinion, of sound scriptural standards. The Lord willing, I will post Part II in a few days which will include scriptural reasons I believe the return, resurrection, and rapture will occur on the Day of the Lord towards the end of the Tribulation.

1)It is said that Titus 2:13 teaches that there are two parts to the Lord's return. “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing...” First of all “that blessed hope (Greek elpis, desire or confidence, which is the same hope as that of Col.1:27 “Christ in you the hope of glory) is distinct from the glorious appearing (Greek epiphaino, to shine, to show forth). Are they related in context? Sure. But do they somehow teach the rapture and then the glorious appearing seven years later? Absolutely not.

2)It is said that there is no mention of churches from Rev.4-19. I could discuss that point with several scriptures, but suffice it to say that just because the church is not mentioned does not mean that it is not there. This is called an “argument from silence.” In other words, could I say that the treadmill in the corner of my bedroom is not present simply because I have not mentioned it. Nonsense. The word church/churches is also missing from II Timothy, Titus, Hebrews, I & II Peter, I & II John & Jude. Do we assume that the church is not present simply because it is not mentioned?

3)It is said that Christ's return must be imminent. It is true that I should live my life in the light and hope of Christ's return. But can the idea of the imminent return of Christ supercede or take precedence over the Word of God? Example: Could Jesus have returned before the apostle Peter's death? No, because Jesus had told him how he would die. Could Jesus have returned before Israels' regathering? The answer is no because God's Word must be fulfilled. We are told to be aware of the times and the signs of His return. Why would Jesus say this if His return could have been at any moment after His ascension? The scriptures do not teach the imminent return of Christ so as to violate prophecy.

4)”God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ”
I Thess.5:9. The “ wrath” in this verse refers to the “wrath of God” that abides on an unbeliever. The contrast is between the wrath and the salvation that a believer has. If I were to use Biblical words in this fashion I could quote Jesus, “In the world ye shall have tribulation...”
The meaning of wrath and the context of I Thess.5:9 is clear. Yet even if one chooses to still interpret this verse incorrectly, it is still in harmony with a pre-wrath position as the wrath of God does not fall until the end of the Tribulation.

5)Thess.2:7 “he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way”
This states that the Holy Spirit will be taken out of the way, not out of the world.

6)The Bible says, ”no one knows the day nor the hour.” True. But the Bible does teach that a person can know the times and the seasons. In fact, God tells us to be aware of these.

7)It is said that God will remove the righteous before He exercises judgment on the unbelievers. True. The pre-wrath interpretation does teach that the saved will be removed before God's wrath (Isaiah 26:20), but there is NO guarantee that this will happen seven years prior to His wrath. I wonder what the millions of Christian martyrs think of the idea that all of the righteous will miss the tribulation because “God has better things prepared” for the saved.

For the sake of time and space, I'll conclude this as I know that there are several other Pre-trib arguments which could be addressed. Some of these arguments fail to reconcile the fact that several chapters in Revelation take the reader to the end, and then the next few chapters take the reader to the end while describing a different aspect of the same time frame.

To believe in a Pre-Trib rapture, I would have to believe in multiple resurrections, that when a rapture occurs and then saints are killed during the tribulation that death is really not swallowed up in victory, and that the last trump of I Cor. 15 is not really the last trump.

Pre-Trib arguments, to me, appear to be misinterpretations and wishful thinking. When I teach/preach on the Second Coming, I often share the main views of the rapture and then share why I believe the R, R & R will simply be a pre-wrath rapture. Part II soon.